Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
King Charles III met volunteers from the UK’s Turkish community sending aid to their homeland on Tuesday and expressed how “deeply sorry” he was following the devastating earthquake.
The monarch visited a west London charity to see for himself the efforts of residents working to help those left homeless after the natural disaster stuck south-east Turkey and Syria last week, killing tens of thousands of people.
He also formally launched Syria's House, a temporary Syrian community tent in Trafalgar Square in central London, where he met the capital's mayor, Sadiq Khan, among others.
Turkey’s ambassador to the UK, Umit Yalcin, joined the head of state when he visited the makeshift depot organised by the West London Turkish Volunteers based in Hounslow.
The diplomat said of the king: “He said he was deeply sorry, deeply sad, and he will pray for Turkey, for Syria and the people under that devastating earthquake.”
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake and a later a 7.5-magnitude quake, which both struck on February 6, have claimed the lives of more than 35,000 people in south-eastern Turkey and Syria, with the death toll expect to rise as buildings are cleared.
The natural disaster reduced thousands of homes and buildings to rubble as people slept.
With the efforts of the authorities and NGOs now turning towards recovery and relief, the British public have helped the Disasters Emergency Committee Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal raise more than £74 million in a few days — including donations from the king and queen consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales.
When the king said: “I hear you’re getting so many supplies and people have been helping,” volunteer Aysenur Gurkan, 21, replied: “The support has been quite immense.”
She added: “Not just the Turkish community — we’ve had support from everybody. People are connecting.”
About 500 local Turkish families use the centre but many are from a region in central Turkey and only a few were directly affected by earthquake. However, on the day the tremor struck, a frantic effort began to sort through donations that poured in from the public — including from Ukrainian and Afghan communities.
The king watched volunteers sorting through clothes and sleeping bags and was told about the fund-raising efforts of the West London Turkish Volunteers, an organisation which supports other communities in the area, to fund a new community and social centre.
The king later toured Syria’s House, where Syrians will be able to pay their respects to lost relatives and organise vigils at the centre.
He spoke to Salah Al Asmar, a Syrian architect based in the UK who lost his parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew in the earthquake in Antakya, Turkey.
“For seven days, my family were under the rubble. There was no rescue team. No one could support them in this moment. I haven’t been able to sleep for days,” Mr Al Asmar said afterwards.
“The king was showing his support and was saying, ‘I can’t imagine how hard it has been for you’. He said, ‘it is terrible’. I saw that he was emotionally affected,” said Yazan Douedari, who was invited to the event through friends.
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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