00:00 King Charles has officially started his summer holiday at Balmoral today ahead of a crucial summit with the Prince and Princess of Wales.
00:07 He was officially welcomed to his Scottish Highlands estate in a small ceremony outside the castle gates,
00:19 carrying on the tradition from his late mother the Queen, who died at Balmoral last year.
00:24 Dressed in his traditional kilt, Charles inspected a guard of honour formed by the Balaclava Company,
00:36 5th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, under the command of Major Robert Weir.
00:41 Troops also played the pipes and drums at the ceremony with the regiment's mascot,
00:53 a tiny Shetland pony called Corporal Cruachan IV, also there.
00:57 The late Queen always spent her summers at Balmoral, welcoming various members of her
01:09 family at different points throughout her stay, for a break in the Scottish countryside.
01:20 It has been reported the King and Queen Camilla have already extended an invitation
01:25 his scandal-hit younger brother Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson already.
01:30 Over the next few weeks, other visitors will include Prince William,
01:40 Kate and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
01:45 And during their visit, the King will hold a Royal Summit to lay out the future direction of the monarchy.
01:57 Sources reveal, he will tell the Prince and Princess of Wales of his intention to carve
02:08 out precise roles for them as well as for himself and Queen Camilla.
02:12 Central to his plans will be to use William and Kate's star quality to help bind the Commonwealth together.
02:24 A source close to the King said, "His Majesty is very clear,
02:35 the Commonwealth must be at the very heart of his reign."
02:39 He sees it as his utmost duty to fulfil the sincere wish of his late mother,
02:50 that one of his central roles must be to ensure not only the survival but the robustness of the organisation.
02:56 Charles will deliver objectives for at least the next year, including foreign travel,
03:07 engagements and key aims.
03:08 The source said the King sees the roles of William and Kate being at the heart
03:19 of cementing their own future and that of the monarchy at large.
03:22 Insiders suggest the King is very keen to capitalise on their increasing popularity
03:34 with the Princess' undoubted star quality, as one official described.
03:38 As one senior civil servant said of Charles, he hopes to use the symbolism tied into his
03:51 mother's legacy to offer a hand of friendship, which might get harder as the years go by.
04:02 Charles is also understood to have made plans to visit Canada and Australia next year,
04:07 in line with requests from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
04:10 He will remind his closest family that the major Commonwealth realms must be brought closer to Britain.
04:29 In the face of growing republicanism and the Prince and Princess of Wales' disastrous tour
04:34 of the Caribbean last year, the task has been described by senior officials in the
04:39 Foreign Office as gargantuan.
04:42 The King's message is clear. He is not a man of his word. He is a man of his word. - Charles H.W. Bush, 1834-1932
Comments