It’s time to go! King Charles III gently grabs Queen Consort Camilla’s arm as he ushers her to their car after making historic first address to MPs and peers in Parliament during another busy day
- Charles III was seen gently grabbing Queen Consort Camilla by the arm today
- He ushered his wife into their vehicle after making his first address to Parliament
- The royal couple are today flying to Edinburgh to the Palace of Holyroodhouse
- Full coverage: Click here to see all our coverage of the Queen’s passing
They have a busy day ahead, so perhaps it’s no wonder King Charles III was seen ushering his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort, into their vehicle after making his historic first address to MPs and peers in Parliament today.
His Majesty, 73, was captured gently grabbing Camilla, 75, by the arm and leading her towards their car when leaving Westminster Hall in London to fly to Edinburgh to the Palace of Holyroodhouse to inspect a guard of honour.
As is traditional when the monarch arrives in Holyrood, the Ceremony of the Keys will take place before the King follows the hearse to St Giles’ Cathedral – the first time he will have been seen with his mother’s coffin, which arrived at the palace yesterday.
At 7.20pm the King and his brothers, Prince Andrew, 62, and Prince Edward, 58, will perform the Vigil of The Princes.
The monarch had looked close to tears today as Parliament sang ‘God Save the King’ after he addressed MPs and peers for the first time following their own tributes to his late beloved mother Queen Elizabeth II.
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They have a busy day ahead, so perhaps it’s no wonder King Charles III was seen ushering his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort, into their vehicle after making his historic first address to MPs and peers in Parliament today
The monarch had looked close to tears today as Parliament sang ‘God Save the King’ after he addressed MPs and peers for the first time following their own tributes to his late beloved mother Queen Elizabeth II
His Majesty also looked moved as the Lord Speaker and the Commons Speaker expressed their condolences and said: ‘Deep as our grief is, we know yours is deeper.’
The King stood at a gilded lectern to speak to the crowd assembled in Westminster Hall and thanked the hundreds of politicians and peers, including Liz Truss, Sir Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson, for their tributes his mother.
In his short, poignant speech, Charles quoted Shakespeare in his tribute to his ‘beloved mother’ as he addressed Parliament for the first time since becoming monarch, saying of the Queen: ‘As Shakespeare said of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was a pattern to all princes living.’
He said: ‘As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves with such personal commitment, for the betterment of us all.’
Charles said the late Queen had ‘set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.’
He added: ‘I am deeply grateful for addresses of condolence, which so touchingly encompass what the late sovereign, my beloved mother meant to us all’.
His Majesty also looked moved as the Lord Speaker and the Commons Speaker expressed their condolences and said: ‘Deep as our grief is, we know yours is deeper.’
His Majesty, 73, was captured gently grabbing Camilla, 75, by the arm and leading her towards their car when leaving Westminster Hall in London to fly to Edinburgh to the Palace of Holyroodhouse to inspect a guard of honour
As is traditional when the monarch arrives in Holyrood, the Ceremony of the Keys will take place before the King follows the hearse to St Giles’ Cathedral – the first time he will have been seen with his mother’s coffin, which arrived at the palace yesterday. Pictured, Charles III and Camilla leaving Westminster Hall
The hundreds of dignitaries then stood for the national anthem, which moved the new King to tears on a day where he will be seen in public with the Queen’s coffin for the first time in Scotland this afternoon.
‘The Queen set an example of selfless duty which I am resolved faithfully to follow’: Charles’ Westminster Hall speech in full
My Lords and Members of the House of Commons:
I am deeply grateful for the Addresses of Condolence by the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which so touchingly encompass what our late Sovereign, my beloved mother The Queen, meant to us all. As Shakespeare says of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was “a pattern to all Princes living”.
As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital Parliamentary traditions to which Members of both Houses dedicate yourselves, with such personal commitment for the betterment of us all.
Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy. That your traditions are ancient we see in the construction of this great Hall and the reminders of Mediaeval predecessors of the Office to which I have been called. And the tangible connections to my darling late mother we see all around us; from the Fountain in New Palace Yard which commemorates The late Queen’s Silver Jubilee to the Sundial in Old Palace Yard for the Golden Jubilee, the magnificent Stained Glass Window before me for the Diamond Jubilee and, so poignantly and yet to be formally unveiled, your most generous gift to Her late Majesty to mark the unprecedented Platinum Jubilee which we celebrated only three months ago, with such joyful hearts.
