By Ben Kerrigan-
King Charles III will address the nation for the first time as sovereign at 18:00 BST, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Britain’s new King is on his way to London, where he is also due to meet Prime Minister Liz Truss later.
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He will be proclaimed at the Accession Council at 10am tomorrow in the State Apartments of St James’s Palace, Buckingham Palace has said, and the process will be televised for the first time in history.
He has been preparing to be King for his entire life, having become heir to the throne at the age of three.
Senior royals will perform duties in Scotland in the coming days when the Queen’s coffin begins its journey back to the capital.
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King Charles III acceded to the throne immediately following the death of Elizabeth II on Thursday, and described losing his mother as “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family”.
Gun salutes will be fired and church bells have begun to toll as the UK pays tribute to her reign.
Members of the public left flowers and personal tributes outside palaces and churches, as the UK nationally mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II
As MPs gathered to pay tributes to the Queen, Prime Minister Liz Truss described her as “one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Queen’s death “robs our country of its stillest point, its greatest comfort, at precisely a time when we need those things most”.
The council is attended by invited Privy Councillors and current serving government ministers – but that could also include former ministers and prime ministers.
In a small sign of how historic institutions modernised during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, the Privy Council website has advised councillors to check their emails for an invitation to the Accession Council meeting.
After the meeting, the Principal Proclamation, announcing Charles as sovereign, will be read at 11:00 BST from the balcony overlooking Friary Court at St James’s Palace, central London. The bells of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle rang out at noon on Friday in tribute to her life and service.
Union jacks are being flown at half mast and Lords and MPs have gathered to pay tribute to her momentous 70-year reign.
A gun salute in London’s Hyde Park has been arranged for the following hour, with 96 rounds to mark each year of her life to fire around 13:00 BST.
There will be a remembrance service at St Paul’s at 18:00 BST, attended by Prime Minister Liz Truss and other senior ministers.
It will be open to the public, with 2,000 tickets to be released on a first-come-first-served basis.
Those wishing to attend must visit in person to the City of London tourism office on Carter Lane in London to collect a wristband from 11:00 BST.
Premier league and English Football league fixtures this weekend have been postponed as a mark of respect.
The King and his wife, Camilla, now Queen Consort, are heading to London, where the monarch is expected to address the nation after holding an audience with the new Prime Minister Liz Truss.
All of the Queen’s children and her grandchildren, the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex, travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, on Thursday after the Queen’s doctors became concerned about her health.
The date of the funeral is yet to be revealed, but it is expected to be in the next two weeks.
The Queen’s coffin will lie at rest in Edinburgh for 24 hours in the coming days and will then move to London to lie in state.
While it is lying in state in Westminster Hall, the coffin will rest on a raised platform and members of the public will be allowed to file past and pay their respects.
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