First public mourners file past Queen Elizabeth II's coffin in Edinburgh

Mourners in Edinburgh, some in tears, filed past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II through the night, before new king Charles III travels to Northern Ireland Tuesday and the monarch's coffin returns to London. As people paid their respects, four members of the monarch's Scottish bodyguard, the Royal Company of Archers, stood heads bowed at each corner of the oak casket resting in the 12th century St Giles' Cathedral.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has put her Spotify podcast Archetypes on hold during the official mourning period for Queen Elizabeth.

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The first members of the public began paying their respects before the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, filing past the casket at Edinburgh's St Giles' Cathedral.

Four members of the monarch's Scottish bodyguard, the Royal Company of Archers, stood heads bowed at each corner. Some people were in tears as they passed, television pictures showed.

Liverpool's visit to Chelsea and Manchester United's clash with Leeds on Sunday have been postponed due to policing pressures ahead of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, the Premier League announced on Monday.

Seven Premier League games will go ahead this weekend, with Brighton's match against Crystal Palace having already been postponed due to a planned rail strike.

Two anti-monarchy protesters were booed by crowds opposite parliament in central London on Monday, as King Charles III made his maiden address to lawmakers inside.

The pair held aloft signs saying "End feudalism", "Abolish the monarchy" and "Not my king", as the new monarch addressed lawmakers.

The royal invitation sent to the White House to attend Queen Elizabeth's funeral was for President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden only, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.

Her statement suggested Biden would not be assembling a US delegation to attend the Sept. 19 funeral in London. He is to depart for London on Saturday.

Britain's government said Monday that travel plans for foreign leaders and their spouses to Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral "will vary" by country, following a report they will have to take special buses.

"Arrangements for different leaders will vary depending on things like security risks, so we are providing guidance and information through embassies," Prime Minister Liz Truss's spokesman told reporters.

It follows news website Politico reporting that attendees have been told to take commercial flights and escorted private buses to reach the September 19 service at London's Westminster Abbey.

King Charles III on Monday led a procession through the centre of the Scottish capital Edinburgh behind the coffin of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as it headed to St Giles' Cathedral.

Walking next to the queen's three other children, Charles followed the coffin for the short distance up the Royal Mile from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where it had rested overnight.

It came amid the sound of guns fired at one-minute intervals from Edinburgh Castle.

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Prince Andrew will not wear a military uniform, unlike other senior British royals, at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, underlining his continuing estrangement from the family.

Andrew was stripped of his "His Royal Highness" and honorary military titles at the start of the year amid ongoing fallout from a sex assault scandal.

Edinburgh marked the arrival of King Charles III on Monday (September 12) with a gun salute from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle.

Personnel from the British Army's Royal Artillery fired the salute as the new king arrived in the Scottish capital ahead of a procession carrying the body of the late Queen Elizabeth II from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to Saint Giles's Cathedral, where she will lie at rest for 24 hours, giving the public a chance to pay respects.

Britain’s King Charles III flew to Edinburgh on Monday (September 12) to join his siblings in a solemn procession when the coffin of his mother Queen Elizabeth is taken to the city's historic cathedral.

The King left RAF Northolt in Greater London after addressing lawmakers in parliament and hearing them express their condolences for the death of his mother.

The new monarch will also join senior royals for a vigil at St Giles' Cathedral where the coffin will lie at rest before being flown to London on Tuesday (September 13).

The Queen will lie in state in Westminster Hall from 17:00 BST on Wednesday 14 September until 06:30 BST on the day of her funeral, Monday 19 September.

During the lying in state period the hall will be open for 24 hours a day for members of the public to file past the coffin and pay their respects.

The grand hall is the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster, at the heart of British government.

The last member of the Royal Family to lie in state in the hall was the Queen Mother in 2002, when more than 200,000 people queued to view her coffin.

The Queen's closed coffin will rest on a raised platform, known as a catafalque, beneath the 11th Century hall's medieval timber roof. Each corner of the platform will be guarded in a continuous vigil by soldiers from units that serve the Royal Household.

On Wednesday 14 September she will be brought to Westminster Hall from Buckingham Palace in a slow procession, accompanied by a military parade.

King Charles III says he is deeply grateful for the addresses of condolences from MPs and peers which "so touchingly encompass" what the Queen "meant to us all".

He makes reference to Shakespeare's Henry VIII, where Elizabeth I is described as "a pattern to all princes living".

He says he cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds those in Westminster Hall and "reminds us of vital Parliamentary traditions, to which MPs and peers dedicate themselves".

"Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy," he says.

He says connections to "my darling late mother" are seen all around, from the Silver Jubilee fountain in New Palace Yard to the sundial in Old Palace Yard marking her Golden Jubilee.

He says the Great Bell of Big Ben - "one of the most powerful symbols of our nation" - will mark the late Queen's progress from Buckingham Palace to Parliament later this week.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has accepted his invitation to attend the Queen's funeral next week. 

