King Charles III to address UK as mourning begins for late queen

Pic/PTI

King Charles III was on Friday due to address his new subjects, as Britain was plunged into mourning by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, ending a history-making 70-year reign.

Charles, 73, became monarch immediately after the death of his mother at her Scottish Highland retreat on Thursday, sparking tributes at home and abroad.

He is due to return to London from Balmoral, where the 96-year-old queen died "peacefully" after a year-long period of ill health and decline.

Details of his inaugural address, set to be pre-recorded, were not immediately released by the palace, but are part of 10 days of detailed pre-prepared plans honed over decades.

Also on Friday, the new king is expected to hold his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was only appointed on Tuesday in one of the queen's last ceremonial acts before her death.

He was also due to meet officials in charge of his accession and the elaborate arrangements for his mother's set-piece funeral.

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He will decide on the length of the royal household's period of mourning, which is expected to last a month, while the UK government will observe 10 days of official remembrance, when limited business is conducted.

Gun salutes -- one round for every year of the queen's life -- will be fired across Hyde Park in central London and from the Tower of London, the ancient royal fortress on the River Thames.

Muffled church bells will toll at Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and Windsor Castle, among other places, and Union flags will fly at half-mast.

Truss and other senior ministers are set to attend a public remembrance service at St Paul's, while the UK parliament will start two days of special tributes.

The queen's death and its ceremonial aftermath comes as the government strives to rush through emergency legislation to tackle the kind of war-fuelled economic privation that marked the start of Elizabeth's reign in 1952.

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Britain's mourning will culminate in a final public farewell at Westminster Abbey in London. The funeral day will be a public holiday in the form of a Day of National Mourning.

Charles's coronation, an elaborate ritual steeped in tradition and history, will take place in the same historic surroundings, as it has for centuries, on a date to be fixed.

On Saturday, his reign will be formally proclaimed by the Accession Council, which comprises senior politicians, bishops, City of London dignitaries and Commonwealth ambassadors.

In a statement, the new king described his mother as a "cherished sovereign" whose loss would "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," Charles said.

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