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King Charles III Becomes Monarch Of United Kingdom After Death of His Mother Queen Elizabeth II; Queen Elizabeth II's Body To Make Procession Through Parts Of United Kingdom; King Charles III's Relationship With Commonwealth Nations And Previously Expressed Views On Climate Change Examined; Department Of Justice Argues To Judge Against Appointment Of Special Master Reviewing All Documents Seized By FBI from Former President Trump's Residence In Mar-a-Lago; Ukrainian Forces Launch Counteroffensive And Take Key Towns Held By Russian Forces Around City Of Kharkiv. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired September 10, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:00:44]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Saturday, September 10th. I'm Amara Walker.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Amara. I'm Boris Sanchez. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. We're grateful to have you this weekend.
And we have been watching history this morning. The end of a long historic era in Great Britain and the start of a new reign. Charles III has been formally proclaimed king.
WALKER: It has been a morning filled with pomp and pageantry in the U.K., but now business. This hour, the new monarch is at Buckingham Palace carrying out some of his first official duties as king. And any minute he is expected to meet with the new prime minister, Liz Truss. It is a meeting that, if tradition continues, will now happen weekly.
SANCHEZ: Let's take you to London now and CNN's Richard Quest along with Anna Stewart who are outside Buckingham Palace. Richard, set the scene for us. This is the same king, and in the same week, a new prime minister.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Yes, and that is the extraordinary part. A very good morning to you from London. A beautiful late summer, early autumn day, where the sun is absolutely shining. And the way in which the day has progressed, it has been one of great solemnity as the proclamation for King Charles III, the formal part, if you will, was read out at St. James Palace. Events that we have never seen before, events that have always taken place with the transition of monarchy, but we've never been witnessed or privilege.
So Anna Stewart is with me. We start, let's go through the morning's events. Charles was proclaimed King officially by this strange thing as the accession council. ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: You don't really get more ceremonial and
archaic than that, and it's the first time we've ever actually been able to see this. This is the first time this has been televised. This is nearly as ancient as the monarchy itself.
QUEST: So when he is proclaimed and everybody signs on, this proclamation was sent to the other places. It's sent to the city of London where it was done, and it's also going to the national capitals, Scotland, Ireland --
STEWART: The four nations where we hope and expect to see King Charles in the coming days to see his kingdom, to see the four nations. That's why it's proclaimed in that fashion.
QUEST: Why do we still bother with it?
STEWART: I think it's tradition. There's something beautiful about some of the ceremonial traditions of the monarchy. Some things evolve with time, and some things don't. And that is one of the oxymorons of the royal family that we cover all the time. It's part of the tradition, part of the continuity, and a reminder that this isn't just a celebrity. This is someone appointed by God.
QUEST: And they have a role to play as a constitutional monarch within the United Kingdom.
One thing behind me, if you look behind me, we can see, I'm really quite -- surprised is the wrong word, amazed at just the numbers gathering here at Buckingham Palace, by the thousands. People are lining up right there and they're heading down. What are they doing?
STEWART: Tens of thousands of people have been gathering, to the point actually that it's incredibly hard to move anywhere around here. Some people just here for a moment's reflection, hoping to see part of the ceremony as we've seen today. People saw King Charles on the way back from the proclamation, huge cheers, Richard. And then if you just go a bit further down there to the flower garden where all the floral tributes are heading, a lot of tears.
And I think this is what is so bitter-sweet and beautiful about this. It is tears, it is cheers, it is, as you said earlier, God save the queen and long live the king. You are having both sides of this incredibly emotionally complex transitional week.
QUEST: And that is seen perfectly in the next development that we have got. On the one hand you have -- when I say a celebration, I don't mean a happy, joyous moment, but a celebration of a shift in monarchy to a new reign, the reign of King Charles III. The other side of the coin that you're talking about, moments ago, members of the royal family attended a private church service near Balmoral in Scotland.
[10:05:06]
Now, that is where the Queen passed away, of course. The family stopped to look at the flowers that have been left by mourners. When you see the pictures, you can see Princess Anne, you can see the members of the royal family there were there, Princess Anne, the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward. That's the princess royal, here you can see. And that is the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, otherwise known as the youngest son of the Queen. Timothy Laurence --
STEWART: I think we can see Princess Beatrice there as well lining up. And of course, this is important, Richard, because this is such a private moment for the family. And you have to remember, and it's been a long time since we've seen the death of a monarch, how important it is for them to have this time.
