Dressed in a black suit and tie, the grieving royal left Balmoral this afternoon sitting in the back of a car, with his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, in the passenger seat, as he was driven in motorcade to the airport. He emerged carrying a sheaf of papers and stopped to shake hands and spend time talking to staff in the rain before leaving on a plane bound for London. The couple spent the night at Balmoral following the death of the 96-year-old monarch, who he described as a “precious sovereign and much-loved mother”. The King will return to the capital to hold his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss before addressing the nation on television at 6pm. The 73-year-old was by his mother’s side at her beloved home in the Scottish Highlands for much of Thursday after catching the royal helicopter from Dumfries House in Ayrshire. Following the news that the Queen’s health was deteriorating, other senior members of the royal family also rushed to her side, including the next in line to the throne, Prince William. His brother Prince Harry was the first to leave the royal family’s Scottish home this morning and board a British Airways flight from Aberdeen to London after traveling alone to Scotland. Prince William did not join his father as it is royal protocol that the monarch and heir to the throne do not travel together. He, the Princess Royal, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and Prince Andrew remain in Scotland. Senior members of the royal family will have duties to perform in Scotland in the coming days when the Queen’s coffin begins its journey back to the capital. King Charles III ascended the throne shortly after Elizabeth II’s death on Thursday and described the loss of his mother as “a moment of the greatest sorrow for me and all my family”. During this period of mourning, he said he and his family would be “comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held.” Read more: The King: Will Charles usher in a different type of reign? King Charles in pictures – the king’s life as Britain’s monarch Britain’s new king: From school bullies to Diana’s tragedy – the events that shaped Charles The new monarch – born Charles Philip Arthur George – became heir to the throne at the age of three, a title he would hold for 70 years. He had been preparing to be king his entire life and chose to use his Christian name for his title as monarch, just like his late beloved mother, Queen Elizabeth II. The formal process of declaring him King will be carried out by the Council of Accession – a group made up of privy councillors, high officials of the state, the Lord Mayor of London, the Kingdom’s High Commissioner and senior civil servants. Is divided into two parts. The former approves various subsequent orders, including settlements, without the King present. The second involves the King holding his first Privy Council, making his declaration and reading and signing an oath to defend the safety of the Church in Scotland (as unlike in England, Church and State are separate there) and approve orders that facilitate the continuity of governance.
