United News of Bangladesh

The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall. There, a steady stream of mourners paid their respects to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. As the cortege left the palace, her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow. The military procession underscored Elizabeth’s seven decades as head of state as the national mourning process shifted to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the U.K. capital. At 900-year-old Westminster Hall, where the queen will lie in state until her funeral Monday, crowds shuffled past her coffin well into the night. They moved silently down the steps of the hall under a great stained glass window, then past the coffin that was covered with the Royal Standard and had been placed on a raised platform known as a catafalque by eight pallbearers. There were couples and parents with children, veterans with medals clinking on navy blue blazers, lawmakers and members of the House of Lords. Some wore black or suits and ties, others jeans and sneakers, and all had waited hours to stand in front of the coffin for a few moments Many bowed or curtseyed and some were in tears. Thousands who had waited for the procession for hours along The Mall outside the palace and other locations along the route held up phones and cameras, and some wiped away tears, as the casket rolled by. Applause broke out as it passed through Horse Guards Parade. Thousands more in nearby Hyde Park watched on large screens. The coffin was topped with the Imperial State Crown — encrusted with almost 3,000 diamonds — and a bouquet of flowers and plants, including pine from the Balmoral Estate, where Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96. Two officers and 32 troops from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in red uniforms and bearskin hats walked on either side of the gun carriage. The 38-minute procession ended at Westminster Hall, where Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a service attended by Charles and other royals. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you,” Welby read from the Book of John. After a short service, the captain of The Queen’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, assisted by a senior sergeant, laid the royal standard of the regiment on the steps of the catafalque. Four officers from the Household Cavalry -– two from the Life Guards and two from the Blues Royals -– began the vigil, taking their places at each corner and bowing their heads. Thousands had queued up along the banks of the River Thames, waiting to enter the hall and pay their respects to the only monarch most Britons have ever known after her 70 years on the throne. Esther Ravenor, a Kenyan who lives in the U.K. said she was humbled as she watched the procession. “I love the queen, I love the royal family, and you know, I had to be here,” she said. “She is a true role model. She loved us all, all of us. Especially someone like me, a migrant woman coming to the U.K. 30 years ago, I was allowed to be here and to be free and safe, so I really honor her. She was a big part of my life.” Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, of the Household division, who organized the ceremonial aspects of the queen’s funeral, said it was “our last opportunity to do our duty for the queen, and it’s our first opportunity to do it for the king, and that makes us all very proud.” Troops involved in the procession had been preparing since the queen died. So had the horses of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery. Sgt. Tom Jenks said the horses were specially trained, including how to handle weeping mourners, as well as flowers and flags being tossed in front of the procession. Heathrow Airport temporarily halted flights, saying it would “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.” Also read: Queen's casket arrives at Buckingham Palace President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday with Charles to offer his condolences, the White House said. Biden recalled “the Queen’s kindness and hospitality” she hosted them and the first lady at Windsor Castle in June, the statement said. “He also conveyed the great admiration of the American people for the Queen, whose dignity and constancy deepened the enduring friendship and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.” Crowds have lined the route of the queen’s coffin whenever it has been moved in its long journey from Scotland to London. On Tuesday night, thousands braved a typical London drizzle as the hearse, with interior lights illuminating the casket, drove slowly from an air base to Buckingham Palace. Earlier, in Edinburgh, about 33,000 people filed silently past her coffin in 24 hours at St. Giles’ Cathedral. The line of people snaking along the banks of the River Thames to enter Westminster Hall, the oldest building in Parliament, was nearly 3 miles long in the afternoon, according to a government tracker. The hall is where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried, where kings and queens hosted magnificent medieval banquets, and where ceremonial addresses were presented to Queen Elizabeth II during her silver, golden and diamond jubilees. Chris Bond, from Truro in southwest England, was among those waiting to see the queen’s coffin. He also attended the lying in state of the queen’s mother in 2002. “Obviously, it’s quite difficult queuing all day long, but when you walk through those doors into Westminster Hall, that marvelous, historic building, there was a great sense of hush and one was told you take as much time as you like, and it’s just amazing,” he said. “We know the queen was a good age and she served the country a long time, but we hoped this day would never come,” he added. Chris Imafidon, secured the sixth place in the queue.   “I have 1,001 emotions when I see her,” he said. “I want to say, God, she was an angel, because she touched many good people and did so many good things.”

