Church bells tolled across the UK on Friday as King Charles III readied to
address his mourning subjects on the first full day of his new reign following
the death of his mother,
Queen Elizabeth II.
اضافة اعلان
The 73-year-old Charles -- the oldest monarch yet to ascend the throne --
headed to London from the remote Scottish estate of Balmoral, where his "cherished"
mother died on Thursday.
He will make his first televised address as king at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT)
before being formally proclaimed king to the public at 11:00 am Saturday
morning.
Church bells rang out across the UK at midday Friday in honour of the
96-year-old queen who died "peacefully" after a year-long period of
ill-health.
Elizabeth II had reigned for a record-breaking 70 years, a source of
stability in a period of extraordinary change whose death sparked heartfelt
tributes from across the world.
"During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be
comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in
which the queen was so widely held," Charles said in a statement.
Buckingham Palace said the king and other members of the royal family would
observe an extended mourning period from now until seven days after her
funeral.
The date of the funeral, which will be attended by heads of state and
government, has yet to be officially announced but is expected to be on Monday,
September 19.
- World leader -
While Britons adjusted to the shock of the departure of their only head of
state since the aftermath of World War II, tributes poured in for one of the
planet's most recognisable people.
US President Joe Biden described the queen, whom he met for tea at Windsor
Castle last year, as "a stateswoman of unmatched dignity".
New York's Empire State Building was illuminated after sunset in silver and
royal purple, while the Eiffel Tower in Paris dimmed its lights in tribute.
News of the death of the only British monarch most people alive today
had ever known dominated global headlines, while the popular UK tabloid the
Daily Mail declared: "Our hearts are broken."
Flowers were left at British embassies around the world, including in Moscow
-- currently at odds with London over the war in Ukraine.
"A change of eras: first Mikhail Gorbachev, now Elizabeth II. The world
is changing," 18-year-old history student Mikhail Afrosin said, referring
to the last leader of the Soviet Union, who died last month at the age of 91.
The new king was expected to hold his first audience Friday with Prime
Minister Liz Truss, who was only appointed on Tuesday in one of the queen's
last official acts before her death.
In a televised address after the queen's death Thursday, Truss had offered
the nation's support for Charles -- support backed unanimously by her cabinet
on Friday.
"We offer him our loyalty and devotion just as his mother devoted so
much to so many for so long," she said, adding: "God save the
king."
On Friday, Truss opened the start of two days of special tributes in
parliament, saying the queen was "one of the greatest leaders the world
has ever known".
"Her legacy will endure through the countless people she met, the
global history she witnessed and the lives that she touched," the premier
said.
Charles was also due to meet officials in charge of the arrangements for his
mother's elaborate state funeral, which will take place before she is laid to
rest in the King George VI memorial chapel at Windsor Castle.
Church bells tolled at Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and at
Windsor, among other places, and Union flags flew at half-mast across the UK.
Gun salutes -- one round for every year of the queen's life -- were fired
Friday across Hyde Park in central London and from the Tower of London on the
River Thames.
While the government has said there is no obligation on organisations to
suspend business during the period of national mourning, many are doing so as a
mark of respect.
The Premier League postponed all matches this weekend, the TUC umbrella body
of trade unions postponed its congress due to begin on Sunday, while railway
and postal workers halted upcoming strikes over pay, as Britain is gripped by
soaring inflation and spiralling energy prices.
The queen's death and its ceremonial aftermath comes as the government
strives to rush through emergency legislation to tackle the kind of war-fuelled
economic privation that marked the start of Elizabeth's reign in 1952.
- Tearful tributes
-
Elizabeth's public appearances had become rarer in the months since she
spent an unscheduled night in hospital in October 2021 for undisclosed health
tests.
She was seen smiling in her last official photographs from Tuesday when she
appointed Truss as the 15th prime minister of her reign, which started with
Winston Churchill in Downing Street.
But the queen, visibly thinner and stooped, leant on a walking stick. Her
hand was also bruised dark blue-purple, sparking concern.
Jane Barlow, the photographer who took the last public pictures of the queen
on Tuesday, said she was "frail" but in "good spirits".
"I got a lot of smiles from her," said Barlow, who works for the
UK's domestic Press Association news agency.
The queen's closest family members had rushed to be at her bedside at
Balmoral, a private residence set among thousands of acres (hectares) of
rolling grouse moors and forests in the Scottish Highlands.
Her body is expected to remain there initially before being taken Sunday to
the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
From the Scottish capital, her coffin is due to be flown to London on
Tuesday for a lying in state accessible to the public.
Officials expect more than one million people to file past the catafalque in
Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the parliamentary complex, before the
televised funeral service at Westminster Abbey opposite.
Since news of her death broke, crowds have gathered outside Buckingham
Palace in London, and Windsor Castle west of the capital, placing flowers and
reflecting on the queen's long reign.
As day broke on Friday, Joan Russell, a 55-year-old project manager from
Hackney, northeast London, had tears running down her cheeks as she looked at
the flowers outside the palace.
"I think I came to say a prayer. She has been our monarch all my life
and she has led by example, she has learnt, she has listened, wherever you
go, she is our stamp," she told AFP.
"Charles has had such a great example to follow. I believe he will do
his very utmost to continue the legacy of his parents -- his mum and dad --
have set before him."
At the gates of Balmoral, a contingent of Buddhist monks chanted as a mark
of respect for the late queen.
- Consistently
popular -
Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne aged just 25 in the exhausted
aftermath of World War II, joining a world stage dominated by political figures
from Churchill to Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin.
In the ensuing decades, the last vestiges of Britain's vast empire
crumbled.
At home, Brexit shook the foundations of her kingdom, and her family endured
a series of scandals.
But throughout, she remained consistently popular and was head of state not
just of the United Kingdom but 14 former British colonies, including Australia
and Canada.
New Zealand proclaimed Charles its new king. But Australia's new government
looks set to revive a push to ditch the monarchy, casting doubt on his
inheritance even as it mourns the queen.
The final public farewell at Westminster Abbey in London will be a public
holiday in the form of a Day of National Mourning.
Charles's coronation, an elaborate ritual steeped in tradition and history,
will take place in the same historic surroundings, as it has for centuries, on
a date to be fixed.
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