LONDON: Britain´s King Charles on Tuesday paid a heartfelt tribute to his mother, the late queen Elizabeth II in a video message on what would have been her 100th birthday.
The king´s moving homage came as the final plans for a memorial for the nation´s longest serving monarch were unveiled.
Referring to Elizabeth as “darling mama”, Charles, 77, said she had “remained constant, steadfast and wholly devoted to the people she served” throughout her long life.
The monarch died aged 96 in September 2022, after a 70-year reign.
“Much about the times we now live in, I suspect, may have troubled her deeply, but I take heart from her belief that goodness will always prevail and that a brighter dawn is never far from the horizon,” the king said in his message.
“For as a young Princess Elizabeth put it in her first ever public broadcast, aged just 14, we can each play our part ´to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place´.
“It is a belief which I share, with all my heart,” he added. The memorial to the queen will feature a statue by sculptor Martin Jennings of her as a young woman dressed in ceremonial robes.
The bronze likeness will take inspiration from a celebrated 1955 portrait of her by Italian artist Pietro Annigoni.
The combined statue and plinth will stand 7.3 metres high at the entrance to the memorial in London´s St James´s Park, close to Buckingham Palace.
The king told architect Norman Foster during a viewing at the British Museum that the design was “fantastic”.