Hand on heart, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched his country’s flag rise Wednesday above the recaptured city of Izium, making a rare foray outside the capital that highlights Moscow’s embarrassing retreat from a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Russian forces left the war-scarred city last week as Kyiv’s soldiers pressed a stunning advance that has reclaimed large swaths of territory in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. As Zelenskyy looked on and sang the national anthem, the Ukrainian flag was raised in front of the burned-out city hall. After almost six months under Russian occupation, Izium was left largely devastated, with apartment buildings blackened by fire and pockmarked by artillery strikes. A gaping hole and piles of rubble stood where one building had collapsed. “The view is very shocking, but it is not shocking for me,” Zelenskyy told journalists, “because we began to see the same pictures from Bucha, from the first de-occupied territories … the same destroyed buildings, killed people.” Bucha is a small city on Kyiv’s outskirts from which Russian troops withdrew in March. In the aftermath, Ukrainian authorities discovered the bodies of hundreds of civilians dumped in streets, yards and mass graves. Many bore signs of torture. Read:Last reactor at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant shut to avoid radiation Prosecutors said they so far have found six bodies with traces of torture in recently retaken Kharkiv region villages. The head of the Kharkiv prosecutor’s office, Oleksandr Filchakov, said bodies were found in Hrakove and Zaliznyche, villages around 60 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Kharkiv city. “We have a terrible picture of what the occupiers did. ... Such cities as Balakliia, Izium, are standing in the same row as Bucha, Borodyanka, Irpin,” said Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, listing places where the Ukrainians have alleged Russian forces committed atrocities. Local authorities have made similar claims in other areas Russia previously held, but it was not immediately possible to verify their information. They have not yet provided evidence of potential atrocities on the scale described in Bucha, where the number and conditions of civilian casualties prompted international demands to press war crimes charges against Russian officials. As he was returning from the front early Thursday, a passenger car collided with Zelenskyy’s vehicle in a motorcade in Kyiv, but he wasn’t seriously hurt, his spokesman said on Facebook. Spokesman Sergii Nikiforov said the driver of the other vehicle received first aid from Zelenskyy’s medical team and was taken by ambulance. Medics examined the president, who suffered no serious injuries in the accident, Nikiforov wrote. He did not specify what injuries Zelenskyy, 44, might have suffered. Moscow’s recent rout in northeastern Ukraine was its largest military defeat since Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv area months ago. On the northern outskirts of Izium, the remains of Russian tanks and vehicles lay shattered along a road. As Zelenskyy visited, his forces pressed their counteroffensive, de-mined retaken ground and investigated possible war crimes. He said that “life comes back” as Ukrainian soldiers return to previously occupied villages. The Ukrainian governor of the eastern Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said Ukrainian soldiers were preparing to retake the area, which borders the Kharkiv region and was has been mostly under Russian control since July. Intense shelling of Ukrainian forces continued, he said. Haidai told The Associated Press that Ukrainian troops were flying Ukrainian flags in the cities of Svatove and Starobilsk. But in Kreminna, another city where Ukrainians raised their flag, Russians returned Wednesday and “tore down the (Ukrainian) flags and are demonstrably showing that they’re there,” Haidai said. A Russia-allied separatist military leader confirmed the Ukrainian advance on the Luhansk region. Andrei Marochko, a local militia officer, said on Russian TV that the situation was “really difficult.” “In some places, the contact line has come very close to the borders of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” Marochko said, referring to the independent state the separatists declared eight years ago. The counteroffensive has left more weapons in Ukrainian hands. Russian forces likely left behind dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers and other heavy weaponry as they fled Ukraine’s advance in the east, a Ukrainian think tank said Wednesday. The Center for Defense Strategies said one Russian unit fleeing the Izium area left behind more than three dozen T-80 tanks and about as many infantry fighting vehicles. Another unit left 47 tanks and 27 armored vehicles, it said. The center said Russian forces tried to destroy some of the abandoned vehicles through artillery strikes as they fell back. Typically, armed forces ruin equipment left behind so their opponent can’t use it. However, the chaos of the Russian withdrawal apparently forced them to abandon untouched ammunition and weapons. With the recent Ukrainian gains, a new front line has emerged along the Oskil River, which largely traces the Kharkiv region’s eastern edge, a Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said Wednesday. “Russian troops are unlikely to be strong enough to prevent further Ukrainian advances along the entire Oskil River because they do not appear to be receiving reinforcements, and Ukrainian troops will likely be able to exploit this weakness to resume the counteroffensive across the Oskil if they choose,” the institute said. In other areas, Russia continued its attacks, causing more casualties in a war that has dragged on for nearly seven