QUEST: CNN's Isa Soares is in Balmoral. This was fascinating this morning. What was it like there?
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Richard. I think the scene is different from the picture that you and Anna are painting where you are. Those scenes of pomp, of jubilation, very different, much more somber. We saw the family going to a private service in a church close by, a church where the queen went very often, she was part of the congregation. They were there about 15, 20 minutes or so. Then the return, parked their cars, and like you and Anna were just discussing, looked at the tributes and all the bouquets that have been left there as people pay respects to a queen, to a monarch, and a matriarch.
There was a moment I would like just to point out to our viewers, Richard, and that was we saw Princess Eugenie, that's Prince Andrew's daughter. She got somewhat tearful. She cleaned her eye. And then Prince Andrew put his arm around her, embraced her. And I think that is worth reminding viewers, this is a family very much grieving. And while, of course, we are celebrating the new king, King Charles III, this family is still mourning. And worth reminding viewers that the mood here has been incredibly somber as we expect, obviously, the Queen to then make her way to Edinburgh, that's expected to happen tomorrow, Richard.
QUEST: Let's talk about that. And by the way, we're looking at pictures of Prince Andrew there. Of course, he is also very much part of this because of his -- one of the Queen's sons. Let's talk about tomorrow. The Queen's body remains at Balmoral. It has to go to Edinburgh, and eventually, of course, it needs to return here to London. Do we have any further details?
SOARES: We don't have the firm details, let's say, of the planning. We're expecting to find out the more fine-tuning details later on today. But what we do know is that the Queen will leave -- the coffin will leave Balmoral, of course, the residence that's been her home, her summer residence for so long, of course, in the time even of her grandmother. She will leave Balmoral here and she will travel to Edinburgh.
Normally, Richard, that journey takes three hours. We've been told by some of our sources that might actually take longer because they want to go slower to give people along the route time to just pause, bow their heads, and reflect, and pay tributes, of course, to the monarch. Once she gets to Edinburgh the coffin will make its way to Holyrood House, the Palace of Holyrood. That's where the Queen is expected to say. That is the royal household
for the monarch in Scotland here. And then we will expect to see whether that's tomorrow evening or the following day, perhaps Monday, we could be seeing then really a procession of the coffin, of the Queen, making her way to St. Giles Cathedral, so a ceremonial procession to St. Giles Cathedral where then we may expect a service, Richard, before finally making her way to London, Richard.
QUEST: So we'll follow those events as they go through, Isa, at Balmoral who will watch over as things continue. Buckingham Palace is the office, if you like. Buckingham Palace is where the queen's headquarters were. Balmoral was her favorite home. She loved her summer long vacation. Windsor Castle is where she lived, especially during the last five and 10 years of her life. Most of the time was spent at Windsor with its large grounds, its woods, its horses, and its privacy.
CNN's Scott McLean is in Windsor town. The crowds there are gathering there to pay their respects. Windsor will be the final resting place.
[10:10:01]
It's now, of course, also the new home of the Prince and Princess of Wales. And it is integral, in a sense, to the next few days.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It was definitely the Queen's preferred home, Richard. And it is also the place where just in the past couple of weeks, Prince William, now the Prince of Wales, and Catherine, that's where they moved their family. As you mentioned, it's a large estate grounds of the castle, a lot of privacy, a lot of places to be. It is also just about their home on the castle grounds is actually only about 600 yards or so away from Harry and Meghan's home in the U.K. where it's possible that they may be staying while they're here.
We've seen a lot of people come to Windsor to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II over the last couple of days but we haven't seen it quite like this. of course, this is the first day that we've had since her passing that it's been a weekend. And so now you have the confluence of a royal event here and also an orderly queue, which, of course, British people really like to do.
Let me actually show you that orderly queue, Richard, if we can just swing the camera around. It goes at least one block down. And I've been asking people about what they thought about King Charles III's speech yesterday and his speech today. And the word that I keep hearing over and over again is "reassuring." It will go a long way to reassuring people that the monarchy is in good hands for the next generation. A lot of people obviously recognize that Charles has his share of challenges, but they think that so far he's doing pretty well.
