King Charles III gave his first speech to Parliament today before taking out for Scotland to go with the Queen on her last and most depressing voyage.
The monarch addressed the gathering gathered in Westminster Hall while speaking at a gilded podium and said how affected he was by their tributes to his mother.
Before MPs and peers knelt and curtsied as the king came gently to his throne with Queen Consort, Camilla, there were raucous celebrations and screams of “God Save the King” as he drove from Clarence House along The Mall for the historic occasion.
This morning, hundreds of MPs, including Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, Liz Truss, and her predecessor, Boris Johnson, were present in Westminster Hall.
In the almost 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the Palace of Westminster’s historic centre, where his mother will lay in state starting on Wednesday evening for four days until her burial on the following Monday, His Majesty received tributes to the Queen. Charles sometimes seemed very moved.
In a ceremony held in Westminster Hall, the Lord Speaker and the Speaker of the Commons offered their condolences to His Majesty. Another unprecedented constitutional occurrence that has never been shown on television was Charles receiving a motion of confidence from both houses of Parliament.
The Lord Speaker Lord McFall first praised the Queen’s “untiring efforts for the welfare of her peoples and her courage in adversity” in a speech on behalf of peers before he “pledged” his support for him.
A modest speech given to the King by Sir Lindsay Hoyle was approved by MPs at a special meeting on Saturday. The Queen’s “unwavering devotion to the service of our beloved nation,” according to the Commons Speaker will always be remembered with gratitude and compassion.
The MPs’ “belief that he would try to safeguard the freedoms and to promote the happiness of the people in all his kingdoms” is how he and the MPs showed their allegiance to the King.
After noon, King Charles and the Queen Consort will arrive by plane in the Scottish capital and go to the palace to see a guard of honour. After their shocking reunion outside Windsor Castle on Saturday, Prince William, Prince Harry, and their spouses Kate and Meghan are rumoured to be there as well. The King follows the hearse to St. Giles’ Cathedral, where he will be seen for the first time with his mother’s coffin.
Charles and Camilla will walk the 1,200 yards to St. Giles’ Cathedral in a procession at 2.35 p.m. The hearse will go down the Royal Mile with Charles and other royals following behind it.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the new Prince and Princess of Wales, who on Saturday put on a unified face at an appearance at Windsor Castle, are said to be among the royal mourners, but full details about the group have not yet been made public.
The Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence are anticipated to be among the royals Charles will lead on foot. The Queen Consort and other members of the royalty will follow in automobiles.
The Vigil of the Princes will be performed by the King and his siblings at 7:20 p.m. Tomorrow night’s flight to London with Princess Anne and her mother in the coffin is anticipated.
The casket will be transported to the State Hearse at 6.55 p.m. after arriving at RAF Northolt in west London. A guard of honour will welcome the casket at Buckingham Palace.
It will be carried by a bearer party from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards to the Bow Room where it will be set up on trestles in front of King Charles and the Queen Consort. The casket will be watched over by chaplains to the king.
Yesterday, when members of the royal family saw Queen Elizabeth II’s casket arrive in Edinburgh to spend the night in repose at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Countess of Wessex was seen consoling Princess Anne.
After the coffin arrived in the Scottish city from Balmoral, Sophie, the wife of the Queen’s youngest son Prince Edward, 58, was shown putting her hand on the Princess Royal’s back in a show of solidarity.
The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of York, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex, together with other members of the Queen’s family, observed as troops from the Royal Regiment of Scotland brought the coffin inside the Palace.
In a beautiful gesture, the men and ladies of the royal family also bowed their heads in respect for the king.
During the 180-mile trip, Her Majesty was not alone; Anne and her husband were riding in a limousine behind her as part of a parade.
The Queen will spend the night at the palace before being taken to St. Giles’ Cathedral tomorrow afternoon. Earlier, a sizable throng had assembled to see King Charles be proclaimed as head of state at noon.
Princess Anne and Sophie, along with other members of the royal family, yesterday seemed teary-eyed as they saw flower offerings made to the Queen at Balmoral.
As Her Majesty departed Balmoral for the last time, hundreds of Scottish mourners lined the path of her funeral procession as a mark of respect for her.
Well-wishers gathered beside rural roads, bridges, and in village and city centres to bid the lady farewell. She was never more at home than when she was in Scotland.
After more than six hours, the procession finally arrived at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. By this time, the throngs on the famed Royal Mile, a street the Queen was well acquainted with, were at times ten deep.
As the procession drew to a close, flowers from William Purvis, a family-run funeral home located in Scotland, were tossed in front of the hearse, and parts of the spectators on the Royal Mile spontaneously applauded.
A single long-stemmed flower was seen on the hearse windshield at one point as the cortege passed through Dundee, while in a rural area of the route, farmers honoured the Queen by lining up tractors in a field.
Tomorrow, the King of England and Camilla, Queen Consort, will travel to Edinburgh, where they will join the King’s other siblings in following the coffin of his late mother as it is carried from the Palace to St. Giles’ Cathedral. The monarch and other members of the Royal Family will keep a vigil at the late Queen’s casket at 7:20 o’clock.
Yesterday, a lone police motorcycle outrider followed the hearse as it made its way through the Aberdeenshire countryside at a leisurely speed. A single long-stemmed flower was seen on the hearse windshield at one point as the cortege passed through Dundee, while in a rural area of the route, farmers honoured the king with tractors parked in a row.
