Thousands of people lined the streets of Belfast today as they welcomed the arrival of King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla to the city today.
Cheers and chants of "God Save the King!" echoed around Writer's Square as the new King arrived at St Anne's Cathedral for a service of reflection in memory of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
There was a somber yet excited atmosphere around the Cathedral as onlookers mourned the loss of the popular Queen while also rejoicing at King Charles' first visit to Northern Ireland as the new monarch.
Read more: King Charles III in Northern Ireland: Thousands line the streets of Belfast for Charles and Camilla
Hundreds gathered in the sun in Writer's Square for the event, while hundreds of others lined the cordons at either end of Donegall Street anxiously waiting for their chance to catch a glimpse of the King.
Evan Morrison of Grosvenor Grammar School said: "We are really honoured to be here, especially with our community association winning the Queen's award for voluntary service in 2019.
"It is really just an honour to see King Charles in the first days of his reign.
"It is sad when we think of her Majesty but it is also important to celebrate our new King's reign and the coming years."
Andrew Greer, James Taylor and Neil McKay from the 1st Cookstown Boys Brigade, spoke of their pride at attending the historic occasion, with the trio being some of the final cohort to receive the Queen's Badge, the highest honour that someone in the Boys Brigade can receive.
James said: "It is a real honour to be asked to see King Charles arrive. We are excited to see how his reign will go.
"Certainly Queen Elizabeth was a great inspiration to all of the boys, being a strong woman of faith which is of the highest importance to the Boys Brigade."
Volunteers from the ATLAS Women's Centre in Lisburn met with the new King as he left St Anne's Cathedral, with them saying that while they are terribly sad about the passing of Queen Elizabeth, they were glad to welcome the new monarch to Northern Ireland.
Carol Williams said: "We have been having a great time even though we have been down here since 12pm, but we don't care.
"King Charles said to us, I hope you haven't been down here too long, and we said that it doesn't matter, we don't care how long it was worth it.
"We were invited down here after winning the Queen's Award for our volunteering, where we helped make scrubs during lockdown while also keeping our centre open to help people with food parcels and others who couldn't get around.
"It has been great to welcome King Charles here today and if he comes back I would definitely do the same again, it has been a magical and lovely day."
As King Charles and Camilla met with the crowds gathered, further chants of "God Save the King" and "We want Charles" could be heard coming from the crowds gathered on Donegall Street after they broke out in applause and cheers upon seeing the pair.
Flo Foster and Neve Calderwood of the Walkway Community Association in East Belfast said: "I think it has been a really monumental day and I am very proud to be here representing the Walkway Community Association.
"This is something we will be able to tell our grandchildren about, that we met with the King on his first time being in Northern Ireland as our King."
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