King Charles III and the Queen Consort arrived at Buckingham Palace just after 2pm to greet well-wishers before a meeting with the prime minister.
Liz Truss was driven to Buckingham Palace shortly before 4pm for her first meeting with the King.
The new monarch and his wife landed in a private plane at RAF Northolt, West London, shortly after 12.30pm before travelling across the capital in a motorcade.
The royal flight was tracked by over 150,000 people on the website FlightRadar24 as it landed.
His Majesty arrived at the palace at roughly 2.10pm wearing a black tie. He waited for Camilla to get out of the car then went to greet crowds lined up at the barriers.
The King, flanked by bodyguards, shook hands and shared kind words with well-wishers who had been queueing up for his arrival all morning. Members of the packed crowd filmed the historic arrival on their phones and others held their children on their shoulders to see the King.
One woman kissed his hand, another his cheek. Someone handed him a rose. Several mourners had tears in their eyes.
Cheers of “God save the King” and “hip hip hooray” erupted from the public.
The King then joined Camilla to admire hundreds of floral tributes to the late Queen lying at the palace gates. Afterwards, the pair walked together through the gates into the grounds.
Buckingham Palace flew the Royal Standard to signify the sovereign is in residence again once the King entered the building.
Jenny Assiminios from Cyprus went viral for kissing the King. Millions watched her on television stretching out her arms to the King before planting a kiss on his cheek.
She told CNN: “I saw him in front of me, I couldn’t believe it. I said to him, ‘May I kiss you?’, he said, ‘Well yes’, so I grabbed him.
“I’m very happy, very very much. Thank you god for letting me see him and kiss him.
“He’s lovely. He’s perfect. I’ve always liked him.
“I love the royal family, I’m always watching them, buying souvenirs.
“My son is on the other side of the world on holiday and he saw me and just phoned me. I closed the phone and said, ‘I’m busy now.’”
Shortly before his father’s arrival in London, Prince William left Balmoral to travel back to Windsor.
He will spend time with his family before the Accession Council tomorrow morning, where Charles will be officially proclaimed King.
The council is set to take place from 10am and will be shown on TV for the first time in history.
Prince Harry was the first royal to leave Balmoral, departing at around 8.20am this morning in a black Range Rover.
The Duke of Sussex boarded a British Airways flight at Aberdeen airport wearing a black suit and carrying a shoulder bag. The plane left at 10.20am and landed at Heathrow airport at 11.46am.
As the royals travelled around the country, the Metropolitan Police deployed extra officers across London. The police force announced it had “well-rehearsed” plans to protect mourners travelling to the capital but warned visitors to remain vigilant. The deputy assistant commissioner said officers will be highly visible, particularly around Westminster, Buckingham Palace and St James’s Park.
Broadcasters, including the BBC and ITV, cleared television and radio schedules today to follow the King’s movements and show rolling tributes to the late monarch.
Football was postponed shortly before midday, as the Premier League and English Football League called off all games this weekend. Premier League clubs paid tribute to the Queen at a meeting this morning, making the decision to postpone matches ‘as a mark of respect’.
Premier League and Championship football will not return in September. Next weekend’s fixtures will be cancelled because of the funeral, while the following weekend is an international break.
England’s Test match against South Africa at the Oval today was among the fixtures suspended. Horse racing, golf at the BMW PGA Championship and the Tour of Britain cycling race were all halted. The Rugby Football Union, however, confirmed that games in England will go ahead this weekend.
The BBC cancelled this evening’s Proms concert, the world-renowned classical music festival at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as tomorrow’s Last Night of the Proms. Theatre performances are expected to continue, observing a minute’s silence.
Church bells across the UK rang out at noon after a moment’s silence, as the country started ten days of mourning. Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Windsor Castle were among the famous church towers to pay tribute to the longest reigning monarch in British history.
Gun salutes at Hyde Park and the Tower of London marked each year of the Queen’s life with 96 rounds fired ten seconds apart at 1pm. Canons also sounded at Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, Woolwich, Cardiff, Belfast, Plymouth, Dover Castle, York and Gibraltar.
Official flags across the UK such as the Union Jack were lowered to half mast where they will remain until the morning after her state funeral. An official online book of condolence was also opened on the Royal Family’s website.
Bus stops across London displayed a portrait of the late Queen and court cases were called for the first time in centuries in the name of the King.
The Bank of England announced it would postpone its next meeting on interest rates by one week. The Monetary Policy Committee will now make its decision affecting the cost of living crisis on September 22.
Parliament gathered at noon to pay their respects, just three days after Liz Truss became prime minister. The House of Commons was packed with MPs in mourning dress and black tie, standing for a minute’s silence.
The speaker of the house Sir Lindsay Hoyle led the tributes, followed by the prime minister and leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer.
Liz Truss said: “We remember the pledge she gave on her 21st birthday to dedicate her life to service. The whole house will agree – never has a promise been so completely fulfilled.”
The prime minister added: “She reinvented monarchy for the modern age, and she was a champion of freedom and democracy.”
The Labour leader said: “Our country, our people, this house, are united in mourning.”
He described one of the ‘great lessons of the Queen’s reign’: “That we are always better when we rise above the petty, the trivial, the day-to-day, to focus on the things that really matter – the things that unite us rather than those which divide us.”
Ex-prime minister Boris Johnson said he ‘choked up’ when asked to speak about the Queen in past tense.
As parliamentarians listened to tributes this afternoon, Sir David Attenborough remembered the Queen’s sense of humour on the BBC, saying ‘the whole nation is bereaved’.
The naturalist and broadcaster, who is older than the Queen was, said: “The Queen had an extraordinary ability to put you at your ease.
“If there was a technical hitch she wanted to know what it was and, if it had a funny side, she was quick to see the joke.”
Around the world, landmarks were illuminated in memory of the British monarch. The Empire State Building in New York shone in purple and silver, the Eiffel Tower went dark in Paris, and in Rio de Janeiro, the Christ the Redeemer statue was lit up in red, white and blue.
There were also 96-gun salutes in Wellington, New Zealand, and outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. Outside the European Commision in Brussels, Belgium, EU flags were lowered to half mast, while flowers were laid at the British embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, signed a book of condolence at the British Embassy in Paris earlier this afternoon.
He wrote in French: “Here, in Paris, which she loved so much, as everywhere in France, the grief of our compatriots is immense.
“For 70 years, Elizabeth II was a Queen of courage and valour, a friend of France.
“We are by your side. My friendship and support, Emmanuel Macron.”
The King is due to meet the prime minister this afternoon before he addresses the nation in a message broadcast on TV at 6pm.
The prime minister will then join other senior ministers at a remembrance service for the Queen at St Paul’s Cathedral, while the King’s message goes live.
Hundreds of mourners are already queueing for the service, forming a line that winds back beyond the tube station.
All 2,000 wristbands for members of the public were handed out within three hours, a cathedral spokeswoman said.
Tomorrow morning he will officially be declared King after the Accession Council at 10am.
