The new King and Queen Consort have greeted cheering crowds on a walkabout at Buckingham Palace as they arrived in London after the death of the Queen.King Charles III, who acceded to the throne immediately on the death of his 96-year-old mother in Balmoral on Thursday, got a very warm welcome from the crowd gathered outside the royal residency.
He even received a kiss from one member of the public.
There was an impromptu rendition of the national anthem from parts of the crowed, with the words changed to reflect the country now has a King, while another section shouted “hip, hip hooray”.
The royal couple had viewed floral tributes to the Queen that had been laid outside the gates of the Palace before walking through the famous gates for the first time as King and Queen Consort as the Royal Standard was raised for the first time of the King’s reign.He held his first in-person audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss at the Palace on Friday afternoon in his first full day as the nation’s new monarch, having spent much of his 73 years in preparation for the role.
The King will address the nation in a message set to be recorded this afternoon at Buckingham Palace and broadcast at 6pm this evening.
God Save The King will be sung officially at St Paul’s Cathedral for the first time at the end of a memorial service for the Queen on Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, an Accession Council – the formal proclamation of Charles as King – will take place at St James’s Palace in London and will be televised for the first time in history.
The period of royal mourning will be observed from now until seven days after the Queen’s funeral, the date of which will be confirmed at a later date, Buckingham Palace said.
Church bells tolled, gun salutes were fired, and MPs in the House of Common fell silent in tribute to the late sovereign as the nation mourned its longest-serving monarch.
The monarch and his wife, Camilla, Queen Consort, had left Balmoral on Friday after spending the night their following the death of the Queen.
As the King and Queen Consort flew to London from Aberdeen, the PM led tributes to the late Queen in the House of Commons – recalling a monarch whose strength guided the nation through its “darkest days”.
Shortly before the King and his wife landed, a 96-round Queen’s Death Gun Salute rang out across the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Guernsey at 1pm in tribute to the Queen.
One round was fired for each year of the her life. The crowds in Hyde Park applauded as the final of the 96 rounds were fired.
Bells at Westminster Abbey and at churches and cathedrals around the country tolled for an hour from noon in tribute to the country’s longest-serving monarch.
During the minute’s silence held for the Queen in the House of Commons just after noon on Friday, MPs, wearing black, stood with their heads bowed.
They then began a 10-hour special session to mark the death of the Queen.