Let me just ask this woman really quickly. You're live on CNN, ma'am. Just wondering why you decided to come here today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've always loved the Queen. And I'm part of the commonwealth, so I wanted to come and lay some flowers.
MCLEAN: Perfect. Let me try to grab somebody else here really quick. Sir, just wondering what you thought of King Charles' speech yesterday and today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was good. I saw bits and clips of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very moving and genuine.
MCLEAN: Did anything stand out to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just how similar he is to his mother in terms of the duty he's going to give to our country.
MCLEAN: Thank you.
A lot of other people have mentioned, Richard, that they appreciated that Harry and Meghan were mentioned by name in this, sort of, maybe an olive branch to them as they embark on their new lives in the United States. Obviously, there's a fracture in the relationship there. And several people have said that this event of the Queen's death, perhaps, they're hoping that maybe this might be the miracle that the family needs to spark some kind of reconciliation between Prince William and his brother, Harry. Richard?
QUEST: Scott McLean at Windsor. Anna, you were just commenting?
STEWART: If we think about the next few days, when the Queen's body leaves Balmoral, it leaves the royal family. And I think it's really important to think about how special a moment this is. And I was thinking about Prince Charles leaving the plane, arriving in London, seeing it for the first time, and there's a memory of the Queen doing exactly that when she landed in Kenya on the news her father had died, suddenly leaving their private grief behind and then moving into the public.
QUEST: And that we've seen indeed in spades today. The private grief of some of the younger members of the royal family as they look at flowers outside Balmoral, and the public face of royalty as Charles powers on with the proclamation and begins to gather up the reins of his kingdom.
We'll have a lot more, including, of course, not just from the United Kingdom. We'll go to the realms, Canada for instance, as the king gets under way, so the different governments pledge their oaths and allegiances to King Charles III. This is CNN.
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KING CHARLES III, UNITED KINGDOM: And in carrying out the heavy task that has been laid upon me, and to which I now dedicate what remains to me of my life, I pray for the guidance and help of almighty God. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: The newly proclaimed king echoing the pledge that his mother made on her 21st birthday, a few years before she became queen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEEN ELIZABETH II, UNITED KINGDOM: I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service, and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: I want to bring in two royal historians now, CNN's Kate Williams and Carolyn Harris from the University of Toronto. Welcome to you both. Kate, we'll start with you. We heard there King Charles III honoring his mother's service and dedication. How do you think her reign will shape his time as king? And do you expect people to rally around King Charles the way they did with Queen Elizabeth?
KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Well, it's fascinating, isn't it, because we've really heard King Charles give such tribute to his mother in his address to the nation last night in which he talked about his beloved mama, her life of selfless service, and did so again this morning in his accession speech, and really made it very clear that she is the guiding light that he's going to put forward in the monarchy as he becomes king.
And that I think is very reassuring to people. There have been concerns here that Charles might be -- she's such a popular queen, that Charles, campaigning, opinionated, he made it very clear in his speech that he was going to go very similar service, duty, to his mother. And really, Charles has never had highest opinion poll ratings, often below 50 percent. And the crowds out there at Buckingham Palace, they are cheering, they're waving. There's a lot of support for him.
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I'm not saying there's not going to be a honeymoon period. Let's see how he does. But at the moment I think there's a lot of support and a lot of sympathy for him.
SANCHEZ: And Carolyn, the king had a lot of time to prepare for this. He was Prince of Wales for some 60 plus years. I heard it described as the longest apprenticeship in history. How do those decades prepare him for this role?
CAROLYN HARRIS, ROYAL HISTORIAN: Well, he has a very strong relationship with the commonwealth realms when he was in secondary school. He did an exchange term in Australia. He first visited Canada in 1970. So we've noticed in all of the new king's speeches, he's been emphasizing that he's not only king of the United Kingdom but of the commonwealth realms of the overseas territories. So he has had decades to establish this relationship with the various commonwealth realms. For Queen Elizabeth II, she came to the throne at the age of just 25.
So she made one visit to Canada in 1951 and she would visit Australia, New Zealand, after her coronation. But the new king has had decades to establish those very strong commonwealth ties.