The Queen’s coffin was carefully driven along the main street of Ballater, the charming Victorian town nearest to the Balmoral estate, where many considered her a neighbour. Her Majesty and her family were often seen at the Royal Deeside hamlet that she had frequented since she was a little kid and where the Royal Family is allowed to be themselves.
Following the announcement of the Queen’s passing, the Rev. David Barr rung the church bells at Glenmuick Church 70 times.
On both sides of the gloomy, quiet road in Ballater, sympathisers threw flowers into the path of the funeral. The coffin was draped in the royal flag and the wreath was made of flowers from the Balmoral estate, including sweet peas, one of the Queen’s favourite flowers, dahlias, phlox, white heather, and pine fir. As the hearse slowed to a quick walking speed, mourners could plainly see the corpse.
Just after 10 o’clock in the morning, the Queen’s last voyage through the Scottish Highlands started, and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon paid homage to her.
A sad and moving moment as Her Majesty, The Queen departs her beloved Balmoral for the last time, Ms. Sturgeon wrote in a tweet. Scotland paid homage to a remarkable lady yesterday as she travelled to Edinburgh.
From the Queen’s summer retreat in the Highlands, the Queen’s oak coffin set off for Ballater, where it arrived first, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland and topped with a wreath of Balmoral flowers.
The Queen was regarded as a neighbour by the people of Ballater since she and her family were often seen in the hamlet in Royal Deeside, which she had frequented since she was a little kid and where the royal family had room to be themselves.
For the tens of thousands who flocked to the streets yesterday to see the Queen’s last voyage, her impending death became a terrible reality.
After Her Majesty made her final departure from her beloved Balmoral, many had travelled through the night to reserve their spots along the road.
As the Queen’s oak coffin, wrapped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, reached the destination of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, there was a mournful atmosphere.
As the Queen’s coffin was gently driven along the village’s main street, hundreds of people lined the roadway, and many businesses honoured the queen by hanging pictures of her in their windows.
Following the announcement of the Queen’s passing, the Rev. David Barr rung the church bells at Glenmuick Church 70 times.
Mourners could see the coffin, which was draped in the royal flag and adorned with flowers from the Balmoral estate, including sweet peas, one of the Queen’s favourite flowers, dahlias, phlox, white heather, and pine fir, plainly when the vehicle slowed to a quick walking speed.
Aberdeen native Elizabeth Taylor was in tears as she processed what she had just witnessed.
It was quite emotional, she remarked. It was courteous and conveyed their feelings for the Queen. Even a few days before to her passing, she undoubtedly rendered service to our nation.
Andrew Brown, a 63-year-old Royal admirer, saw the hearse as it moved slowly along the Royal Mile and commented, “This has brought it all home.” I believe that seeing the casket and the cortege with my own eyes gives it more of a reality. I had been in a bit of a state of shock and numbness.
The Glasgow resident, Mr. Scott, said, “It’s a sad day, but I’m pleased I had a chance to say goodbye. Given how much the Queen adored Scotland, I believe it is appropriate that her last voyage started in Balmoral.
Ashley Coventry, an Edinburgh-based hairdresser, said: “It simply seems strange.” I believe we all anticipated its arrival. But it’s also the realisation that this place is a mark of history. The quantity of people here astounds me. People have come from a great distance and from everywhere.
It’s simply a steady stream of people, Ashley, who was there with her daughter Hannah, 9, and husband Scott, 39, said. Scott said: “The Queen was deeply liked in our home and it’s a really sad day. I’ve never seen anything like that.
Lynda Amos, 69, and her husband Richard, 67, described how they took a detour from their vacation in the Scottish Highlands to pay their respects in Edinburgh. The pair resides in Duns in the Scottish Borders, 50 miles south of the national centre.
“We came right here,” Lynda remarked. We’re heartbroken. We had just recently seen photos of her meeting Liz Truss, so it came as quite a shock to us. Although it is very sad, a fresh beginning has also begun. Their lives have always included the Queen. When her father passed away, my father—a member of the Royal Air Force—was in Kenya, where the Queen was vacationing. When Elizabeth returned to Britain to become Queen, they all gathered to the airport and stood at attention.
We’ve attended a few of the garden parties here. On her way up to Balmoral every year, the Queen would stop over to host them. She would really try, and everyone would be dressed up. She was wonderful.
“Being here makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up,” remarked chartered surveyor Richard.
It happens after King Charles was welcomed by many well-wishers as he arrived at Buckingham Palace to meet with Commonwealth officials.
Around 1pm, as Britain’s new king was being driven in his state Rolls-Royce from Clarence House through the Palace gates, crowds lined The Mall, cheering and waving at him. These crowds included delighted small children perched on top of parents’ shoulders trying to capture shots with their phones.
The King was greeted by mourners as he entered Buckingham Palace, followed soon after by his wife Camilla, Queen Consort.
Yesterday at 2pm, Charles met with Patricia Scotland, the general secretary of the Commonwealth, in the 1844 Room before going to the Bow Room of the royal house for a reception with the high commissioners and their wives from nations where he is the head of state. The Dean of Windsor was then met by the King, who was yesterday officially proclaimed in St. James’s Palace.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, the Antigua and Barbuda Commissioner (whose republican Prime Minister has threatened a referendum on leaving the Crown), the Honorary Consul of Tuvalu, the Acting High Commissioner for Australia, and representatives from the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, New Zealand, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were among the guests.
Following his late mother’s passing at Balmoral on Thursday at the age of 96, the King and Queen will travel to each of the four home countries the following week in preparation for her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor.