King Charles has greeted crowds outside Buckingham Palace on his return to London, ahead of an afternoon meeting with UK Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Catch up on how the day unfolded in the blog below.
Key events
- Let's take stock of what's happened today, and what happens next
- King Charles III greets mourners outside Buckingham Palace
- King Charles III has arrived in London to address the nation
- Prince William heads back to Windsor from Balmoral
- King Charles will be officially proclaimed on Saturday
- King Charles will deliver an address to the UK at around 3:00am (AEST)
- King Charles will meet with the British PM in the coming hours
- King Charles has left Balmoral Castle following the death of Queen Elizabeth II
- Governor-General: 'I am proud to have lived in the Second Elizabethan age'
- The Governor-General is addressing the nation
- Buckingham Palace releases details of period of royal mourning
- Prince Harry has left Balmoral
- King Charles will address a nation in mourning
- Watch back: Gun salute marks the life of Queen Elizabeth II at Parliament House
- What will happen this evening?
- It's daybreak at Balmoral, where senior royals have gathered
- Britain wakes to its first day in 70 years without the Queen
- What happens next? It's called Operation Unicorn
- The mood at Balmoral
- The pivotal moments in Queen Elizabeth II's reign
- What happens next after Queen Elizabeth II's death?
- Former Australian prime ministers react to death of the Queen
- A recap of the events from overnight
- Albanese: A time of mourning around the world
- What happens now Charles is King?
- Australia's Governor-General pays tribute to 'a truly remarkable person'
- King Charles has released a statement on the death of his mother
- BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth II has died
- Prince William and Prince Andrew have arrived at Balmoral
- Truss has no plans to travel to Scotland
- Meghan has not travelled to Balmoral
- Prince William has arrived in Scotland
- Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II is 'comfortable'
- Crowds are gathering outside Balmoral Castle
- What's the latest with the Queen's health?
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Live updates
By Peter Marsh
Head over here to keep reading our live coverage
We're about to close up this blog, but don't worry!
You can head over our new blog here to keep reading our coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Now's a good time to do that, and grab a cuppa while you're at it. In the next 30 minutes or so, we expect King Charles to make his first address to the nation.
We'll see you over in the next blog.
By Peter Marsh
'It felt very surreal': Caitlin's minute with the Queen left her 'stunned'
Reporting by Erin Handley
Caitlin Figueiredo, 27, recalls meeting Queen Elizabeth II in 2018, when she was recognised by the Queen’s Young Leaders program for her work founding Jasiri Australia.
The initiative pairs young women with political leaders in Australia and across the Pacific to give them an insight into government.
Ms Figueiredo, who has Indian heritage, says she briefly spoke to the Queen when she presented her with the award, asking her what motivated her to run the project.
“She said to me, ‘I'd like you to keep it up and to continue to grow it across the Commonwealth, because this is a fantastic initiative’.”
“I was kind of stunned by that. And I said, ‘Thank you, Your Majesty, I will.’ And that was my moment with the Queen,” she says, adding that in difficult times she had reflected on the moment and sought strength in it.
“It felt very surreal. I didn't think — especially because it was involved in politics — that she would make any comments on it.”
Caitlin added that in both Australia and India there were mixed emotions about the monarch’s death.
“British colonisation, it tore families apart. It had a massive, immeasurable difference on my ancestral home, and that legacy of colonisation is still embedded in their everyday lives,” she said.
At the same time, she said some of her fellow Queen’s Young Leaders said they didn’t have to be monarchists to "respect someone for her life of service … and more importantly, respect her for the sacrifice that she has made every single day”.
By Peter Marsh
Flowers, notes at Holyrood Palace
The ABC's Tom Joyner is at Holyrood Palace. Here's what he's seeing on the ground:
Hundreds of bouquets of flowers and handwritten notes have gathered outside the entrance to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh - the monarchy's residence in Scotland. Many are tributes written by young children, who came to pay respects with their parents. "To the greatest monarch who ever reigned," reads one.
