Queen Elizabeth II: Gun salutes and floral tributes as UK mournson September 9, 2022 at 9:37 am

Gun salutes will be fired and church bells will be tolled on Friday as the UK pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.

Britain’s longest-reigning monarch died peacefully, surrounded by her family, at Balmoral in Scotland on Thursday.

King Charles III, who immediately succeeded his mother, is expected to address the nation for the first time as sovereign later.

There have been spontaneous gatherings and outpourings of emotion at Balmoral, Buckingham Palace and Windsor.

Members of the public have travelled to leave flowers, messages of thanks and condolence for the Queen and Royal Family, with many visibly tearful or overcome with emotion.

Union jacks are being flown at half mast and Parliament will gather later to pay tribute to her momentous reign.

The bells of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle are expected to toll at noon in tribute to her life and service.

A gun salute in London’s Hyde Park has been arranged for the following hour, with 96 rounds to mark each year of her life to fire around 13:00 BST.

There will be a remembrance service at St Paul’s at 18:00 BST, attended by Prime Minister Liz Truss and other senior ministers.

On Friday, the palace released some details of plans over the coming days, with King Charles declaring a period of Royal mourning be observed for seven days after the funeral of his mother.

There will be no physical book of condolences for members of the public to sign, but the palace has opened an online book of condolences for those who wish to leave messages.

The government has said it expects large crowds to gather in central London and other Royal Residences as a mark of respect, warning there could be some travel disruption, traffic delays and significant crowding,

Members of the public have been asked to leave their flower tributes in designated areas at Royal Residences.

Tributes to the Queen will also be paid by MPs and peers in the Houses of Commons and Lords from midday, with normal politics to be put on hold for a period of mourning which is due to last until late into Friday evening.

The Cabinet has met on Friday morning, with the only item on the agenda to pay tribute to the Queen.

There will also be a rare Saturday sitting of the House of Commons, where senior MPs will gather to take an oath of allegiance to the new King from 14:00, with condolences continuing again until the evening.

By Nadeem Shad, reporting from Buckingham Palace

Early morning in the twilight around the palace the mood was subdued.

A slow but steady stream of locals, tourists and commuters on their way to work have been paying tribute. Some brought flowers, others cameras to document the historic occasion.

Notes dotted around the gates offer condolences in various languages. Cyclists could be seen making several laps of the palace, often with phones out a second time to take snapshots of the gradually growing crowd.

Later on, with the day’s sun fully covering the area around the Victoria Memorial, people took up prime positions waiting and watching.

Some have already been here for hours, as teams of international news crews grows ever larger.

Following his mother’s death, King Charles said it was was a “moment of great sadness” for him and his family and that her loss would be “deeply felt” around the world.

“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother.”

During the coming period of mourning, the King said he and his family would be “comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held”.

The King and his wife, Camilla, now Queen Consort, will return to London later on Friday – Buckingham Palace has said – where he is expected to address the nation later after an audience with the new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

All the Queen’s children travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, after the Queen’s doctors became concerned about her health and placed her under medical supervision on Thursday.

Ms Truss, who was appointed as prime minister by the Queen on Tuesday, said the monarch was the rock on which modern Britain was built in just her second speech to the nation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby – spiritual leader to the Church of England of which the monarch is supreme governor – expressed his “profound sadness”.