The proceedings are on September 19.

Loyalists laying flowers by a huge mural of a young Queen Elizabeth in a fiercely British corner of west Belfast described a potent nostalgia and hints of unease at what the new era may hold for some of the monarch's most devoted subjects.

A few hundred meters away, across steel and concrete "peace walls", Irish nationalists largely shrugged off the death of the woman who transformed from a symbol of British oppression to agent of reconciliation.

Queen for 70 of Northern Ireland's 100-year history and for all of three decades of the "Troubles" in which over 3,000 died in sectarian fighting over the crown's role in northeast Ireland, Elizabeth's image is seared into the psyche here.

The Queen's death has cast a light on how much Northern Ireland has changed since her heyday and how diminished the crown's role might be in the reign of King Charles.

The Queen's death comes at a difficult time for loyalists and their more moderate unionist allies. Decades of higher birth rates among mainly Catholic nationalists are ending the Protestant majority baked into the state's formation in 1921.

Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army, horrified many loyalists in May by securing the largest number of seats in the regional parliament for the first time.

Many nationalists expect to soon secure a permanent majority they hope will put huge pressure on the British government to allow a referendum on splitting Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and joining a united Irish state.

For loyalists, the Queen was the final direct link to both the Empire and World War Two victory central to their identity.

She was also seen as a constant amid perceived betrayals by British governments - from the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 that gave Dublin a say in Northern Ireland affairs to Boris Johnson's abandonment in 2019 of a pledge to never accept an Irish Sea trade border.

"For unionists and loyalists the Queen was the symbol of the United Kingdom and their Britishness and they genuinely felt that it was the Queen that gave them their Britishness and they would revere the queen rather than any British government because they felt they had been repeatedly betrayed by British governments, that the queen was the symbol of stability and Britishness," said Brian Feeney, an Irish nationalist columnist.

"I think there's not a single country in the world who doesn't latch on to a single symbol to identify themselves and give them a sense of belonging. Here in Northern Ireland, where we have a divided society, it's slightly more acute," said Doug Beattie, leader of the second largest unionist party, the Ulster Unionists, speaking beside a painting of the Queen in his constituency office south west of Belfast.

"Charles will understand continuity... I think he will understand that he needs to carry on with the vein that his mother brought the country... in every corner of the kingdom he's going to have a very particular issue that he's going to have to deal with, of course here in Northern Ireland it's very acute because we come from a very divided society and we come from a single island as well."

A potent symbol of the union, the Queen in her later years became a major force for reconciliation with its Irish nationalist foes, with her state visit to Ireland in 2011 the first by a monarch in almost a century of independence.

Two striking gestures on that trip transformed her relationship with Ireland: laying a wreath in honour Irish people killed fighting for independence from Britain and recounting a few words in Irish in a speech at Dublin Castle.

"There was a lot of stuff washed away by the Queen's visit in 2011," said Feeney. The Queen's role as bogeyman for nationalists is gone, he said.

The Queen, whose cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed by the Irish Republican Army, went even further a year later by shaking the hand of IRA commander Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland leader at the time.

While some Irish nationalists in bars reportedly cheered the news of the Queen's death and some fireworks were heard in Belfast, the reaction in nationalist areas was relatively muted, some saying the Queen was irrelevant and others that she was little more than a celebrity.

"There's still people that are happy that she's gone... but no celebrating the way there was when Margaret Thatcher died" in 2013, said Matthew Mullan, a 19-year old walking on the nationalist Falls Road in West Belfast.

For most nationalists, she's now seen as a normal person, he said, "someone’s mummy, auntie, granny, you know what I mean."

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Prince Harry has issued an official statement paying tribute to his grandmother, who he affectionately referred to as "granny".
Writing on the Archewell website, he praised her "unwavering grace and dignity". 

He said, "Granny, while this final parting brings us great sadness, I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings—from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren." 

Italian president Sergio Mattarella has said tjat he will attend the Queen's funeral. He is the latest world leader to confirm his attendance, alongside US President Joe Biden and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed she will be attending the Queen's funeral and the country will hold public holiday on September 26.

The Sun has reported that the mourners who will be there to see the Queen's coffin could be close to that which turned up to view Pope John Paul II. The authorities have already warned people from travelling on some routes and road transport can see delays of up to 12 hours. 

United States President Joe Biden has formally accepted an invitation to attend the state funeral service for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, which is scheduled to take place on September 19. Biden's visit to the UK for the funeral service will lead to a major security operation. 

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After Queen Elizabeth II's coffin covered a more than 280 kilometres journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh on Sunday, the government also published guidelines for people who might line up to say their final goodbyes to the queen.

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Public will be able to pay their respects to the Queen Elizabeth II in St Giles Cathedral in the Scottish capital on Monday. 

Queen Elizabeth the Second's coffin has arrived at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. This is the official residence of British monarch in Scotland.