months. Two people were killed and three wounded after Russia attacked Mykolaiv with S-300 missiles overnight, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said. The Nikopol area, across a river from the shutdown Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, was shelled three times during the night, with no injuries immediately reported, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. Fighting also raged in the eastern Donetsk region, where shelling killed five civilians and wounded 16. Together, Luhansk and Donetsk make up the Donbas, an industrial area that Moscow set out to capture following an unsuccessful attempt to invade Kyiv. Russian troops are targeting critical infrastructure. Eight cruise missiles aimed at water equipment hit Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, a city on the Inhulets River 150 kms (93 miles) southwest of Dnipro, the deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported on his Telegram channel. Zelenskyy said the strikes appeared to be an attempt to flood the city and that a dam on a reservoir was hit. Video posted online showed elevated water levels on the Inhulets and flooded city streets, and evacuations of residents were suggested. U.S. President Joe Biden observed Wednesday that Ukrainian forces have made “significant progress” in recent days but added, “I think it’s going to be a long haul.”   While criticism of the invasion seems to be increasing in Russia, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, “Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that the realization has grown over there by now that this was a mistake to start this war.” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that he had spoken with Putin about exporting Russian fertilizer through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to address a famine threat. The U.N. chief said at a news conference in New York that high prices for fertilizer have reduced the planting of crops, making it critical to increase Russian exports of ammonia — a key fertilizer ingredient — by shipping it through Black Sea ports now used to transport grain from Ukraine. Western military and economic support has allowed Ukraine to keep fighting since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, and the Ukrainian government received more assistance Wednesday. An international group of creditors, including the U.S., finalized a deal to suspend Ukraine’s debt service through the end of 2023, helping the country ease liquidity pressures and increase social, health and economic spending.

The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide last week was the lowest reported in the pandemic since March 2020, marking what could be a turning point in the years-long global outbreak. At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has never been in a better position to stop COVID-19. “We are not there yet, but the end is in sight,” he said, comparing the effort to that made by a marathon runner nearing the finish line. “Now is the worst time to stop running,” he said. “Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work.” In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said deaths fell by 22% in the past week, at just over 11,000 reported worldwide. There were 3.1 million new cases, a drop of 28%, continuing a weeks-long decline in the disease in every part of the world. Still, the WHO warned that relaxed COVID testing and surveillance in many countries means that many cases are going unnoticed. The agency issued a set of policy briefs for governments to strengthen their efforts against the coronavirus ahead of the expected winter surge of COVID-19, warning that new variants could yet undo the progress made to date. “If we don’t take this opportunity now, we run the risk of more variants, more deaths, more disruption, and more uncertainty,” Tedros said. The WHO reported that the omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to dominate globally and comprised nearly 90% of virus samples shared with the world’s biggest public database. In recent weeks, regulatory authorities in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere have cleared tweaked vaccines that target both the original coronavirus and later variants including BA.5. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said the organization expected future waves of the disease, but was hopeful those would not cause many deaths. Meanwhile in China, residents of a city in the country’s far western Xinjiang region have said they are experiencing hunger, forced quarantines and dwindling supplies of medicine and daily necessities after more than 40 days in a lockdown prompted by COVID-19. Hundreds of posts from Ghulja riveted users of Chinese social media last week, with residents sharing videos of empty refrigerators, feverish children and people shouting from their windows. On Monday, local police announced the arrests of six people for “spreading rumors” about the lockdown, including posts about a dead child and an alleged suicide, which they said “incited opposition” and “disrupted social order.” Leaked directives from government offices show that workers are being ordered to avoid negative information and spread “positive energy” instead. One directed state media to film “smiling seniors” and “children having fun” in neighborhoods emerging from the lockdown. The government has ordered mass testing and district lockdowns in cities across China in recent weeks, from Sanya on tropical Hainan island to southwest Chengdu, to the northern port city of Dalian. Also read: Global Covid cases near 615 million