The great bell of Big Ben – one of the most powerful symbols of our nation throughout the world and housed within the Elizabeth Tower also named for my mother’s Diamond Jubilee – will mark the passage of The late Queen’s progress from Buckingham Palace to this Parliament on Wednesday.
My Lords and Members of the House of Commons:
We gather today in remembrance of the remarkable span of The Queen’s dedicated service to her nations and peoples. While very young, Her late Majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation. This vow she kept with unsurpassed devotion.
She set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.
There were wild cheers and cries of ‘God Save the King’ as the monarch drove from Clarence House down The Mall for the historic moment before MPs and peers bowed and curtseyed as he walked slowly to his throne with Queen Consort, Camilla.
Liz Truss and her predecessor Boris Johnson were also in Westminster Hall this morning along with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and hundreds of politicians.
His Majesty heard tributes for the Queen in the near-1,000-year-old Westminster Hall – the ancient heart of the Palace of Westminster where his mother will lie in state from Wednesday evening for four days until her funeral next Monday. At times Charles looked deeply moved.
The Lord Speaker and the Commons Speaker expressed their condolences to His Majesty in a ceremony in Westminster Hall. Charles received a motion of confidence from both houses of Parliament – in another constitutional event that has never been seen on TV before.
In an address on behalf of peers, the Lord Speaker Lord McFall first paid tribute to the Queen’s ‘untiring endeavours for the welfare of her peoples and her fortitude in adversity’ before he ‘pledged’ his support for him.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle presented the King with a humble address that was agreed by MPs in a special sitting on Saturday. The Commons Speaker declared that the Queen’s ‘unstinting dedication to the service of our great country… will always be held in affectionate and grateful remembrance’. He also expressed loyalty to the King on behalf of the MPs, saying it is their ‘conviction that he will strive to uphold the liberties and to promote the happiness of the people in all his realms’.
King Charles and the Queen Consort will fly into the Scottish capital after Midday and travel to the palace to inspect a guard of honour. The King follow the hearse to St Giles’ Cathedral – the first time he will have been seen with his mother’s coffin – amid rumours Prince William, Prince Harry and their wives Kate and Meghan could also be there after their shock reunion outside Windsor Castle on Saturday.
At 2.35pm, Charles and Camilla will join a procession to St Giles’ Cathedral 1,200 yards away. Charles and other royals will walk behind the hearse as it makes its way along the Royal Mile.
Full details about the royal mourners have yet to be released but there is speculation the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the new Prince and Princess of Wales, who on Saturday put on a united front during an appearance at Windsor Castle, will be part of the group.
Charles will lead some of the royals on foot, expected to be the Duke of York, Earl of Wessex, Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence – while the Queen Consort and other members of the royal family will follow in cars.
At the cathedral, the Crown of Scotland will be placed upon the coffin. After a service, members of the public will be allowed to file past to pay their respects.
At 7.20pm the King and his brothers will perform the Vigil of The Princes. The coffin is expected to be flown to London tomorrow evening, again with Princess Anne accompanying her mother.
On arrival at RAF Northolt in west London at 6.55pm, the coffin will be transferred to the State Hearse. At Buckingham Palace, a guard of honour will receive the coffin.
A bearer party of the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, will carry it to the Bow Room where it will be placed on trestles, witnessed by King Charles and the Queen Consort. Chaplains to the King will keep watch over the coffin.
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla stand for the national anthem
Charles said he was moved by the tributes to his mother – who he said ‘set an example of selfless duty’ that he said he would faithfully follow
The King said Parliament is the ‘living and breathing instrument of our democracy’ as he referenced the connections to ‘my darling late mother’
The Countess of Wessex was pictured comforting Princess Anne yesterday as members of the royal family watched Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin arrive in Edinburgh to lie in rest at the Palace of Holyroodhouse overnight.
Sophie, 57, the wife of the Queen’s youngest son Prince Edward, 58, was seen placing her hand on the Princess Royal’s back in a supportive gesture after the coffin made the journey from Balmoral to the Scottish city.
The Queen’s children and their spouses – Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex – watched as soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland carried the coffin into the Palace.
In a touching moment, deference to the monarch was still observed, with the royal women curtseying and the men bowing their heads.
Her Majesty did not travel alone during her 180-mile journey, Anne and her husband were in a limousine as part of a procession directly behind her.
Pallbearers, one with his eyes closed another looking to the sky, carry the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as the hearse arrives at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh
The Princess Royal curtseys as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, completes its journey from Balmoral to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh
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