LONDON
\nKing Charles III on Friday readied to address his mourning subjects on the first full day of his new reign as Britain and the world commemorated the extraordinary life of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
\nAt 73, Charles is the oldest monarch yet to ascend the throne of the United Kingdom, following the death of his \u201ccherished\u201d mother at her Scottish estate of Balmoral on Thursday.
\nHe was due to return to London from Balmoral, where the 96-year-old queen died \u201cpeacefully\u201d after a year-long period of ill-health and decline, at the culmination of a record-breaking reign of 70 years.
\n\u201cDuring 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,\u201d Charles said in a statement.
\nOne of the planet\u2019s most recognisable people, she was the only British monarch most people alive today had ever known.
\nThe tributes were universal, including from Russia and China.
\nNew York\u2019s Empire State Building was illuminated after sunset in silver and royal purple, while the Eiffel Tower in Paris dimmed its lights in tribute.
\nUS President Joe Biden described Queen Elizabeth as \u201ca stateswoman of unmatched dignity\u201d, and relayed the comforting words she gave when the United States was plunged into mourning on 9\/11.
\nThey were the same words chosen by the Daily Telegraph for its sombre front-page: \u201cGrief is the price we pay for love.\u201d
\nOther British newspapers also printed special editions to mark the occasion.
\n\u201cOur hearts are broken,\u201d headlined popular tabloid the Daily Mail.
\nThe Mirror wrote simply: \u201cThank you.\u201d
\nCharles\u2019s inaugural address, set to be pre-recorded, was expected to be broadcast on Friday evening, part of 10 days of plans honed over decades by Buckingham Palace and the UK government.
\nThe new king was also expected to hold his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was only Appointed on Tuesday in one of the queen\u2019s last official acts before her death.
\nTruss acclaimed the \u201csecond Elizabethan age\u201d, five centuries after the celebrated first.
\n\u201cWe offer him (Charles) our loyalty and devotion just as his mother devoted so much to so many for so long,\u201d she said in a televised address on Thursday. \u201cGod save the king.\u201d
\nCharles was also due to meet officials in charge of the elaborate arrangements for his mother\u2019s lavish state funeral, which will be attended by crowned and elected heads of state from around the world.
\nHe will decide on the length of the royal household\u2019s period of mourning, which is expected to last a month, while the UK government will observe at least 10 days of official remembrance, when limited business is conducted.
\nGun salutes (one round for every year of the queen\u2019s life) will be fired on Friday across Hyde Park in central London and from the Tower of London on the River Thames.
\nMuffled church bells will toll at Westminster Abbey, St Paul\u2019s Cathedral and Windsor Castle, among other places, and Union flags will fly at half-mast.
\nTruss and other senior ministers were set to attend a public remembrance service at St Paul\u2019s, while the UK parliament will start two days of special tributes.
\nThe queen\u2019s 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\u2019s reign in 1952.
\nElizabeth\u2019s public appearances had become rarer in the months since she spent an unscheduled night in hospital in October 2021 for undisclosed health tests.
\nShe was seen smiling in her last official photographs from Tuesday when she appointed Truss as the 15th prime minister of her reign, which started with Winston Churchill in Downing Street.
\nBut the queen looked frail and leant on a walking stick. Her hand was also bruised dark blue-purple, sparking concern.
\nHer closest family members had rushed to be at her bedside at Balmoral, a private residence set among thousands of acres (hectares) of rolling grouse moors and forests in the Scottish Highlands.
\nHer body will initially remain there, before being taken to the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
\nFrom there, her coffin is expected to travel by train to London for a lying in state accessible to the public, before the funeral.
\nBraving steady rain, crowds gathered late into Thursday night outside Buckingham Palace in London, and Windsor Castle west of the capital, with the number of well-wishers set to swell in the days ahead.
\nLondoner Joshua Ellis, 24, choked back tears as he mourned the \u201cnation\u2019s grandmother\u201d at the palace.
\n\u201cI know she is 96 but there is still a sense of shock. She is in all our minds and hearts,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cYou could always look to the queen, to a sense of stability. Every time people needed support, she was there.\u201d
\nQueen Elizabeth II came to the throne aged just 25 in the exhausted aftermath of World War II, joining a world stage dominated by political figures from Churchill to Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin.
\nIn the ensuing decades, the last vestiges of Britain\u2019s vast empire crumbled. At home, Brexit shook the foundations of her kingdom, and her family endured a series of scandals.
\nBut throughout, she remained consistently popular and was head of state not just of the United Kingdom but 14 former British colonies, including Australia and Canada.
\nNew Zealand proclaimed Charles its new king.
\nBut Australia\u2019s new government looks set to revive a push to ditch the monarchy, casting doubt on his inheritance even as it mourns the queen.
\nBritain\u2019s 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.
\nCharles\u2019s 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.
\nOn Saturday, his reign will be formally proclaimed by the Accession Council, which comprises senior politicians, bishops, City of London dignitaries and Commonwealth ambassadors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON King Charles III on Friday readied to address his mourning subjects on the first full day of his new reign as Britain and the world commemorated the extraordinary life of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. At 73, Charles is the oldest monarch yet to ascend the throne of the United Kingdom, following the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-282493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n