The European Union unveiled plans Wednesday to ban products made with forced labour, in an effort to crack down on a modern-day form of slavery that a UN agency estimated affects more than 27 million people worldwide. The European Commission, which proposes EU laws, said the policy would remove from the 27-nation bloc’s markets all products made with forced labour. It would also stop them from being made in the world’s biggest trading bloc or shipped through it. The move does not target specific companies, industries or countries. “Our aim is to eliminate all products made with forced labour from the EU market, irrespective of where they have been made. Our ban will apply to domestic products, exports and imports alike,” commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said. The EU’s executive arm defines forced labour as a situation where a person is coerced to work through violence or intimidation, or in more indirect ways by having their debt manipulated, their identity papers stolen or being threatened with denunciation to immigration authorities. Under the plans, the commission would set up and operate a public database containing information about suspect products and practices. EU countries would designate an authority to enforce the rules, and customs officers would have responsibility for ensuring compliance at the bloc’s borders. The aim is to focus on high-risk products. Investigations would be launched if national authorities believe forced labour may have been used. Suspected cases involving bigger operators that make the most products would be the preferred target, rather than small businesses. If a product made with forced labour is already sold in the EU, the company involved would be required to pull it off the market and dispose of it. If the company refuses, it would face penalties under the law of the country it operates in. Europe’s main union umbrella organization, the European Trade Union Confederation, welcomed the plans. “Many of the people in forced labour are manufacturing goods destined for sale in Europe, so a properly enforced ban should cripple the profits of the criminals behind these violations,” ETUC Deputy General-Secretary Claes-Mikael Stahl said. The International Labour Organization estimated that in 2021 around 27.6 million people were forced to work on any given day, including 3.3 million children. Women and girls accounted for 11.8 million of that number. Textiles, mining and agriculture are among the industries most notorious for the practice. The commission’s proposal must now be debated by the EU member countries and the European Parliament. The rules would enter force two years after an agreement is concluded. Also read: 28 million victims of forced labour: report

Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of new rounds of shelling on Wednesday morning as hostilities reignited between the two longtime adversaries. Armenia’s Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijani forces of launching combat drones in the direction of the Armenian resort of Jermuk overnight and renewing the shelling from artillery and mortars in the morning in the direction of Jermuk and Verin Shorzha village near the Sevan lake. The Azerbaijani military, in turn, charged that Armenian forces shelled its positions in the Kalbajar and Lachin districts in the separatist Narogno-Karabakh regions. Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted on Tuesday, killing about 100 troops in total. Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50. The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal. Also read; Armenia, Azerbaijan report 99 troops killed in border clash The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties “to refrain from further escalation and show restraint.” Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan. The international community also urged calm. The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenia’s request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was “taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.”

Around 50 million people around the world are living in modern day slavery, among whom 28 million are victims of forced labour, says a report published today. The ‘Global Estimates of Modern Slavery Report 2022’, prepared by IOM, Walk Free and International Labour Organization (ILO), provides a detailed picture of how people are being forced to do certain jobs across the globe. The report makes a shocking revelation, which is that 52 percent of all forced labour can be found in upper-middle or high-income countries. According to the report, 86 percent of forced labour are in the private sector, while state-imposed forced labour accounts for 14 percent. Almost one in eight of all those in forced labour are children (3.3 million), and more than half are in commercial sexual exploitation. Read: One-in-four people do not feel valued at work: ILO The report also says that migrant workers are three times more likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant adult workers. Migrants are particularly vulnerable to forced labour and trafficking due to irregular or poorly governed migration and unfair, unethical recruitment practices. The report talks about Qatar, a gulf country which has recently obtained the reputation for labour rights violations relating to migrants working there focusing on the FIFA World Cup 2022. The report proposes a number of recommendations which, if implemented, would mark significant progress towards ending modern slavery. They include improving and enforcing laws and labour inspections, ending state-imposed forced labour, stronger measures to combat forced labour and trafficking in business and supply chains, extending social protection, and strengthening legal protections.   Read: Workers' rights, collective bargaining essential for global recovery: ILO Some other measures suggested by the report include addressing the increased risk of trafficking and forced labour for migrant workers, promoting fair and ethical recruitment, and greater support for women, girls and vulnerable individuals.

