The Strange Word Charles III Uses To Describe the Death of ‘Much-Loved Kinsman,’ King Harald V of Norway

The death of King Harald of Norway on Friday at the age of 89 ended the reign of Europe’s oldest ruling monarch — and prompted his second cousin once removed, King Charles III of Britain, to deploy an unusual word — “demise.”In a social media post mourning his northern cousin’s passing, the Royal Family shared “a message from The King following the demise of King Harald V of Norway.” King Charles referred to Harald as a “much-loved kinsman” who referenced the ties between England and Norway forged during the “dreadful trials of the Second World War.” King Harald was 81st in line for the British throne by virtue of his relation to King Charles.The word “demise” was intentionally chosen by the House of Windsor to refer to the death of their relative at Oslo. Webster’s English Dictionary notes that the word, which comes from the Latin “to lay down,” is in “England, a laying down or removal, applied to the crown or royal authority. The demise of the crown is a transfer of the crown, royal authority or kingdom to a successor.”While the death of a monarch automatically involves the demise of his sovereignty, such a transfer can happen without the ruler shuffling off his mortal coil. In 1936 the Crown was demised when King Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry the American socialite Wallis Simpson. An Act of Parliament transferred the Crown to King Charles’s grandfather, King George VI. The law mandated that “there shall be a demise of the Crown, and accordingly the member of the Royal Family then next in succession to the Throne shall succeed thereto and to all the rights, privileges, and dignities thereunto belonging.”William Blackstone understood the process conveyed by the word “demise” to touch on the essence of sovereignty. He writes in his 18th century “Commentaries on the Laws of England” that an “attribute of the king’s majesty is his perpetuity. The law ascribes to him, in his political capacity, an absolute immortality. The king never dies. Henry, Edward, or George may die; but the king survives them all. For immediately upon the decease of the reigning prince in his natural capacity, his kingship or imperial dignity, by act of law, without any interregnum or interval, is vested at once in his heir, who is, eo instanti, king to all intents and purposes.”For centuries the demise of a king carried enormous consequences. Parliament automatically dissolved, and all of the Great Officers of State — the Lord Chancellor, the Lord High Treasurer, the Earl Marshal, and the Lord High Admiral —were vacated. Before the death of Henry VIII, all legal action in the royal courts was also suspended upon the demise of a king. His son, King Edward VI, discontinued that practice.Charles III reads the King’s Speech at the opening of Parliament on July 17, 2024. Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA pool/Getty ImagesIn the wake of the death, or the demise, of Queen Victoria in 1901— King Charles is her great-great-great-grandson — Parliament passed the Demise of the Crown Act 1901, which mandates that all holders of public offices continue in the event of a demise. Members of both Houses of Parliament, though, retake their oaths in the event that the Crown passes to another holder. While the coronation is the formal confirmation of the accession of a new monarch, the actual sovereignty is passed, via the line of succession, the instant the Crown is demised. The new ruler of Norway, whose royal roots stretch back to the ninth century, will be King Haakon VIII, now known as Crown Prince Haakon. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and has adopted the family motto of Alt for Norge, or “All for Norway.” His wife will become Queen Mette-Marit, while his oldest child became Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and the heir to the throne. The heir to the British throne is William, Prince of Wales. That princedom dates to 1301, when King Edward I, the Plantagenet King of England — known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots — gave the title to his son, Edward of Caernarfon.

The Strange Word Charles III Uses To Describe the Death of ‘Much-Loved Kinsman,’ King Harald V of Norway

The Strange Word Charles III Uses To Describe the Death of ‘Much-Loved Kinsman,’ King Harald V of Norway

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