King Charles has arrived at Buckingham Palace for the first time as monarch to view the thousands of tributes that have been left for his mother the Queen.
The new King was joined by Queen Consort Camilla on a public walkabout this afternoon as they greeted the huge crowd.
After flying down from Balmoral, they arrived in the State Rolls Royce shortly after 2.15pm, stopping at the gates, and immediately headed towards the crowds outside their new royal residence.
The prince, in a black suit and tie, was the picture of composure despite his grief, shaking hundreds of hands the length of the palace forecourt .
His arrival was signalled by cheers and cried of ‘God Bless The King!’ as it approached.
Camilla, dressed in a black Fiona Clare dress and coat she, unlike her husband, couldn’t hide her distress. Red-eyed and hollow cheeked, she openly wept as she greeted well-wishers, clearly bereft at the loss of her mother-in-law and emotion of the occasion.
King Charles III shook hands with wellwishers of all ages who had gathered to both pay their respects for the loss of Her Majesty and welcome the new monarch, and walked along to view the flowers and notes left resting on the Palace gate.
Since Queen Elizabeth's death was announced yesterday evening, tributes have been pouring in from around the world.
The King has declared 17 days of mourning for the Queen, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, as the official first details of the palace condolences were confirmed today.
The date of the funeral is yet to be finalised but it is believed it will take place 10 days after the Queen’s death.
Royal residences across the UK have been lined with flowers as crowds flocked to pay their respects to the 96-year-old monarch.
Tributes have been left across Windsor Castle, the Sandringham Estate, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Hillsborough Castle and Balmoral Castle, where the Queen died yesterday afternoon.
King Charles will take some time this afternoon to read through the swathes of tributes left in his mother's honour at Buckingham Palace.
Bodyguards and Clarence House staff awaited Charles' arrival including his equerry and the Earl of Rosslyn, his Master of the Household. He was accompanied by his private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton.
As she shook hands people openly wept and cried ‘we’re so sorry’, ‘we’re so sorry for your loss’.
Victoria Binkey, 51, from Rutland, grabbed his hands and kissed them.
"You are so kind," Charles said. She explained afterwards that she hadn’t planned to do it but suddenly felt the need.
Kwok-kit Ngan, 37, a dentist from Bromley, said he felt “great sadness” when the Queen died but it was “heart-warming” to see hundreds of tributes at the Palace early this morning.
After laying a bouquet of sunflowers, the last in a nearby supermarket, Mr Ngan said: “She’s been leading the country for the last 70 years and I think she really has led by example through the good times and the bad times.”
Asked how it felt to see so many people paying tribute at the Palace, he said: “It’s quite heart-warming. Not many events would draw people together.
“I think what happened yesterday has really got people to reflect and appreciate what she’s really done for us over the past 70 years."
The king didn’t stop, determined to meet as many people as possible, could be heard saying: ‘We have wonderful memories.’
Another told him: ‘We loved you Prince Charles and we loved your mum’ and claps and cheers rang out.
The new Queen Consort also made her way slowly down the line to cries of ‘God Bless You Camilla.’
Laura Huff, who moved to London three-and-a-half years ago from the US, was in tears as she paid her respects at Buckingham Palace.
“We always knew this day would come but it just seemed to happen quite quickly when it did.
“She was like a grandmother to the nation.
“As someone who wanted to move here my entire life, she was someone you always hear about and read about.
“I think she had a really strong sense of responsibility and you could really see that.”
Desley Jones,52, and her husband Steven, 53, from North Wales, had been there for three hours.
"We told the King that we were so sorry for his loss and he thanked us," she said.
Sarah Styles, 57, from Northern Ireland said: "I said Bless You and we love you. I just felt I really needed to come down and pay my respects to the Queen and tell him that he is loved and supported."
As Charles reached the end of the line the shout of ‘three cheers for the King, hip hip hooray’ echoed across the street.
The King turned and looked for his wife, who soon caught up with him, still weeping, and they walked together the length of the front of the palace to view the floral tributes and gifts that had been left.
They stopped at a flag bearing a picture of his late mother, speaking quietly to each other, before finally - the historic sense of the occasion sending shivers down the spine - waking through the wrought iron black gates and and through the iconic arch into the palace quadrangle.
As they did they were saluted by Acting Chief Inspector Victoria Kneale of London Palaces who was in charge of the police operation.
The 7th Company of the Coldstream Guards were also present with a bugler salute.
Yesterday, silent crowds who gathered outside Buckingham Palace broke into a tearful rendition of the national anthem following the news of the Queen's death.
Black cabbies in the capital also stopped on the Mall to pay their respects to the monarch.
Successor King Charles III spoke of his grief soon after Buckingham Palace announced her death, with the Queen dying “peacefully” yesterday afternoon at Balmoral near Aberdeen.
Charles will now turn his mind to matters of state as he begins his first full day as the nation’s new monarch having spent much of his 73 years in preparation for the role.
One of the first acts of the new King – whose chosen title was confirmed by Prime Minister Liz Truss – was to speak of his grief and highlight the “respect and deep affection” in which the Queen was “so widely held”.
World leaders, celebrities and ordinary people - gathered at the gates of Buckingham Palace, Balmoral and Windsor Castle – all paid tribute, with US president Joe Biden describing her as “a stateswoman of unmatched dignity”.
Liz Truss – who had met the Queen on Tuesday at Balmoral to form the new government – heralded the late monarch’s “great legacy” outside Downing Street on Thursday as news of the end of the New Elizabethan Era became a reality.
Charles, whose wife Camilla is now Queen, said in a written statement: “The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother.
“I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around 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.”
The King is due to make a televised address to the nation at around 6pm tonight, which he will pre-record. He will pay tribute to the Queen and pledge his duty to his service as the new sovereign.
On Saturday morning, an Accession Council – the formal proclamation of Charles as King – will take place at St James’s Palace in London.
The first public proclamation of the new sovereign will then be read in the open air from the Friary Court balcony at St James’s Palace by the Garter King of Arms.
Charles will hold audiences, and the media will be briefed by the Earl Marshal, who is in charge of the accession and the Queen’s funeral, on the coming days.
