KING Charles has delivered a ‘State of the Union-style’ address revealing his vision of the Best of British values.
Speaking to guests at the black tie bash, Charles told guests that since he became King 13 months ago: “I have taken the opportunity to reflect on what it is that makes this nation of ours so special.”
He then went on to list what makes Britain Great and called upon Brits to recognise five shared values he coined as ‘Deep Wells’ that “are the force which holds us together”.
In his speech at the Mansion House in London the King called up the nation to draw upon ‘Deep Wells’ of historic principles during a period of strife in Britain and the world.
And spoke about the worsening Middle Eastern violence as he called for harmony between different religions.
The King said: “Such understanding, both at home and overseas, is never more vital than at times of international turmoil and heartbreaking loss of life.”
The speech came at last night’s dinner in the City of London which traditionally takes place during a new monarch’s coronation year and first took place in 1689 for King William III.
During the ceremony he was given The Pearl Sword which was first presented to the City of London by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571.
The address, in which the King also poked fun at himself over ‘pengate’ when he became irate at a leaky fountain last year, is the closest yet to revealing the King’s manifesto for his reign or delivering a US Presidential-style ‘State of the Union’ address.
Describing his five ‘Deep Wells’, he said: “I have often described the United Kingdom as a “community of communities”; an island nation in which our shared values are the force which holds us together, reminding us that there is far, far more that unites us than divides us.
“Yet we are living in something of a watershed age.”
He raised fears about artificial intelligence questioning whether technology will “bring with it an era of ever-increasing material plenty and leisure” or fulfill doom-laden predictions that AI could end up “capturing and then surpassing our very minds themselves.”
After more than 50 years of fighting to save the environment he asked the room whether Britain was prepared to cope with migrants fleeing climate change disaster and whether the nation is prepared to “make the sacrifices needed to secure our planet for generations yet unborn”
He said: “I believe so. Because at such a juncture in our national life, there are special strengths which we can summon to help us – deep wells on which we can draw, filled not just with our shared histories and experiences, but with literally countless individual stories too; a mix of memories past and ambitions future, to help give ourselves a sense of perspective.”
Rattling through so-called ‘Deep Wells” the nation should draw upon, the King hailed civility and tolerance within politics and respecting the rule of law – particularly after several years of turmoil in Westminster.
He also celebrated Britain’s value of giving ‘breathing space’ for people to ‘speak and think freely’ and called for religious freedom – coming amid the conflict between Israel and Gaza.
The King called on Brits to remember “the duty of care we feel for others in sickness or misfortune” saying the nation must “strive to be a compassionate people who, in the best and worst of times, seek instinctively to relieve the suffering of others – those we love, those we like and, most powerfully of all, the stranger we have never met, but to whom we extend our hand and our help.”
The nation’s science and technology industry was hailed for acting “with characteristic innovation and flair” to fight the “greatest battle of all”, which is to confront the perils of climate change.
And in a light-hearted exchange, the smiling King marked the Great British value of humour as one of his Deep Wells.
He said: “he cherished well from which the sound of laughter can be heard – the healing well filled with a sense of humour laced with an invigorating dash of self-irony.
“This well flows liberally into all the others. The British sense of humour is world-renowned. It is not what we do. It is who we are.
“Our ability to laugh at ourselves is one of our great national characteristics.
“Just as well, you may say, given some of the vicissitudes I have faced with frustratingly failing fountain pens this past year.”
He claimed these ‘Deep Wells’ have helped create successful health and social care, leading businesses and even national defence.
Celebrating the UK, he added: “The instinct to co-operate wherever and whenever possible is deep within us.
“Even in the most fractious times – when disagreements are polished, paraded and asserted – there is in our land a kind of muscle-memory that it does not have to be like this; that the temptation to turn ourselves into a shouting or recriminatory society must be resisted, or at least heavily mitigated whenever possible, especially in the digital sphere where civilised debate too often gives way to rancour and acrimony.
“These instincts come together in perhaps the deepest of all our reservoirs – the one that irrigates our crucial sense of responsibility, both individual and collective – that enables us to fulfil our duties as good citizens who understand, without having to write down or formalise them, the decencies on which our institutions and our constitution depend, as well as our relationships, one to another.”
Calling British values as “virtues for all seasons”, he added: “They carry our hopes, our kindness and our duties to one another.
“They make us what we are and shape what we aspire to be when moving over the cusp of what is to become of us, as we live and breathe on these islands we share, cherish and, crucially, sustain.”