WALKER: Yes, and Kate, right now we should mention, right, it's a time of transition for the U.K. as just a few days ago they welcomed a new prime minister, but also it's a time of turmoil. Economically things aren't doing so well. Inflation is extremely high. Energy prices have skyrocketed. How do you expect King Charles to navigate this as he steps -- has stepped into this role?
WILLIAMS: Yes, good question. When Charles gave his speech to the privy council this morning, he said it's a heavy task he has. And that's true. And you say just a new prime minister, just a few days ago, the Queen's last act was to welcome the new prime minister, incredible, the last act she did before she did die just two days later. And we were, just before the sad death of the Queen, we were all caught up in the news of the energy crisis we're having here, massive inflation, and a lot of talk that this winter is going to be hard for many families who won't be able to heat their homes.
And this is a crisis that Charles has been pitched right into, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, inflation, and how is he going to really show the common touch, to sympathize, a man who lives in a palace with nearly 1,000 rooms, with the people who are suffering, and also with the commonwealth. Just as Carolyn was saying, the commonwealth is so important to the royal family, and the commonwealth is in transition.
Many countries have said that they would keep the Queen as head of state when she was still alive, when we no longer have the Queen, they will address the request of being republics. Jamaica, Australia, Antigua, Belize have all talked about this. And there's movements strengthening in all commonwealth countries, and I do see we're going to see a transition in the commonwealth itself because, although the queen wants it to be a unity of friendship, for many young people in the commonwealth, there is still that stain of empire there, and they wish to ally with other countries. So Charles has to oversee that big change, and he has got a lot on his plate.
SANCHEZ: Carolyn, I'm curious to get your thoughts on this as Kate outlined the global issues the U.K. is sorting through. Views surrounding the monarchy have shifted over the past few years, so how does a new king navigate all of that?
HARRIS: It will be a complicated process because the late Queen Elizabeth II had a great deal of personal popularity, even with people in the commonwealth who didn't necessarily support constitutional monarchy as a system of government. There was a lot of respect for the queen's decades of public service, her service in the auxiliary territorial service during the Second World War.
And so with the change in reign, it will be interesting to see how attitudes towards the monarchy shift. We have seen that, as Prince of Wales, that Prince Charles, now the king, had some successful recent tours. He visited Canada with Camilla in May to mark the platinum jubilee, and he emphasized that his role while he was in Canada was to listen to Canadians, particularly indigenous Canadians, and to take in their concerns.
And so I think that's going to set the tone for his role as king. He's going to emphasize listening to people around the world from all walks of life and being a unifying figure above party politics.
SANCHEZ: Kate Williams, Carolyn Harris, we appreciate you being with us to mark this new chapter in the history of the United Kingdom. Thanks so much for being with us.
HARRIS: Thank you.
[10:25:00]
SANCHEZ: Of course.
We're also following new developments in the United States over those documents seized from former President Trump's estate at Mar-a-Lago. The DOJ says it does not want a special master to see any of the classified material. Donald Trump's team wants everything to go under review. So what does the judge do now? Newsroom continues in just moments.
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WALKER: The showdown is intensifying between the Justice Department and former President Trump's legal team. In a late Friday filing both sides clashing over how to move forward with that special master review of the seized documents from Mar-a-Lago, from who the special master should be down to who should pay the bill for that person's time.
[10:30:11]
SANCHEZ: Now it's on a judge to decide. Let's get some legal expertise now with constitutional law attorney Page Pate. Page, good morning, always appreciate you sharing your insight with us. A lot of disagreements between team Trump and the DOJ. The fight over executive privilege, as Amara outlined, who's going to pay for it, when it's going to get done. What were your impressions of last night's filing?
PAGE PATE, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ATTORNEY: Boris, I'm not at all surprised that we see some disagreement here. Obviously, the government is still upset that there's a special master that was appointed to even begin with. Both sides I think have submitted qualified people to serve as a special master. The real disagreement is what is this special master supposed to do?
Is he going to be able to review everything like the Trump team wants, or is his review going to be restricted to just potential attorney- client privilege material. Stay away from the classified material, it doesn't belong to Trump. Stay away from any claims of executive privilege, it's not Trump's to make. So what the special master will do I think will be the focus of the judge's continued analysis of how this process is going to work.