Multiple crises are halting progress on human development, which is going backwards in the overwhelming majority of countries, according to the UN. The 2021-22 human development report "Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World," released Thursday, paints a picture of a global society lurching from crisis to crisis, and which risks heading towards increasing deprivation and injustice. For the first time in the 32 years that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has been calculating it, the Human Development Index, which measures a nation's health, education, and standard of living, has declined globally for two years in a row. Human development has fallen back to its 2016 levels, reversing much of the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN report finds that nine out of 10 countries have fallen behind on life expectancy, education and living standards. Heading the list of events causing major global disruptions are Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which have come on top of sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes, and massive increases in polarization.   This signals a deepening crisis for many regions, and Latin America, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia have been hit particularly hard as 30 years of continuous human progress is unravelling. Read: Bangladesh moves 3 notches up in Human Development Index "The world is scrambling to respond to back-to-back crises," said Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator. "We have seen with the cost of living and energy crises that, while it is tempting to focus on quick fixes like subsidising fossil fuels, immediate relief tactics are delaying the long-term systemic changes we must make."   The UN study's authors identified three layers of today's "uncertainty complex" – dangerous planetary change, the transition to new ways of organising industrial societies, and the intensification of political and social polarization. Also read: Rebuilding Ukraine may cost $349bn "It is not just that typhoons are getting bigger and deadlier through human impact on the environment," the report said. "It is also as if, through our social choices, their destructive paths are being directed at the most vulnerable among us."

Following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, UK’s longest-reigning monarch, many Indians are demanding the return of the fabled diamond called Kohinoor or Koh-i-noor that was put in a crown created for the late queen’s mother. Indian Twitterati started demanding that the 105-carat oval-shaped jewel, the name of which translates to “Mountain of Light”, be brought back to its place of origin shortly after Queen Elizabeth’s demise. Kohinoor is the focal point of the Queen Mother’s crown, and is said to be one of the most expensive jewels in existence. The diamond was found in India’s Golconda mines in the 14th century, and over the centuries, it changed ownership several times. Kohinoor’s return has been asked by the Indian government on numerous occasions, notably once in 1947. Britain, however, has continually disputed the claims. Read: Queen Elizabeth is featured on several currencies. Now what? Who gets the crown with Kohinoor after Queen Elizabeth’s death? Several latest reports state that Queen Consort Camilla will now wear the crown with the illustrious diamond. She will be anointed at the same time as King Charles III. Will Britain ever return the Kohinoor to India? There are reportedly no intentions to return the gem. Former British Minister for Asia and the Pacific Alok Sharma stated, “The UK government believes that there aren’t any legal grounds for recovery of the diamond,” during a visit to India in 2016. How Kohinoor went to Britain from India There is a certain time when the Kohinoor first appears in the written record. Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor, ordered a magnificent, gem-encrusted throne in 1628. The ornate creation took its design cues from the throne of Solomon, the legendary Hebrew king who appears in the annals of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. Read: King Charles III officially announced Britain’s monarch, ceremony aired live for the first time The Kohinoor diamond and the Timur Ruby were two very large gems that would eventually become the most valuable of all the precious stones that decorated the throne. The diamond was set in the head of a gleaming gemstone peacock at the very top of the throne. Such wealth caught the interest of other kings in Central Asia, such as Nader Shah of Persia. Invasion of Delhi by Nader Shah in 1739 claimed tens of thousands of lives and depleted the Mughal Empire’s finances. Nader supposedly grabbed the Peacock Throne as part of his loot, but he took out the Kohinoor diamond and the Timur Ruby to wear on a wristband, the Smithsonian Magazine feature adds. Read: What’s next for the UK as King Charles III starts his reign The Kohinoor diamond would spend 70 years away from India, in what would eventually become Afghanistan. In one tragedy after another, it changed hands between several kings, including one who blinded his own son and another who was overthrown and had his head covered in molten gold. After years of conflict, the diamond made its way back to India and was acquired by the Sikh king Ranjit Singh in 1813. Singh’s specific affinity for Kohinoor solidified the gem’s aura of status and power. Following Ranjit Singh’s passing in 1839, the crown was held by four different people during a period of four years. At the end of all the chaos, just a boy named Duleep Singh and his mother Rani Jindan remained in line for the crown. The British, who had by then solidified their grasp on India, forced Duleep to sign a legal document, requiring the 10-year-old boy to give up the Kohinoor and all claims to sovereignty, the Smithsonian Magazine feature says. Read Stepping up: More scrutiny for next generation of royals From that point forward, Queen Victoria was the proud owner of the diamond. Victoria wore Kohinoor as a brooch, but it later became a piece of the Crown Jewels.

As the United Kingdom mourns a beloved queen, the nation is already wondering how King Charles III will reign and whether his monarchy will depart from the traditions of his mother. If his first full day on the throne is any indication, Charles seemed ready to chart at least a slightly different course. When Charles traveled to Buckingham Palace for the first time as the new king Friday, his limousine snaked through a sea of spectators then stopped short of the palace gates before he got out and shook hands with well-wishers. Charles looked more like a U.S. president on the campaign trail than the latest steward of a 1,000-year-old hereditary monarchy. It’s not that Queen Elizabeth II didn’t meet her subjects. She did, often. But this felt different — a bit less formal, a bit more relaxed and personal. Charles spent almost 10 minutes greeting people pressed up against the crowd-control barriers, smiling, waving, accepting condolences and the occasional bouquet of flowers as the audience broke out in a chorus of “God Save the King.” After inspecting the tributes to his mother lined up outside the palace, he waved once more and walked through the gates with Camilla, the Queen Consort. “It was impressive, touching, a good move to come out to the crowds,” said Ammar Al-Baldawi, 64, a retiree from Hertfordshire who was among the throngs outside the palace. “I think that’s where the royal family needs to communicate with the people now.” Charles’ efforts to engage with the public more intimately reflect the fact that he needs their support. There are difficult issues ahead, most pressingly how the 73-year-old king will carry out his role as head of state. The laws and traditions that govern Britain’s constitutional monarchy dictate that the sovereign must stay out of partisan politics, but Charles has spent much of his adult life speaking out on issues that are important to him, particularly the environment. His words have caused friction with politicians and business leaders who accused the then-Prince of Wales of meddling in issues on which he should have remained silent. The question is whether Charles will follow his mother’s example and muffle his personal opinions now that he is king, or use his new platform to reach a broader audience. In his first speech as monarch, Charles sought to put his critics at ease.   “My life will of course change as I take up my new responsibilities,″ he said. “It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply. But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others.”   Ed Owens, a historian and author of “The Family Firm: Monarchy, Mass Media and the British Public, 1932-53,” said that while Charles will tread a careful path, it’s unlikely he will suddenly stop talking about climate change and the environment — issues where there is a broad consensus about the urgent need for action. “To not do so would not be true to the image that he has until this moment developed,” Owens said. John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy for climate, said he hopes Charles will continue speaking out about climate change because it is a universal issue that doesn’t involve ideology. Kerry was in Scotland to meet with the Prince of Wales this week, but the session was canceled when the queen died. “It doesn’t mean he’s involved in the daily broil of politics or speaking for a specific piece of legislation,” Kerry told the BBC. “But I can’t imagine him not … feeling compelled to use the important role of the monarch, with all the knowledge he has about it, to speak out and urge the world to do the things the world needs to do.” Constitutional lawyers have debated for years whether Charles has pushed the boundaries of conventions designed to keep the monarchy out of the political fray. His so-called Black Spider Memos — named for his spidery handwriting — to government ministers have been cited as evidence that he wouldn’t be neutral in his dealings