Another reads simply: "QUEEN LOVE".
By Peter Marsh
'He didn't flinch'
You no doubt saw earlier that King Charles greeted plenty of mourners who'd been waiting outside Buckingham Palace on his return to London.
Joy Hounsome, an 86yo from Oxfordshire, told Reuters she kissed Charles's hand "impulsively".
"He came along and I held my hand out, he took my hand and I said 'I'm sorry for your loss' and he said 'oh thank you' and I just kissed his hand, impulsively. He didn't flinch," she said.
By Peter Marsh
Nicola Sturgeon's message for the Queen
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has left a message of condolence for Queen Elizabeth at Bute House, in Edinburgh.
"On behalf of Scotland, I express deep sorrow on the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth , and also the gratitude of our nation for Her steadfast service, dedication and abiding love of Scotland," she wrote.
Here's the full message:
By Peter Marsh
The Crown pauses production
Plenty of you have no doubt watched The Crown, Netflix's smash-hit series about the life Queen Elizabeth II and her family.
A spokesperson for the series said production was paused on Friday "as a mark of respect" and will also be suspended on the day of the queen’s funeral.
The show is in production on its sixth season. Its first two seasons starred Claire Foy as the young Princess Elizabeth ascending to the throne and gradually growing into her role as monarch, and seasons three and four featured Olivia Colman as a more mature queen.
The next season is still due to premiere in November.
By Peter Marsh
One Queen. Thirteen US presidents
There are plenty of US politics lovers who'll tout the time they got to meet a sitting US president. The lucky ones might say they've met two or three.
Queen Elizabeth outranked them all, having met an incredible 13 US presidents in her lifetime.
She had met every American president since Dwight Eisenhower, with the excepetion of Lyndon Johnson, who didn't visit Britain during his presidency. She was still a Princess when she met Harry Truman in Washington in 1951.
The Queen met current US President Joe Biden at Windsor Castle in 2021, where the pair shared shared tea. Talking to journalists after the meeting, the 79-year-old President said:
"I don't think she'll be insulted, but she reminded me of my mother."
By Peter Marsh
'God save the King'
ABC reporter Nick Sas was in the crowd at Buckingham Palace as King Charles and the Queen Consort greeted mourners for the first time. Here's what Nick saw on the ground.
"God save the King"
The chant echoed across the the huge crowd as the new King appeared publicly for the first time outside Buckingham Palace.
Though it quickly faded as most people — in fact pretty much everyone — were far too busy filming on their smartphones.
The new King waved to the crowd, to a quick cheer, and shook hands with a lucky few before inspecting a select few of the thousands of bouquets left by mourners on the gates of the palace.
Sam Hodson, who travelled to the Palace from northern England, said he made the special trip for his birthday.
"I came with my mum. It's really sad, we all loved her [Queen Elizabeth]," he said.
The day became even more special when he shook hands with Camilla, right where the ABC was standing.
"I just said, I'm sorry for your loss" he said.
"She said 'it's a such a sad time' and she went on to the next person. It was incredible."
By Peter Marsh
Bank of England set to delay rates decision
It's the first delay to a monetary policy meeting since the central bank became operationally independent 25 years ago.
"In light of the period of national mourning now being observed in the United Kingdom, the September 2022 meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee has been postponed for a period of one week," the Bank of England said in a statement.
Economists have said they mostly expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates by 50 basis points.
By Peter Marsh
A plan decades in the making
It's no great secret that media organisations across the world (including your own ABC) have been preparing for this moment for quite some time.
The ABC's Phil Williams, who's outside Buckingham Palace, said even when he first arrived to report from London in 2001 there was a plan on what to do in the event of the Queen's death.
"We were always prepared for this event. There was always a possibility that the Queen would pass away and this sequence of events which take place. Now it has, and it seems to be quite a smooth operation so far in the sense that the plan has run pretty much to schedule," Phil said.