King Charles has arrived the Buckingham Palace in London. The King was accompanied by Camilla, the Queen Consort. King Charles is due to meet representatives of the Commonwealth at the Buckingham Palace

The cortege of Queen Elizabeth has arrived in Dundee

The police presence in Edinburgh increased significantly on Sunday (September 11) as the Scottish capital prepared for the arrival of the Queen's coffin.

Crowds of royal fans and spectators were already arriving in the morning, some saying they were there to express their gratitude and respect to the late monarch.

The coffin will spend one night at Holyrood before being taken by procession to St Giles' Cathedral and then onto London.

Prime Minister Liz Truss will join King Charles III at memorial services around Britain for Queen Elizabeth, Downing Street has said, while denying she would officially accompany him after the idea drew criticism.

Media commentators and social media users had whether there was a political motivation for Truss joining the king to lead mourning in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

But the prime minister's office was at pains to play down any controversy, with Truss still in the first week of her premiership after having been appointed by the queen on Tuesday.

"The PM is not 'accompanying' the king and it is not a 'tour'. She is merely attending these services," Downing Street said.

Locals from Aberdeenshire lined the streets of the village of Ballater to see the funeral cortege of Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday (September 11) as it started its journey to Edinburgh.

The cortege will travel to Edinburgh, from where her coffin will be flown to London to lie in state before her funeral, which will take place on Sept. 19.

In ceremonies held on Sunday (September 11) in the capitals of Australia and New Zealand, King Carles was formally proclaimed as the head of the state. 

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Queen Elizabeth's oak coffin began its journey from Balmoral Castle, her summer retreat in the Scottish Highlands, down to Edinburgh on Sunday, with thousands of Scots, expected to line the streets to pay their respects.

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China's President Xi Jinping on Sunday congratulated Charles III on his accession to the British throne, state media reported.

Xi told Charles in a message that he was willing to "expand friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation, and strengthen communication on global issues," the official Xinhua news agency said.

Despite being a sovereign nation with a liberal democratic setup, Australia's head of state remains the Queen or King of the UK. Succinctly put, the former british colony  is not a republic but a constitutional monarchy.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a ceremony to recognise King Charles as its new head of state remarked: 

"Thank you for being here at what is an extraordinary historical event in the history of our nation. There has been an outpouring of grief on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth was admired for her devotion to duty, for her commitment to the people of the United Kingdom, to the people of the Commonwealth including Australia and indeed to the world,"

"In Queen Elizabeth’s own words, that grief is the price we pay for love, is I think a fitting statement on how so many Australians are feeling at this time. Today, we mark formally the new head of state in King Charles III and the proclamation – the first in my lifetime and the first in a majority of Australian’s lifetime - is an historic event."

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau says parliament will sit on Thursday to enable MPs to pay formal tribute to the Queen. "Parliament will sit this Thursday to allow MPs to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In addition, to accommodate Her Majesty’s funeral, the opening of the session will be delayed – by one day – to September 20th." tweeted the Canadian PM.

According to the King's spokesperson, it may be decided in the future whether the royal households will ever refer to Camilla as "the Queen" rather than "Queen Consort."

Although Buckingham Palace has thus far referred to Camilla as Queen Consort in their briefings and remarks, she is formally Her Majesty the Queen as the King's wife.

A spokesman for the King was asked if Camilla would always be referred to as Queen Consort, but did not completely rule out a change. But he also said that they were focusing on what would happen over the next week and a half.

In memory of Queen Elizabeth II, Pakistan will observe a day of mourning on September 12. 

Prince William and Prince Harry, and their wives Kate and Meghan, on Saturday set aside their reported differences, reuniting to inspect floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.

Television pictures showed the two couples, once dubbed "the fab four" until an apparent falling-out, looking at the flowers together before separating to talk to crowds gathered on either side of the road outside the gates of the castle, west of London.

The state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will be held at Westminster Abbey in London at 11:00 am (1000 GMT) on Monday September 19, royal officials said on Saturday.

Buckingham Palace also confirmed that the queen, who died on Thursday aged 96, will then be taken to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London, for a committal service.

Prince William on Saturday promised to honour the memory of Queen Elizabeth II by supporting his father, King Charles III, "in every way", in a heartfelt statement after his grandmother's death.

In his first comments since the queen's death and as the newly appointed Prince of Wales, William, 40, said "it would be some time before the reality of life without Grannie will truly feel real".

William has become heir now that his father is king, with expectations that his time on the throne will come sooner rather than later.

Canada proclaimed Charles its king on Saturday in a formal ceremony at the official residence in Ottawa of the governor general, the monarch's representative in Canada who performs the duties of the head of state on behalf of the crown.

Earlier, an Accession Council met at St James's Palace in London to proclaim Charles sovereign. The ceremonies are protocol and formalize the change in head of state.

Charles, 73, automatically became king of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms, including Canada, when his mother, Queen Elizabeth, died on Thursday at age 96.