WALKER: And they're also disagreeing over how long the process should take right. So the DOJ wants the review to be finished by mid-October. Trump's team wants 90 days. What's the advantage of having a longer timeframe to play with?
PATE: Amara, it depends on what the special master is going to do. I think the government would probably agree that if the special master is actually going to review everything, like Trump wants, then it's going to take more time. But if that review is just limited to the potential attorney-client privilege documents, it only needs to take a few weeks. So I think the time issue will be decided by the judge's ruling on what the special master will actually do.
SANCHEZ: I've been curiously watching how the Trump team is approaching the description that they used to talk about these classified documents. At one point they had put out there that Trump had a standing policy that everything he removed from the Oval Office was automatically declassified. In the filing yesterday the Trump team says the Justice Department has wrongly assumed that documents are classified forever if they have classification markings. I'm wondering what your perspective on all of that is.
PATE: Boris, that's a great point. I think the Trump team has been very careful not to make the legal argument in court that he declassified everything. I think that's such a ridiculous, frivolous argument, they're not going to make that in court. But they want to preserve the right, potentially, to argue later that, look, these aren't as classified as the government is saying that they are.
And once they're marked classified, it doesn't mean they stay classified forever. So they're trying to have their cake and eat it, too. They want to preserve this argument, but they don't want to come right out and try to make that argument because I think the judge would not accept it.
WALKER: And no surprise, right, the DOJ appealing this decision. How do you see this playing out?
PATE: I think the government has a very strong position that a special master, while certainly can review potential claims of attorney-client privilege, should not be able to review the classified documents. Clearly those documents, if they're classified, never belonged to Trump. There's no issue about that being some sort of attorney-client issue, those weren't documents he sent to his lawyer, they weren't consultations about legal advice in there.
So the Justice Department says, look, we can go along perhaps with the special master looking at the attorney-client privilege issue. Stay away from the classified documents. I think they have a good position there because we don't have any precedent for that happening in another case.
SANCHEZ: And Page, if we take a step back, we should point out that the DOJ is appealing the special master decision. Is there a scenario in which you see that potentially getting overturned? PATE: Yes, there is, or at least limited to what the Justice
Department really wants, and that's to have the special master stay away from the classified material, and also have the special master not engage in some sort of analysis of this executive privilege argument that the government doesn't even believe is possible.
So the government has appealed the entire order, but it's basically also asking the judge while that appeal is pending, don't make us do everything you said you wanted us to do. We'll go ahead with the attorney-client privilege issue basically the way we proposed, but we do not want to stop our analysis of these classified documents, and we don't want the special master looking at them.
WALKER: Page Pate, we're going to leave it there. Appreciate you, thanks.
PATE: Thank you.
[10:35:02]
WALKER: So New York's governor just declared a state of emergency as polio cases are rising in the state. The move will help ramp up its virus fighting response. It comes as officials found more signs of polio in the wastewater. The report indicates all samples are, quote, samples of concern, including types that can cause paralysis in humans. The virus has been found in five New York counties, showing more evidence of community spread.
SANCHEZ: And what a run sadly coming to an end. An emotional Francis Tiafoe losing to five sets to Carlos Alcaraz in the U.S. Open semifinals. Michelle Obama, the former first lady, among the packed crowd. The 24-year-old from Maryland was looking to become the first American Grand Slam men's finalist since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009. After the match he praised his opponent but said this one really hurts, and that he'd be back to win the whole thing one day.
WALKER: Much more special live coverage from the United Kingdom ahead as King Charles III undertakes his new duties as the head of the commonwealth.
