King Charles is feeling “very good” following his cancer diagnosis and was looking forward to returning to public duties, according to House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt.
She spoke about the King and her meetings with him in her role as Lord President of the Council in an exclusive interview with Patrick Christys on GB News, to mark the anniversary of the Coronation.
Asked how the King is, she said: “He's very good. And I know that he would have been so pleased to get back to public duties. He would have missed it tremendously.
“I think everyone is really pleased to see him back and I know that he wants to do more, so it's been a good week.”
Penny Mordaunt says King Charles is 'very good' and says he is 'charming'
GB News / PA
Reflecting on her meeting with him, Mourdant told GB News: “I think people won't be surprised to know that he's completely charming and always calm.
“And he's also got a really good sense of humour as well. But he's always asking about how things are going, particularly issues that we're dealing with in Parliament or about particular groups who he knows that are having a rough time.
“He's always asking after those people, so he cares a great deal and he's a delight to work with.”
Recalling her own role carrying the Sword of State during last year’s ceremony, she said: “I was very proud to have been part of that incredible experience.
Penny Mordaunt held the Sword of State at King Charles's Coronation ceremony last year
PA
“I think the whole nation was part of it and was proud of it as well. And that national pride and confidence I think is really important to our nation moving forward and making progress and we can't have enough of it."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Reflecting on her role that day she admitted: “I was very nervous. I was determined and very excited, but also very nervous. And I think one of the most wonderful things about the whole event was it was this massive team effort, not just the people who were with me in the Abbey.
“We knew all the rehearsals that had gone on beforehand with the armed forces, that massive procession through London, and we knew that it had to be perfect. It had to be absolutely to the minute. And that's a lot of pressure. But we were all working together and the camaraderie was amazing."
She continued: “We were practising not with the crown jewels at the time, but with replicas. It wasn't until the Thursday we actually got our mitts on the real, real thing. It was an amazing occasion in particular, because the King's grandchildren were there as well, and they were very impressed with the crown jewels.
"But we also had rehearsals going on across the country, including the massive procession that happened that was literally replicated, somewhere out in the sticks. And people were doing that route march to make sure it was absolutely timed to perfection."
Patrick Christys sat down with Penny Mordaunt for an exclusive interview
GB News
Mordaunt revealed: “The sword was very heavy. The question I'd always asked myself when I was doing drill practice with my reserve unit in the pouring rain every Tuesday night, was, why am I doing this now?
"I know why it was so I could hold that sword at the Coronation. Actually, the adrenaline of the day just carries you, carries you through it.”
Mourdant also told GB News how she shed tears in the days after the Queen’s death. She said: “I felt the pressure considerably as we were doing the Accession Council.
"And after I delivered it, I came outside into Saint James's Palace yard to hear the first proclamation being delivered that the King had just commanded be delivered from the balcony. And after it was done, the guards did three cheers to the king, and I could hear over the palace wall the crowds cheering the king. And at that moment I knew it was going to be alright. And, I did shed a tear because it was such a relief that the public had responded in such a marvellous way.”
On the importance of the monarchy, she said: “You see the importance at those key moments we've had in the last 12 to 18 months. They remind us what we all have in common. They pull us all together. “And at the time of the late Queen's death, when we had this moment of tremendous political turmoil that was going on at the same time, I think other nations would have not coped with that situation as well as we did.
“They provide some continuity that is above and beyond politics and that's a great strength to our nation…internationally, it's incredibly important for our nation. “The connections that the Royal Family have with all parts of the world, and perhaps most of all with Commonwealth nations, people quite often think of that organisation as part of our history.
“They forget that four members of the Commonwealth who came to the King’s Coronation only just recently joined. They were there for our future, not our past.”