King Charles III on his first full day in office left Balmoral in Scotland to head to London. He is expected to meet Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was appointed days earlier, and address the nation. The king spent much of his 73 years preparing for the role. He takes the throne at a time when many Britons are preoccupied with an energy crisis, the rising cost of living, the war in Ukraine and the fallout from Brexit. Britain has begun a 10-day period of mourning, with bells tolling across the country and a planned 96-gun salute in London — one for each year of the queen’s long life. ——
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TOKYO — Hong Kong and its people are also mourning Queen Elizabeth II. May Lam, who is studying in Japan, said she heard the news in the early hours of Friday and was too shocked to go back to sleep. Lam was born before Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997 and grew up seeing the Queen in everyday life, including on stamps and coins. “In my mind or my memories, Queen Elizabeth was so special,” said Lam, who made the two-hour trip to the British Embassy in Tokyo. Hong Kong was ruled by Britain for 156 years. During her reign, Queen Elizabeth visited Hong Kong twice — in 1975 and 1986 after a visit to China. —— LONDON — The death of Queen Elizabeth II has left many wondering what will happen to British money bearing her image and whether it will be replaced by portraits of the new King Charles III. Financial officials tried to reassure people that there would be no big changes immediately, but said little else. “Current banknotes bearing the image of Her Majesty The Queen will continue to be legal tender,” the Bank of England said on its website. “A further announcement regarding existing Bank of England notes will be made once the mourning period has been observed.” The Queen was the first monarch to appear on Britain’s banknotes after the Treasury gave the central bank permission to use her image on a new £1 note issued in 1960. —— Germany’s president emphasized Queen Elizabeth II’s contribution to healing the wounds left by the Second World War during her long reign. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says that “Britain extended the hand of reconciliation to Germany, and the hand of reconciliation was also the hand of the Queen.” He says a state visit by the Queen to West Germany in 1965 was “one of the most important and powerful symbols” of post-war friendship. “For the young Federal Republic of Germany, this trip was an invaluable important message of reconciliation after two devastating world wars, after the great guilt my country had borne.” —— LONDON — The head of the Anglican church says the death of Queen Elizabeth II is a moment of huge change for Britain and the world. The queen — who was a monarch and supreme ruler of the Church of England — died on Thursday aged 96 after 70 years on the throne. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says that for many people “a part of our lives that we took for granted as permanent no longer exists”. He says that with her death, “there is a huge change in the world around us, in how we see it and how we understand ourselves.” —— NEW DELHI — Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Friday expressed his deep sorrow over the death of Queen Elizabeth II and extended his condolences to her family and the British people. In a letter to King Charles III, the Dalai Lama said “I remember seeing pictures of her coronation in magazines when I was young in Tibet.” He added that “your mother lived a meaningful life with dignity, grace, a strong sense of service and a warm heart, qualities we should all treasure.” —— Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, whose 50-year reign is now Europe’s longest, has called the late Queen Elizabeth II a towering figure among European monarchs and a great inspiration to us all. “We will miss him terribly,” Margrethe said in a statement released by the Danish royal house. Elizabeth died on Thursday aged 96 after 70 years on the British throne. In neighboring Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf said the British monarch had “extraordinary loyalty and sense of duty” and Norway’s King Harald said Elizabeth “devotedly accompanied the British people in good times and bad, in good times and bad”. Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto said Elizabeth “saw and shaped history like few others. Her sense of duty and dedication to service is an example to us all.” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said “a historic era and a long life in the service of Great Britain has come to an end”. While his Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson said “he was there, as a wonderful representative and symbol of Great Britain and as head of state for a number of Commonwealth countries”. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called Elizabeth “a unifying figure for her nation and the world. She provided a sense of stability during changing times.” —— Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed his condolences to the royal family on the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He noted in the statement on Friday that Elizabeth was the first British monarch to visit China, which she did in 1986. “Her death is a great loss to the British people.” The statement added that China is willing to cooperate with King Charles III as an opportunity to promote bilateral relations and benefit the two countries and their peoples. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also sent a condolence message to British Prime Minister Liz Truss. The queen’s death on Thursday comes amid tensions between Britain and China over human rights, trade and China’s relentless crackdown on free speech and political opposition in the former British colony of Hong Kong. The queen’s death has been a top trending topic on Chinese social media, with many people saying her death marks the end of an era. —— CANBERRA, Australia — Malcolm Turnbull, the leader of a failed campaign to replace the British monarch with an Australian president as Australia’s head of state and later became prime minister, came close to tears Friday as he paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II . Turnbull was president of the Australian Republican Movement in 1999 when Australians voted in a referendum against the nation becoming a democracy, severing its constitutional ties to the Queen. He was Prime Minister between 2015 and 2018, during which the Queen gave him a photo of her with her husband Prince Philip. Turnbull’s voice shook as he recalled looking at the photo on Thursday night before he and his wife Lucy Turnbull went to bed with a sense of dread over news from Buckingham Palace about the Queen’s ill health. “I took out the portrait of the Queen and put it up and we just thought, ‘What an amazing life. What amazing leadership,” Turnbull told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “It is the end of an era and let’s hope that the future, after the Queen’s death, will be one where we have leadership as committed and selfless as she has shown,” Turnbull added. —— TORONTO — Elton John paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at his concert in Toronto Thursday night, saying he was inspired by her and saddened that she was gone. “He led the country through some of our greatest and darkest moments with grace and decency and genuine care,” John said. “I feel very sad that she won’t be with me anymore, but I’m glad she’s at peace,” he said. “I’m glad she’s at peace and she deserves it. She worked hard.” The singer-songwriter then performed his 1974 track “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” John was knighted by the Queen in 1998, a year after the death of his friend Princess Diana. Prince Charles also made the musician and charity patron a Companion of the Order last year. John’s concert was part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, billed as his final tour. —— Condolences from around the world following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mourned the Queen as the only monarch most Australians have known and the only one to ever visit their country. “And over a remarkable seven decades, Her Majesty has been a rare and reassuring constant amid rapid change,” he said. “Through the noise and turmoil of the years, he embodied and demonstrated a timeless grace and an enduring calm.” The British monarch is Australia’s official head of state, although these days the role is seen as mostly ceremonial. US President Joe Biden signed the condolence book at the British Embassy in Washington and his wife Jill Biden brought a bouquet of flowers. The president was heard telling embassy staff: “We are grieving for all of you. She was a great lady.” French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the queen’s “immutable moral authority”, her deep knowledge and the stability she brought “to the fluctuations and upheavals of politics, a permanence with the flavor of eternity”. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who announced this year that the British commonwealth intends to become fully independent, said: “We regret that we will not see the light of day again, but we will remember her historic reign.” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Queen Elizabeth II was “the very heart and soul of the United Kingdom” and that her death was deeply mourned by everyone in the city-state. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ordered three days of mourning and tweeted that “she wasn’t just the queen for the British, she was a queen for us all.” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sent their condolences on Twitter and Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs…