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[10:40:18]
QUEST: And a warm welcome back to London and to Buckingham Palace. A busy day it has been. We keep talking about the two sides of the same coin, the somber as we say goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II, and if you will, the excitement and celebration of the start of a new reign, the reign of King Charles III. And that is already underway. This morning there was the proclamation here in London of the new king that came from the privy council, and it was a proclamation which was then read in the city of London. It will also now be read in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
And then the King came down the mile, first time that we've seen him today, round behind me, and back into Buckingham Palace. And in the palace now, that is where he is holding meetings with the British cabinet, the U.K. cabinet. They will be swearing their oaths of allegiance to him. And he has met the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Now, that proclamation, of course it will be in the national countries of the United Kingdom. But it also needs to be read in the 14 realms where the Queen is still head of state. Canada is one of the most important and prominent, and so reading of the proclamation had to take place there. CNN's Paula Newton is in the Canadian capital in Ottawa. Canada, in many ways, if you will, Paula of the big countries of which the Queen, besides the U.K., is still head of state, Canada is probably, maybe, probably the closest to the royal family at the moment. What happened today?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Richard, and we don't need to speculate about that as well. The Queen visited here 22 times, more than any other foreign country. She herself has called it her second home. You were going through the events there that are going on in Britain, at this hour, Richard, going on here as well. King Charles now is being proclaimed the new sovereign here. The Canadian privy council is going through that tradition and ritual right now, followed by a 21-gun salute.
Justin Trudeau is there along with the privy council, as we said, and cabinet of Canada. Obviously, this has not happened in seven decades, so integral really to Canada's system of constitutional monarchy as well. So obviously the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is there as well. And it's important, Richard, to really look at his relationship with the Queen as well. People will remember his father was prime minister through some pivotal times in history. Justin Trudeau had known the queen literally, had known the Queen since he was a toddler. He got quite emotional with trying to really pay tribute to her in the last couple of days.
But now begins that very official move to make King Charles the monarch here in Canada. It's being presided on, Richard, I will add, by Mary Simon. She is Canada's first indigenous governor general. So the King's representative here in Canada is indigenous. And that's important, Richard. When you start to talk about the realms, you've spoken about it for decades, how there is this streak of Republicanism, not so strong so far in Canada right now. But that doesn't mean that that won't change.
And at issue for King Charles as he continues to go through this is that relationship with indigenous peoples. Some leaders have told me directly that they felt the Queen was an ally in this even though they had many problems with the way the crown conducted itself over literally centuries. That doesn't mean King Charles will be thought of the same way. So he does have work to do here in Canada.
But right now, a moment of reflection. And Richard, from some of the comments I had from Canadians, spontaneously crying speaking about the Queen even though they're here in Canada. They felt very close to her. And when the Queen talked about this being her second home, really that almost intimate familial embrace was reciprocated by so many Canadians and is, at this hour right now again. QUEST: I guess, Paula -- thank you, Paula Newton joining us there. I
guess, of course, eastern coast of Canada to U.K. is closer than, say, eastern coast or the Maritimes to the west coast in terms of distance. So the distance is not that far. As the oldest royal to be crowned king, much of the King Charles III legacy has already been written. CNN's Bianca Nobilo looking at the royal life and how it will proceed.
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[10:45:02]
KING CHARLES III, UNITED KINGDOM: I would hope that we might strive for an age of reverence, reverence for what gives us life and for the fragile world in which we live.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Charles born on November 14th, 1948, to then heir to the throne, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To Princess Elizabeth, heiress presumptive to the throne, a son has been born, glad news that was soon echoing around the world.
NOBILO: Charles was bestowed a host of titles at a young age but did not become Prince of Wales until 1969, a role he sought to professionalize and redefine. Many of Charles' predecessors treated the title Prince of Wales as a ticket to a luxury lifestyle, notably the previous Prince of Wales, the short-reigned King Edward VIII. While Charles did indulge in partying years, the British press giving him the nickname "The Playboy Prince," he didn't want to wait until he became king to make a difference.
Following his studies at Cambridge University, Charles went into the military. After leaving the Royal Navy in 1976 he founded the Prince's Trust.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The Prince's Trust is something that he cares deeply about, he's done it for so long. It's one of his first causes, his first charities, but it also speaks to something he feels very strongly about, which is youth unemployment.
NOBILO: On top of his own charities, he's patron of over 400 more, dedicated to subjects close to his heart -- youth, environment, and education. His schedule notoriously intense. In a typical year he would carry out more than 500 royal engagements, official duties coordinated from his London base at Clarence House.
FOSTER: So he's a perfectionist. He wants to know everything about all of his different projects and causes and roles.
NOBILO: Charles will forever be associated with his marriage to Princess Diana. He first met Lady Diana Spencer in 1977 at her family home of Althorp. She was 17 at the time. Four years later, they were married.
