From Elizabeth II to Charles III

King Charles III thanks the public for their support in his first year as monarch, as he marked the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

"In marking the first anniversary of Her late Majesty's death and my Accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us," he says.

"I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to be of service to you all." — AFP  

Britain's King Charles III will commemorate German victims of World War II Allied air raids on Friday, a gesture carrying great significance for both countries.

On the third and final day of his first state visit since ascending the throne, the monarch, accompanied by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will visit the St Nikolai memorial in Hamburg, where he will lay a wreath.

The move in the ruins of a church will be unparalleled for a British sovereign. — AFP

Britain's Charles III will address the German parliament on Thursday, becoming the first monarch to do so, on the occasion of his inaugural state visit as king.

Germany marks the first trip abroad for Charles since ascending the throne, which is being interpreted as a "strong gesture" to build post-Brexit ties with the continent.

Arriving for his three-day trip on Wednesday, he and Queen Consort Camilla were greeted with military honours at the Brandenburg Gate, the first time the iconic site had lent the backdrop for such a ceremony. — AFP

Charles III arrives in France on Sunday for his first state visit as king, but the planned celebrations of historic cross-Channel relations face potential disruption from protests over unpopular pension reforms.

Officials on both sides are keeping a close eye on the waves of strikes and disruption across France that could cause last-minute changes to the carefully crafted three-day programme.

One concern is that protesters will use the occasion to publicise their fight against President Emmanuel Macron's bid to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Striking trade unionists have even threatened to withhold red carpets for the visit but the body responsible insisted they would be rolled out as planned.

Charles, 74, and Queen Consort Camilla, 75, are due to tour Paris and Bordeaux before heading to Germany. — AFP

King Charles will participate in his first Trooping the Colour ceremony, which has marked the British sovereign's official birthday for over 260 years, as monarch on June 17, Buckingham Palace says.

Charles, 74, took over as sovereign in September following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

"This impressive display of pageantry will take place on Saturday 17th June... with His Majesty The King attending and taking the salute," the palace says in a statement. — AFP

The first banknotes bearing the image of King Charles III are set to enter circulation by mid-2024, the Bank of England said on Tuesday as it unveiled their designs.

"The portrait of The King will appear on existing designs of all four polymer banknotes (£5, £10, £20 and £50), with no other changes to the existing designs," the central bank said.

"The King's image will appear on the front of the banknotes, as well as in cameo in the see-through security window." — AFP

Charles III is to take part in his first Remembrance Sunday event as king, laying a wreath in tribute to UK and Commonwealth war dead, as Britain's new prime minister also lauds Ukraine's defenders.

The 73-year-old monarch had previously deputised for his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September aged 96 after a year of failing health.

Since 2017, she had watched the annual service from a balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) overlooking the Cenotaph.

Last year a back complaint forced her to miss the ceremony in central London, just weeks after an unscheduled overnight stay in hospital.

Charles, who served in the Royal Navy in the 1970s, laid a wreath on her behalf.

Now king and commander-in-chief of British forces, he will lay his first wreath at the war memorial as reigning monarch. — AFP

Egypt has renewed its invitation to King Charles III for next month's COP27 climate summit after the British monarch's plans to attend were reportedly quashed by ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss.  

"From our point of view in relation to his majesty King Charles, it’s an open invitation," senior diplomat Mohamed Nasr says ahead of the 12-day UN meet in Sharm El-Sheik, which starts on November 6.

"He has been a very strong advocate for climate action and a role model," Nasr tells journalists in an online briefing. "We still hope that he can make it." — AFP

The coronation of King Charles III will take place on May 6 next year, Buckingham Palace announces, vowing to reflect the monarchy's historic traditions and its modern role.

Charles, 73, will be formally crowned at London's Westminster Abbey, following a long tradition dating back more than 900 years.

The monarch's wife, Queen Consort Camilla, 75, will also be crowned, the palace confirmed. — AFP

Around a quarter of a million people queued round the clock to view the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it lay in state, the UK government says, a day after her elaborate state funeral.

Following a public holiday for the funeral, political and business life was resuming and workers were busy clearing up the debris left by an estimated million-plus people who lined the streets of London.

But King Charles III and the royal family will remain in mourning for another seven days, meaning no official engagements after the new sovereign spent an exhausting week presiding over the funeral build-up.

