Britain Mourns Queen Elizabeth II as King Charles III Takes the Throne

Bells tolled across Britain on Friday and mourners flocked to palace gates to honor Queen Elizabeth II as the country prepared for a new age under a new king. Around the world, her exceptional reign was commemorated, celebrated and debated.

King Charles III, who spent much of his 73 years preparing for the role, met with the prime minister and addressed a nation grieving the only British monarch most people alive today had ever known.

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Taking the throne in an era of uncertainty for both his country and the monarchy itself, Charles vowed to carry on her "lifelong service" to the nation.

As the country began a 10-day mourning period, people around the globe gathered at British embassies to pay homage to the queen, who died Thursday in Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

In London and at military sites across the United Kingdom, special guns fired 96 shots in an elaborate, 16-minute salute marking each year of the queen’s life.

In Britain and across its former colonies, the widespread admiration for Elizabeth herself was occasionally mixed with scorn for the institution and the imperial history she symbolized.

Charles arrived at Buckingham Palace, the monarch's London home, for the first time as sovereign, emerging from the official state Bentley limousine to shouts from the crowd of “God save the king!” and “Well done, Charlie!” and the singing of the national anthem, now called “God Save the King.” One woman gave him a kiss on the cheek.

As the second Elizabethan Age came to a close, hundreds of people arrived through the night to leave flowers outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. Some came simply to pause and reflect.

Finance worker Giles Cudmore said the queen had “just been a constant through everything, everything good and bad.”

At Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, mourner April Hamilton stood with her young daughter, struggling to hold back tears.

“It’s just such a momentous change that is going to happen,” she said. “I’m trying to hold it together today.”

Meanwhile, many sporting and cultural events were canceled as a mark of respect, and some businesses — including Selfridges department store and the Legoland amusement park — shut their doors. The Bank of England postponed its meeting by a week.

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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said the queen's death marked an “enormous shift” for Britain and the world.

“A part of our lives we’ve taken for granted as being permanent is no longer there,” he said.

Later Friday, Truss and other senior ministers were expected to attend a remembrance service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Charles, who became the monarch immediately upon his mother's death, will be formally proclaimed king at a special ceremony Saturday.

After a vigil in Edinburgh, the queen’s coffin will be brought to London, and she will lie in state for several days before her funeral in Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a symbol of constancy in a turbulent era that saw the decline of the British empire and disarray in her own family. Members of the royal family had rushed to her side at the family’s summer residence in Balmoral after her health took a turn for the worse.

The impact of Elizabeth's loss will be unpredictable for Britain. She helped stabilize and modernize the monarchy across decades of enormous social change, but its relevance in the 21st century has often been called into question. The public’s abiding affection for the queen had helped sustain support for the monarchy during the family scandals, but Charles is nowhere near as popular.

“Charles can never replace her, you know," said 31-year-old Londoner Mariam Sherwani.

Like many, she referred to Elizabeth as a grandmother figure. Others compared her to their mothers or great-grandmothers.

But around the world, her passing revealed conflicting emotions about the nation and institutions she represented.

In Ireland, some soccer fans cheered.

In India, once the “jewel in the crown” of the British empire, entrepreneur Dhiren Singh described his own personal sadness at her death, but added, “I do not think we have any place for kings and queens in today’s world."

For some, Elizabeth was a queen whose coronation glittered with shards of a stunning 3,106-carat diamond pulled from grim southern African mines, a monarch who inherited an empire they resented.

In the years after she became queen in Kenya, scores of thousands of ethnic Kikuyu were rounded up in camps by British colonizers under threat from the local Mau Mau rebellion. Across the continent, nations rejected British rule and chose independence in her first decade on the throne.

She led a power that at times was criticized as lecturing African nations on democracy but denying many of their citizens the visas to visit Britain and experience it firsthand.

Charles called his mother’s death “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” adding: “I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”

Some people gathered outside Buckingham Palace wept when officials carried a notice confirming the queen’s death to the wrought-iron gates on Thursday. Hundreds gathered in the rain, and mourners laid heaps of colorful bouquets at the gates.

World leaders extended condolences and paid tribute to the queen.

In Canada, where the British monarch is the country’s head of state, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s eyes were red with emotion as he saluted her “wisdom, compassion and warmth.” In India, once the “jewel in the crown” of the British empire, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “She personified dignity and decency in public life. Pained by her demise.”

U.S. President Joe Biden called her a “stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States.”

Since Feb. 6, 1952, Elizabeth had reigned over a Britain that rebuilt from a destructive and financially exhausting war and lost its empire; joined the European Union and then left it; and made the painful transition into the 21st century.

She endured through 15 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Truss, becoming an institution and an icon — a reassuring presence even for those who ignored or loathed the monarchy.

She became less visible in her final years as age and frailty curtailed many public appearances. But she remained at the center of national life as Britain celebrated her Platinum Jubilee with days of parties and pageants in June.

On Tuesday, she presided at a ceremony at Balmoral Castle to accept the resignation of Boris Johnson as prime minister and appoint Truss as his successor.