King Charles' words and actions in Normandy spoke volumes about the monarch
He was so acutely aware of his duty that not even cancer was going to prevent him from personally addressing veterans in Northern France.
The presence of King Charles in Normandy this week spoke volumes about his sense of duty.
After revealing a cancer diagnosis in February, few thought he would be able to fulfil any duties this year, let alone one as momentous as commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
But he was so acutely aware of his duty that not even a disease for which he is still receiving treatment was going to prevent him from personally addressing the handful of veterans in Northern France.
Charles’s humbling address to the 41 giants gathered at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer echoed those given by his grandfather and late mother.
He said: "On the beaches of Normandy, in the seas beyond and in the skies overhead, our Armed Forces carried out their duty with a humbling sense of resolve and determination: qualities so characteristic of that remarkable wartime generation.
"How fortunate we were, and the entire free world, that a generation of men and women in the United Kingdom and other Allied nations did not flinch when the moment came to face that test.”
King George VI wanted to observe the landings from the Royal Navy fleet. Instead Charles's grandfather addressed the nation with a stirring speech in which he said: “Now once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time, the challenge is not to fight to survive but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause.
“Once again what is demanded from us all is something more than courage and endurance; we need a revival of spirit, a new unconquerable resolve.
“We and our Allies are sure that our fight is against evil and for a world in which goodness and honour may be the foundation of the life of men in every land.”
In 2019, on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Charles, then Prince of Wales, accompanied his mother to commemorations in Portsmouth, from where much of the armada left for Normandy.
And there she made a deeply moving speech, saying: “The wartime generation - my generation - is resilient. It is with humility and pleasure, on behalf of the entire country – indeed the whole free world – that I say to you all, thank you.” It was one of her last major public events before she died in September 2022, aged 96.
A royal source told the Daily Express that Charles made it a personal mission to honour Second World War heroes in person, just like his late mother, and said: “It was too much of a big one to miss as it will be the last major anniversary where veterans take part. The memorial honours soldiers who served Britain and the Commonwealth and it is incredibly important. He definitely wanted to be there.”
It immortalises the names of 22,442 heroes who gave their lives under British command in Normandy.
On Thursday, in the blazing June sunshine and wearing his Parachute Regiment dress uniform with medals, Charles saluted the heroes of 1944 at the stunning monument’s first full-scale state occasion.
Addressing the remarkable men, he said: "It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them and all who served at that critical time. Our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration eternal.”
Taking on his late mother’s duties, Charles is now head of the Armed Forces, Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, The Royal Tank Regiment and The Royal Regiment of Scotland, Captain General of both The Royal Artillery and The Honourable Artillery Company and Air Commodore-in-Chief of RAF Regiment.
The King’s devotion to duty is driven by a desire to emulate his mother, the last serving head of state in uniform during the Second World War and on D-Day.
During the 1939-45 conflict his father Prince Philip, who died aged 99 in 2021, served aboard HMS Valiant in the Battle of the Mediterranean and the destroyer HMS Wallace during the Allied invasion of Sicily. Queen Camilla’s father, Major Bruce Shand, served at the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa in 1942 and passed away in 2006 aged 89.
Charles earned his RAF wings in 1971 before embarking on a naval career in which he served on the guided-missile destroyer HMS Norfolk and frigates HMS Minerva and HMS Jupiter. He also qualified as a helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton and subsequently joined 845 Naval Air Squadron, operating from HMS Hermes. He spent his last months of active service commanding the coastal minehunter HMS Bronington and was appointed colonel-in-chief of the Parachute Regiment in 1977.
As someone who served, the King shares a unique kinship with the Second World War band of brothers, and during the ceremony was seen wiping a tear from his eye.
One of the D-Day heroes lauded by Charles was Jack Mortimer, 100, just 20 when he landed with 12 Ordnance Beach detachment.
He said: “When I go [to Normandy], I cry. I’m grateful I survived and I’m sorry so many had to die. I don’t think I’m a hero, the heroes are the ones who didn’t come home, and they should always be remembered.”
It was initially thought Charles's first major overseas trip this year would be a state visit to Australia, also taking in neighbouring New Zealand, to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. It would be his first royal visit Down Under as sovereign and by a British monarch since 2011.
Queen Camilla, 76, has been a source of enormous comfort and strength for Charles and will join her husband on the trip if it goes ahead, as planned, in October.
The King is still undergoing weekly treatment for a “form of cancer”. He was diagnosed after a hospital operation for an enlarged prostate in the New Year.
He was discharged on January 29, but only made news of his diagnosis public on February 5.