"There will be some changes here, maybe a change of location or the time spent, particularly for the Queen's coffin in various places. She will be moving to Edinburgh, and then down to London later in the week. Those arrangement of fluid at the moment. Keep in mind, this has been planned to the nth degree for decades. There was always the possibility that the Queen could pass away in her first decade, and nobody guessed she would still be going in her seventh decade. So it is not as though suddenly people are shocked by this. There are almost departments devoted to this sort of planning. So far, it is working."
By Peter Marsh
Let's take stock of what's happened today, and what happens next
After the big welcome outside Buckingham Palace, the King has now ducked out of public view again for a little bit. Which gives us some time to go over what's happened today so far:
- The King, Prince Harry and Prince William left Balmoral Castle
- The Palace released details of the official period of royal mourning
- We also learned Charles will be officially proclaimed Britain's new monarch at roughly 7:00pm AEST Saturday
There's still a busy afternoon ahead in the UK though.
- The King and UK Prime Minister Liz Truss are expected to meet shortly
- King Charles will deliver an address to the UK at about 3:00am AEST
One detail we don't have more clarity on yet is how Queen Elizabeth's body will be transported from Balmoral.
As we tick over midnight AEST, thanks to all of you still here reading along.
By Peter Marsh
Football cancelled but parkrun, rugby still on across UK
All professional football matches across the UK have been postponed for the weekend out of respect for Queen Elizabeth II.
Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, said the league "would like to pay tribute to Her Majesty's long and unwavering service to our country."
But community sports like parkrun are set to continue, as will rugby union matches.
In its official guidance, the British government said there was "no obligation to cancel or postpone events and sporting fixtures during the period of national mourning" and that the decision to do so was "at the discretion of individual organisations".
By Peter Marsh
WATCH: King Charles meets mourners outside Buckingham Palace
By Bridget Judd
King Charles and Camilla make their way into Buckingham Palace
King Charles III and his wife Camilla, now Queen Consort, took time to inspect some of the floral tributes mourners have left outside Buckingham Palace, before making their way in.
Several members of the public sang "God save the King" and one said "Love you Charles!"
By Peter Marsh
Will there be a public holiday to mark the Queen's death?
Professor of constitutional law at Monash University Luke Beck is a man who has a lot of experience answering these kinds of questions. He's been speaking to ABC News:
"In the UK they are talking about perhaps having a public holiday on the day of the funeral, whether that happens here is a question for the state governments to decide. There is no legal requirement for that to happen. It is entirely up to the states to whether or not we shouldactually have a public holiday," she said.
Professor Beck mentioned another interesting point going forward ... our Queen's Birthday public holiday will now become the King's Birthday.
By Bridget Judd
King Charles III greets mourners outside Buckingham Palace
King Charles has arrived at Buckingham Palace after leaving Balmoral earlier today. He's currently meeting with mourners who have turned out to pay their respects.
He'll meet with the British PM soon, before his first address to the nation as Britain's new monarch is broadcast at 6:00pm local time (3:00am AEST).
By Peter Marsh
WATCH: The 96-gun salute in honour of Queen Elizabeth
Bridget showed you the still images earlier, but it's worth seeing the video of the 96-gun salute in Hyde Park in London by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
The ABC's Phil Williams said he could feel each shot in his chest despite being down at Buckingham Palace.
By Bridget Judd
King Charles III is en route to Buckingham Palace
King Charles is travelling from Northolt airport to Buckingham palace where he will view floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth.
He's expected to meet with British Prime Minister Liz Truss at around midnight (AEST).
By Bridget Judd
Sir David Attenborough remembers being 'in the presence of royalty' (literally)
Iconic broadcaster and naturist Sir David Attenborough, 96, has told the BBC the Queen had “an extraordinary ability to put you at your ease”.
"If there was a technical hitch she wanted to know what it was and, if it had a funny side, she was quick to see the joke,” he said.
"Yet, not for one second could you forget that you were in the presence of someone who had willingly accepted enormous responsibilities and dedicated her life to serving the nation."
He says "you were, in short, in the presence of royalty".
"The whole nation is bereaved."
