'Not my King' chants ring out as Charles addresses Senedd and hails his 'special connection' with Wales
King Charles addresses the Senedd in Cardiff at the ceremonial opening of its seventh term — his first as King — after national poet Hanan Issa was barred over a poem referencing Gaza.Hanan Issa, who said it was "quite concerning" that a poem raising political issues was unwelcome in a chamber built for political debate, after being dropped from the Senedd ceremony for her work's "edge.King Charles (centre) and Queen Camilla with a Senedd official — Charles also met Noah Jones, 10, whose great-grandfather helped save children's lives during the 1966 Aberfan disaster.King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Ceremonial Opening of the Seventh Senedd — the first time Charles has attended as King; he and Camilla previously joined the ceremony in 2021 alongside Queen Elizabeth II.
King Charles opened the Senedd's seventh term on Thursday alongside Queen Camilla, delivering a bilingual address in which he praised Wales's "distinctively Welsh idea of connection" between place, people and culture. It was their first joint appearance at the ceremonial opening since Charles became monarch. One protester was arrested on suspicion of breaching Public Order Act conditions as around 30 demonstrators gathered on the Senedd steps chanting "down, down, down with the Crown".
Wales's national poet Hanan Issa was dropped from the ceremony after the Senedd Commission rejected her poem 'To Grow', which referenced Gaza and trans healthcare, calling it 'not the right fit'.
Charles met Noah and Charlie Jones, grandsons of Aberfan disaster hero Stephen Andrew, ahead of the King's planned visit to Aberfan next week to mark the tragedy's 60th anniversary.