KING CHARLES III: I'm amazed that she's been brave enough to take me on.
NOBILO: In 1982 William was born, and Harry in 1984. Their parents going against the royal tradition of home births. Cracks in the marriage were soon apparent. Both began extramarital relationships. Charles admitted to an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, who he went on to marry many years later in a quiet ceremony in 2005. Charles and Diana divorced in 1996. The following year, Diana died in a fatal car crash alongside her lover Dodi Fayed in Paris.
FOSTER: His priority was to look after the boys. And there's been a huge amount of criticism over the years of both the Queen and Charles for the fact that they didn't come down to London and support the nation, that they very clearly made the decision to prioritize family over duties at that moment.
NOBILO: In that tumultuous time, Charles did what he had always done, put his head down and focused on his work. His campaigns sometimes sailed dangerously close to the line dividing the monarchy and politics. The infamous "black spider memos" revealed his passionate pleas on issues he was concerned about and gave him the nickname of the Meddling Prince.
FOSTER: The head of state, which is the monarch, they have a duty to remain independent. Charles always took the view he had more leeway before he was on the throne. But he always made it very clear when he became monarch, he would no longer express opinions in that way.
NOBILO: Arguably the cause he has championed the most is the environment. His home at High Grove was set up to become an organic farming powerhouse. He talked about pollution issues long before they were mainstream, becoming a leading figure in the fight against the climate crisis and plastic pollution.
KING CHARLES III: Global warming, climate change, and the devastating loss of biodiversity are the greatest threats humanity has ever faced.
NOBILO: Charles is now the oldest royal to be crowned king or queen, much of his legacy already written.
Bianca Nobilo, CNN, London.
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QUEST: And the day has been moving at a pace, having had all the ceremony this morning. In the last few moments, we've got these pictures. It is King Charles and Queen Camilla, the king and queen, holding an audience with the Archbishop of Canterbury and various other senior members of clergy and of government. This is the same audience chamber at the palace where the prime minister was received yesterday.
And this will continue throughout the day. There will be cabinet members who will have to see -- here we go with the cabinet members. Other royal -- sorry, other religious leaders, and then you start the high commissioners and the ambassadors and all the others.
[10:50:03]
So a very busy, full day, if you will, for King Charles III as he grasps the reins of power.
This is CNN. Welcome to London.
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WALKER: Some big signs today that Ukraine's counteroffensives in the east and south are paying off. Troops appear to have taken control of parts of a key city in Kharkiv region. And now Ukrainian officials say the Russians have fled the city of Izyum. It's been a major hub for Russian forces since the early days of the invasion.
[10:55:01]
Some analysts say the war could be at a turning point. CNN's Melissa Bell with the latest.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The key town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine appears to have been retaken by Ukrainian forces after a remarkable sweep eastwards over the course of the last couple of days. President Zelenskyy hailing the taking of some 30 settlements in the region on Friday evening. What we've been seeing is imagery posted on social media by Ukrainian forces raising flags in village after village, and in the end in Kupiansk. We've been able to geolocate that, and that is indeed where they appear to have now raised their flag.
It is a crucial town for the supply routes towards the Donbas region by Russian forces, and therefore an important win for Ukraine. What we've seen over the course of the last few days is that eastern offensive really picking up speed. And on social media, pro-Moscow, Russian military bloggers criticizing Moscow's failure to have predicted this eastern offensive that kicked off this week, after the one that kicked off on August 29th to the south.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Kyiv.
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SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Melissa Bell for that report.
The head of the United Nations is urging the international community to lend a hand to Pakistan as that nation struggles with a devastating flood crisis. The disaster killed nearly 1,400 people and is impacting some 33 million overall. The U.N. secretary general Antonio Guterres says that Pakistan has made a minimal contribution to climate change, but that now it is paying a major price. He called support for Pakistan a matter of climate justice. The prime minister of that country also spoke out about the crisis. Listen.
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SHEHBAZ SHARIF, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: Food and shelter are being offered, but the challenge is absolutely beyond human capacity.
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SANCHEZ: The U.N. has launched a $160 million emergency plan to help Pakistan deal with that flood devastation.
Thank you so much for making us part of your weekend. We appreciate you joining us.
WALKER: It's been quite a morning, hasn't it? There's much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is next.
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