King Charles's first address lives up to magnitude of the occasion

I really thought King Charles III's speech matched the magnitude of the occasion.

We were wondering all afternoon how much time they spent on this speech in the days, weeks, months and years leading up to it and the answer is, a lot.

Let's start with the symbolism, he was in the blue drawing room at Buckingham Palace, there was a vase next to him with sweat pea flowers in it, one of the Queen's favourite flowers.

The vase had corgis at the bottom of it, a vase which the Queen kept in the audience room at the palace.

Let's pick out some of the main points of the speech in terms of content. He immediately made William his son and heir the Prince of Wales.

Don't forget Prince Charles had to wait a very long time for that to happen. It didn't for him happen until 1969, but we're seeing things happen with much greater speed.

As of 6pm tonight Prince William and Kate will be known as the Prince and Princess of Wales.

There was some guidance from a source at Kensington Palace that the Princess of Wales is aware of the significance of that title, clearly a reference to the mother-in-law she never met, Princess Diana.

Then he speaks about the support he's got from his Queen Consort, Camilla. He mentions Harry and Meghan.

He pledges, as his mother did in 1947, to serve the whole of her life but he pledges in a different way, "throughout the remaining time God grants to me."

Then there were some touching references to his mother. "My darling Mama", he called her, on her last great journey "to join my dear Papa".

We could talk about the speech for a long time, and dissect it, and we will do in the coming days.

But my conclusion is it was a speech which rose to the magnitude of the occasion, solemnity, looking back but also looking forward to the new reign of King Charles III.

The remarkable life of the Queen remembered in our latest episode of What You Need To Know