with Parliament. The debate has also spilled over into fiction. In the 2014 play “King Charles III,” playwright Mike Bartlett imagines the new king, uncertain of his powers and moved by his conscience, causing a constitutional crisis by refusing to sign a new law restricting press freedom. It is an illustration of the tensions inherent in a system that evolved from an absolute monarchy to one in which the sovereign plays a largely ceremonial role. While Britain’s unwritten constitution requires that legislation must receive royal assent before it becomes law, this is considered a formality that the monarch cannot refuse. In an interview for a 2018 documentary broadcast on his 70th birthday, Charles said he would behave differently when he became king because the monarch has a different role than the Prince of Wales. Even so, he questioned the criticism he has received over the years. Read: When Queen Elizabeth II came to Bangladesh “I’ve always been intrigued if it’s meddling to worry about the inner cities, as I did 40 years ago, and what was happening or not happening there, the conditions in which people were living,” he wondered. “If that’s meddling, I’m very proud of it.” On another issue facing the new king, Charles has said clearly that he intends to reduce the number of working royals and cut expenses as he seeks to ensure the monarchy better represents modern Britain. Robert Lacey, a royal historian and adviser on the Netflix series “The Crown,” said this initiative underscores the important role of Prince William, who is now heir to the throne. William has already made the environment one of his primary issues, and he is likely to take an even more prominent role in this area now that his father is king, Lacey told the BBC. But there is another clue to the new king’s plans for his reign, and that’s his choice of a name. Before Elizabeth’s time, there was a tradition that British monarchs would choose a new name when they ascended the throne. Charles’ grandfather, for instance was known as Bertie before he became King George VI. There was some thought Charles would choose to be known as King George VII in honor of his grandfather. Read: Tears and tributes for Queen across the world But Charles rejected the idea and kept his own name. That’s a “clear message” that the king will continue to champion the causes he backed as Prince of Wales, Lacey said. It was his father, Prince Philip, who identified ways in which the neutral monarchy could advocate for youth development and the environment — “really important causes that they could push forward without being accused of partisanship,” he said.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II has triggered a series of carefully structured ceremonial and constitutional steps, as Britain undergoes a period of national mourning and heralds the reign of King Charles III. The long-established 10-day plan, code-named Operation London Bridge, has been adapted to the specific circumstances of the queen’s death in Scotland, and some details haven’t been publicly confirmed. Friday, Sept. 9 — King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, traveled from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to London. — At noon, church bells rang at Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and across the country in honor of the queen. — Also at noon, Parliament held a special session so lawmakers can pay tribute to the queen. — A 1 p.m., gun salutes were fired in London’s Hyde Park and at military sites around the country, one round for reach of the 96 years of the queen’s life. — Afternoon — The king met with new Prime Minister Liz Truss. — 6 p.m. — The king made a televised address to the nation in which he spoke of his “profound sorrow” over the death of his mother, the queen, and vowed to continue her “lifelong service” to others. — 6 p.m. — A service of remembrance was held at St. Paul’s Cathedral for the queen. Saturday, Sept. 10 — 10 a.m. — Charles meets at St. James’s Palace with senior officials known as the Accession Council and is officially proclaimed king. — 11 a.m. — An official reads the proclamation aloud from a balcony at St. James’s Palace. It is also read out in other locations across the U.K. — 1 p.m. — Parliament holds a second day of tributes to the queen. Subsequent days: — The queen’s body is moved from Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands to Edinburgh, where the coffin is likely to rest at Holyrood Palace before being moved to St. Giles’ Cathedral so members of the public can pay their respects. — The coffin will be transported by train or plane to London. — The queen will then lie in state for several days in Parliament’s Westminster Hall, where the public will again be able to pay their respects. Read: British sports hold day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II — A state funeral at Westminster Abbey will be attended by leaders and dignitaries from around the world. — The period of national mourning will end the day after the queen’s funeral.