Death of Queen Elizabeth II: King Charles III to meet Liz Truss and address the nation – latest news
King #King
Today will be packed with official, semi-official, and impromptu events marking the Queen’s death. Here’s an outline of the timetable we can expect:
King Charles and Camilla, now the Queen Consort, stayed at Balmoral on Thursday night but will travel to London on Friday where the new king will have an audience with the new prime minister, Liz Truss.
Confirming funeral plans – The King is likely to meet the Earl Marshal (the Duke of Norfolk) who is in charge of the accession and the Queen’s funeral, to approve the carefully choreographed schedule for the coming days.
National mourning – The government will confirm the length of national mourning, which is likely to be about 12 days, PA Media reports, from now up to the day after the Queen’s funeral. The public has already begun to gather in large crowds and leave flowers outside Buckingham Palace and other royal buildings. Ministers will also announce that the funeral day will be a public holiday.
Floral tributes following the death of the Queen are placed outside the gates of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Court mourning – The King will decide on the length of court or royal mourning for members of the royal family and royal households. It is expected to last a month.
Union jacks on royal buildings are flying at half-mast.
Bells will toll at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Windsor Castle. Churches are being urged to toll their bells across England at noon.
A gun salute of 96 rounds – one round for every year of the Queen’s life – will be fired in Hyde Park and at other stations.
The King’s televised address – The King will make a televised address to the nation, which he is due to pre-record, in the early evening. He will pay tribute to the Queen and pledge his duty to his service as the new sovereign.
Service at St Paul’s Cathedral – The prime minister and senior ministers are expected to attend a public service of remembrance at St Paul’s in central London.
Updated at 01.50 EDT
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The former British prime minister Theresa May has said audiences with the “immensely knowledgeable” Queen were the only meetings as leader where everything that was said would remain private.
She said the meetings involved “talking about the affairs of the day, in a sense tapping into her wisdom and that knowledge that she had from her great experience”.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, she said:
She was a very acute judge of people and was able often to give those little, if you like, pen portraits of people that she knew, that she’d met. And sometimes it was a case of not just the individual but actually a sort of history of that individual, of her experiences of particular countries, particular issues.
There was often that twinkle in the eye, and that magnificent smile that would break out and that calmed so many people’s nerves and made so many people feel at ease.
Updated at 04.01 EDT
The Dalai Lama has expressed his “deep sadness” over the death of the Queen in a letter to King Charles III. He told the King his mother had lead “a meaningful life”.
He wrote:
I remember seeing photographs of her coronation in magazines when I was young in Tibet. Her reign, as Britain’s longest-serving monarch, represented celebration, inspiration and a reassuring sense of continuity for so many people alive today.Your mother lived a meaningful life with dignity, grace, a strong sense of service and a warm heart, qualities we all should treasure.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has been speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning.
He said that the Queen could make anyone she met feel like they were the only person in the room.
There were hundreds of events every year which she attended. And she was the one – and again it runs in the family, I’ve seen His Majesty do the same thing – who could go into a room full of people or walk down a crowded street, and everyone she spoke to felt that they were the only person there.
She was never looking over their shoulder to see if there was somebody a bit more interesting. Everybody got her attention.
He added:
I think part of her great service that was unseen, as one former prime minister I heard say, that there’s only one person in the world that he could talk to and say exactly what he thought and felt and was 100% certain that it would never go any further.
And I think that that was a hidden service. She was a place of confidences, and of accumulating wisdom.
Updated at 04.05 EDT
Our Scotland editor Severin Carrell is at Balmoral, from where he sends this dispatch:
Dozens of bouquets of flowers have been laid beside the main gates to Balmoral estate, with well-wishers arriving on foot on Thursday morning to pay their respects despite persistent rain, some bringing their children before school starts.
Locals had started to arrive with flowers soon after it was confirmed on Thursday evening after that the Queen had died, parking on nearby verges in near darkness and heavy rain, as night fell.
The police have now imposed a 20mph speed limit on the A93 as it passes by the entrance road leading to the castle gates, closing nearby verges and erecting crowd barriers.
Dozens of television cameras, including broadcasters from across the globe, have been set up on the edge of woodland directly opposite the gates as they prepare for a somber day on Royal Deeside.
The BBC Proms have cancelled the Last Night of the Proms and tonight’s Prom, having already called off last night’s performance.
BBC Proms said in a statement:
Following the very sad news of the death of Her Majesty The Queen, as a mark of respect we will not be going ahead with Prom 71 on Friday 9 September, or the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 10 September.
