King Charles Honors Queen Elizabeth II on Her 100th Birthday: Heartfelt Tribute and National Celebration

On Tuesday, April 21, 2026, King Charles III paid tribute to his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on what would have been her 100th birthday, marking the centenary of her birth with a heartfelt video message.

In his message, the King described his “darling Mama” as having “remained constant, steadfast and wholly devoted to the people she served,” and said she would have believed “goodness will always prevail and that a brighter dawn is never far from the horizon.”

He recalled her first public broadcast at age 14, in which she said, “You can each play our part ‘to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place’,” adding, “It is a belief which I share, with all my heart.”

The King emphasized that the day should be celebrated as a “life well-lived” rather than marking an “absence,” ahead of a series of royal events honouring the late monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning and longest-lived monarch, was born on April 21, 1926, and spent 70 years on the throne before her death on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96.

To mark the centenary, the royal family unveiled the final master plan for a memorial featuring a statue by sculptor Martin Jennings of the Queen as a young woman in ceremonial robes.

King Charles said millions would remember her for moments of national significance, while others would recall personal encounters — “a smile, a kind word that lifted spirits, or for that marvellous twinkle of the eye when sharing a marmalade sandwich with Paddington Bear in the final months of her life.”

The tribute came amid global challenges, including economic uncertainty following the US and Israel’s war against Iran, which has triggered oil price spikes and affected shipping, and the ongoing fifth year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The King did not specify the troubles he believed would have deeply troubled his mother, though he noted her enduring faith in goodness prevailing.

The message followed recent developments in which his brother, Prince Andrew, was stripped of his titles over his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.