The queen's coffin was on display from Wednesday to early Monday inside parliament's cavernous Westminster Hall, and the waiting time for public mourners at one point reached 25 hours.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan says her government department was still "crunching the numbers", but believes that around 250,000 people had passed through the hall in total. — AFP

The lying-in-state ceremony for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall formally ends and the doors closed to the public ahead of her state funeral on Monday.

Over five days, tens of thousands of people had waited hours in line before filing past her coffin to pay their final respects. The funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey in front of some 2,000 guests. — AFP

Britain's new Queen Consort Camilla paid tribute Sunday to Queen Elizabeth II for carving her own role as a "solitary woman" in a world dominated by men.

In her first public comments broadcast since Queen Elizabeth's death, King Charles III's wife said it must have been "so difficult" for the late monarch, who inherited the throne in 1952 when she was just 25 years old.

Her pre-recorded comments to BBC television were to be aired later Sunday before the national minute's silence at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT).

"She's been part of our lives for ever. I'm 75 now and I can't remember anyone except The Queen being there," Camilla said.

"It must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman.

"There weren't women prime ministers or presidents. She was the only one so I think she carved her own role." — AFP

China's vice president Wang Qishan will attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, Beijing's foreign ministry says Saturday, after a diplomatic spat saw Chinese officials barred from visiting the late monarch's coffin.

"At the invitation of the UK government, President Xi Jinping's Special Representative Vice President Wang Qishan will attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II to be held in London on September 19," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning says in a statement.

The Queen will be honored with Britain's first state funeral in almost six decades on Monday. More than 2,000 guests are expected to attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. — AFP

World leaders begin gathering in London from Saturday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, as princes William and Harry are set to lead a vigil of her grandchildren at her coffin.

The queen's death on September 8 aged 96, after a record-breaking 70 years on the throne, has sparked an outpouring of emotion.

Members of the public braved waits that at one point were estimated to be up to 24 hours and chilly night-time temperatures to view her coffin. — AFP

King Charles III heads to Wales for the last of his visits to the four nations of the United Kingdom as preparations for the queen's state funeral gather pace.

With queues to view the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state reaching over four miles (6.4 kilometres) long, Charles and his three siblings -- Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward -- were due to hold a family vigil in front of the coffin.

The so-called Vigil of the Princes, with all four royals in ceremonial military uniform, will last for 15 minutes from 1830 GMT.

British officials on Thursday pledged "a fitting tribute" to the queen, who died last Thursday at the age of 96 after a record-breaking 70 years on the throne. — AFP

A veteran Hong Kong opera star apologized and declared his patriotism on Thursday after his praise for Britain's late Queen Elizabeth II sparked a backlash among nationalists in China.

Thousands of Hong Kong residents have queued up outside the city's British consulate this week to sign a condolence book for the late monarch who died after 70 years on the throne.

Among the mourners was Law Kar-ying, a heavyweight of the Cantonese opera scene, who published a selfie on Instagram from the queue and a message that read: "Hong Kong was a blessed land during her reign."

Instagram is banned in mainland China but Law's post went viral on other social media sites, sparking anger and criticism among nationalists.

On Thursday, Law took to China's Twitter-like platform Weibo to post a video apologizing for "making remarks of mourning without thinking them through". 

"My original intention was to express condolences for a late elderly woman and I would like to appeal to everyone not to overly interpret what I said," the 75-year-old said in Mandarin Chinese. -- AFP

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, the Japanese government says, in their first overseas trip since assuming the throne in 2019.

Top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno tells reporters that the royal couple would be present but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other government officials would not attend. — AFP

Saudi authorities have arrested a man who claimed to have travelled to the Muslim holy city of Mecca to perform an umrah pilgrimage on behalf of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The man, a Yemeni national, on Monday published a video clip of himself on social media at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, where non-Muslims are forbidden. 

In the clip, he held up a banner saying: "Umrah for the soul of Queen Elizabeth II, we ask God to accept her in heaven and among the righteous." 

The footage was widely circulated on Saudi social media, with Twitter users calling for the man's arrest. 

Saudi Arabia forbids pilgrims to Mecca from carrying banners or chanting slogans. — AFP

As he tours the four corners of his fractious new kingdom, Charles III faces the most testing task of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Scotland, which Charles visited on Monday, may be angling for a new referendum on independence but armed resistance there to the Crown waned centuries ago. 

Northern Ireland only achieved peace in 1998 -- and it remains fragile.