Not everyone agrees that public gatherings should be cancelled right now. Bruce Millington, Director of sport at Spotlight Sports Group, who one might think has his own reasons for some events not to be cancelled, tweeted:
Just in case you missed it, this video of the Queen’s sense of humour – featuring Paddington Bear – is really lovely.
The Queen’s sense of humour remembered: from off-mic quips to tea with Paddington – video
Paddington’s simple message of ‘Thank you Ma’am, for everything’ to Her Majesty, has garnered more than 700,000 likes on Twitter.
Sir Elton John paid tribute to the Queen at his concert in Toronto on Thursday night, praising the monarch and her “inspiring presence”.
The singer told his audience the Queen had led Britain through “some of our greatest and darkest moments” saying she “deserved” her final rest.
John, who was knighted by the Queen in 1998, gave a rendition of his 1974 track Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, while images of the smiling monarch, wearing a bright purple coat and hat, were displayed on the screens.
He said:
She was an inspiring presence to be around … she was fantastic. She led the country through some of our greatest and darkest moments with grace and decency and a genuine caring warmth.
I’m 75 and she’s been with me all my life and I feel very sad that she won’t be with me anymore, but I’m glad she’s at peace, and I’m glad she’s at rest and she deserves it.
She worked bloody hard. I send my love to her family. She’ll be missed.
Updated at 03.11 EDT
Isobel Koshiw
Ukraine’s foreign ministry changed its Twitter profile to a black and white union jack flag with a Ukrainian flag around the edge in honour of the Queen and as a mark of respect.
Updated at 03.05 EDT
Many who loved the Queen will pick up a copy of a UK newspaper today, who all pay tribute to her dedicated life of service.
The Guardian features a full page picture of the Queen at her coronation.
The Daily Mirror has a superb picture of the Queen in profile, against a black background and features two simple words: Thank you.
The Times takes the decision not to feature a full-page photograph of the Queen, instead presenting a more traditional front page.
A stirring front from the Scottish Herald, featuring the Queen against the backdrop of the countryside she loved so much.
My colleague Alison Rourke has gathered all the front pages here:
Updated at 02.40 EDT
The image of the Queen – from a young newlywed to an elderly grandmother – will continue be projected across newspapers and televisions today, as the UK wakes up on the first official day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II.
Ceremonial gun salutes are expected at Hyde Park and at Tower Hill, and a national minute’s silence is expected to be held.
King Charles is expected to conduct his first audience with the prime minister. He will also meet the Earl Marshal to officially sign off on the full funeral plans, with the state funeral expected to be held in 10 days’ time. The King will give a broadcast to the country and the Commonwealth later this week.
Here is an explainer from Caroline Davies on what we can expect over the next days and months.
The Guardian’s long read on the intensive planning for the death of the Queen and the succession of her son, first published in 2017, explores the minute detail of the plans that have been in place for many years.
Good morning from London, my name is Alexandra Topping and I’ll be looking after the liveblog this morning and keeping you up to date with developments.
Updated at 02.27 EDT
From Germany to Canada, and from the US to Australia, leaders have been remembering the Queen.
In a moving tribute, an emotional Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, calls the Queen “thoughtful, wise, curious, funny” and “much more”. And Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said her life would be “remembered for centuries”.
You can watch these and other tributes from Joe Biden, Jacinda Arden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy here:
World leaders respond to death of Queen Elizabeth II – video
Updated at 02.06 EDT
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton have been speaking at the New York premiere of their new show Gutsy about their memories of meeting the Queen.
Hillary, former first lady and also former US secretary of state, said she was “fortunate” to meet the Queen several times. She described the late monarch as a “curious, highly intelligent person who just wanted to learn”, adding that one of the highlights of her career was spending the night at “Buckingham Palace”.
The loss of the Queen will test a divided Britain, according to Guardian columnist Martin Kettle, with constitutional consequences that could resonate for years.
Of this unfamiliar moment in British life – the first time a reigning monarch has died since 1952 – he writes:
Do not underestimate the upheaval in British life that this dynastic moment will trigger. Elizabeth II spent 70 years as a low-key but extremely effective unifying force in a nation that is visibly pulling itself apart. Her passing will remove that force, which her heirs cannot assume they will be able to replicate. In its way, this succession will be one of the biggest tests to face modern Britain. Politics needs to be involved.
Here’s Martin’s full piece: