AS IT HAPPENED
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King Charles III paid tribute to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in an address to the nation on Friday where he expressed his “profound sorrow” at her death and vowed to carry on her “lifelong service” to the nation. Read our liveblog below to see how all the day’s events unfolded.
Queen Elizabeth died at the Balmoral royal estate in Scotland after having steadied and modernised the royal institution through seven decades of huge social change.
She was in her Platinum Jubilee year, marking 70 years since she succeeded her father king George VI in 1952.
“Through thick and thin, Queen Elizabeth II provided us with the stability and the strength that we needed. She was the very spirit of Great Britain – and that spirit will endure,” said the country’s new prime minister, Liz Truss.
The new king, Elizabeth’s eldest son Charles, paid homage to a “cherished Sovereign and a much-loved mother”.
Tributes poured in from around the world, with French President Emmanuel Macron hailing “a friend of France who has left her mark on her country and her century forever”.
The British Royal Family will observe a period of mourning which will end on the seventh day after Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, Buckingham Palace has announced. During this period, flags will be flown at half-mast at all royal residences.
A royal gun salute will be fired in London’s Hyde Park on Friday at 1pm local time (12pm GMT), with one round fired for each year of the 96-year-old queen’s life. Britain’s new monarch King Charles is then expected to deliver an address to the nation at around 1700 GMT on Friday, said the speaker of the House of Commons. The palace also announced on Friday that King Charles III will be formally proclaimed king on Saturday morning.
Buckingham Palace services have not said when the funeral will take place, but it is likely to take place about 11 days after the royal’s death.