The devotion of Northern Ireland's unionists to Queen Elizabeth II bordered on the reverential, integrated with their wider sense of belonging to the United Kingdom, which they feel is under threat as never before. — AFP

Charles III makes his inaugural address to parliament as king since ascending the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

"Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy," he tells members of the elected lower House of Commons and the upper chamber House of Lords packed into Westminster Hall. 

The coffin of his late mother will lie in state at Westminster Hall from Wednesday evening until her funeral Monday. — AFP

New Zealand will have a one-off public holiday on September 26 to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

"This, I hope, will be a chance to acknowledge a lifetime of service to New Zealand by Queen Elizabeth II," Ardern tells reporters in Wellington.

"We need to acknowledge here (that) this is a one-in-70-year event. The queen was our sovereign, our head of state."

"She made an enormous contribution to New Zealand through her public service," Ardern adds. "This marks a significant end to a chapter." — AFP

Mourners will get the first opportunity to pay respects before the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, as it lies in an Edinburgh cathedral where King Charles III himself will mount a vigil.

Thousands of people are expected to line up for the chance to see the flag-draped casket at St Giles' Cathedral in the Scottish capital, a week before her funeral in London.

The new monarch will walk behind his mother's coffin in a sombre procession leading from Holyroodhouse palace, where it arrived on Sunday after making a six-hour road journey from Balmoral Castle, to the church.

The new king will also address British lawmakers in London for the first time since ascending the throne, as the pageantry continues ahead of the queen's September 19 state funeral. — AFP

Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will travel by road through Scottish towns and villages on Sunday as it begins its final journey from her beloved Scottish retreat of Balmoral.

Mourners are expected to line the streets to watch a hearse carrying her oak coffin wend its way through Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Dundee on the way to Edinburgh.

Here is a timeline of the 180-mile journey through Scotland's northeastern and eastern countryside, which will last at least six hours. — AFP

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II embarks on her final journey on Sunday with thousands of her mourning subjects expected to line her coffin's route from the Scottish retreat where she died.

The solemn departure of the queen's oak casket from Balmoral Castle for Edinburgh marks the start of an odyssey of national mourning culminating in her state funeral in London on September 19.

Her journey begins a day after her son Charles III was formally proclaimed king, and after her warring grandsons William and Harry, and their wives Kate and Meghan, briefly reunited for a walkabout.

A hearse carrying the coffin of Britain's longest-serving monarch will make a six-hour journey through Scottish towns before arriving in Edinburgh, where it will rest for two days so people can pay tribute. -- AFP

A historic Accession Council proclaimes Charles III as Britain's new king on Saturday following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II aged 96.

The televised council held at St James's Palace in London announces that "Prince Charles Philip Arthur George is now, by the death of our lady sovereign of happy memory, become our King Charles III... God save the king!" — AFP

Tehran has avoided official comment on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but some Iranians expressed outright hostility, accusing Britain of having supported the late shah's regime.

Unlike many countries with wall-to-wall coverage, state television in the Islamic republic reported the bare minimum on the death Thursday of the woman who had been the world's longest reigning monarch, with just a brief announcement along with archive footage and photographs.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito is expected to attend Queen Elizabeth's state funeral, local media report.

If confirmed, this will be his first overseas trip since he ascended the Chrysanthemum throne in 2019 following his father's abdication.

Naruhito was scheduled to visit Britain as his first overseas trip after the ascension, but it was postponed due to the pandemic.

Public broadcaster NHK reports that the Imperial Household Agency and the Japanese government are making arrangements, citing unnamed sources. — AFP

Britain's Charles III will officially be proclaimed king in a ceremony on Saturday, a day after he vowed in his first speech to mourning subjects that he would emulate his "darling mama", Queen Elizabeth II.

The 73-year-old automatically became monarch upon the queen's death Thursday, but an Accession Council ceremony at St James's Palace early Saturday is a constitutional formality to recognise his sovereignty. 

Featuring trumpets and a balcony proclamation, the pomp-filled protocol is the latest part of a 10-day programme of official mourning -- which will last even longer for the royals -- held across Britain leading up to the queen's funeral.

An emotional Charles set the tone for his reign in a televised address Friday in which he hailed his mother's "unswerving devotion" during her record-breaking seven decades on the throne. -- AFP

Follow this thread for updates on tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II and on the United Kingdom's transition to King Charles III.

Photo: Household Division Foot Guards march during the Queen's Birthday Parade, the Trooping the Colour, as part of Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations in London on June 2, 2022. | AFP / Jeff Mitchell, pool