King Charles III given enthusiastic welcome from Northern Ireland at Hillsborough Castle

King Charles III has arrived in Northern Ireland to raucous applause as he warmly greets well-wishers and heads to a church service honouring his late mother on the latest leg of his tour of the United Kingdom.

Clad in black, the new monarch and Queen Consort shook the hand of official dignitaries before departing for the historic village of Hillsborough, where they will greet mourners outside the official royal residence. 

Ella Smith and Lucas Watt, both 10, of Forge Integrated Primary School in Belfast, presented the King with a gift of truffles with an image of the Giant’s Causeway on the tin, while Camilla was given a small posy of flowers taken from the gardens of Hillsborough Castle. 

The royals were met with huge roars of approval as they exited their blacked-out BMW and started their walkabout, grabbing onto outstretched hands, accepting flowers and speaking with those who turned out to greet them.

Chants of ‘God Save the King’ could be heard from the crowd as the new sovereign and the Queen Consort paused by the historic gates to inspect a sea of floral tributes left in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

The jet carrying His Majesty touched down at the George Best Belfast City Airport shortly before midday for his 40th visit to the province – but his first as King, and his saddest. 

It is the latest in Charles’ tour of the UK, after the new King spent last night in the Scottish capital where he and his three siblings held a silent vigil for their mother the Queen by forming a guard of honour around her coffin.

Swathes of people young and old were pictured waiting outside Hillsborough Castle on Tuesday morning, some waving flags baring the Union Jack and others holding colourful homemade signs aloft as they prepared for the arrival of the King.

Former boxing world champion Carl Frampton was among those waiting for the new monarch’s arrival at the official royal residence as he joined huge crowds who had gathered to revel in the historic moment.

The former featherweight champion, proudly wearing his MBE award from 2016, said: ‘I am delighted to be here today, it is a momentous occasion.

‘Boris Johnson said it felt like the Queen would always be there and now, we are getting ready to meet and see a new king. You can see how momentous it is by the number of people who have turned up here today.’ 

Wellwishers, including children clasping onto bouquets of flowers, lined the streets outside Hillsborough Castle, standing five-deep behind large metal barriers as they prepare for the new King’s first address in Northern Ireland. 

Representatives of Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, who represent both sides of Northern Ireland’s entrenched political divide, will temporarily bury the hatchets as they usher in the reign of the new King at Hillsborough Castle later today. 

Tourists from New Jersey in America were also among the enormous crowds which were swelling along the roads of the royal village.

Students Blaze Grabowski, Alina Stalker and Chloe Alce, who are all studying at Queen’s University in Belfast, said they were waiting to catch a glimpse of the new monarch and said it was ‘wonderful to see all the tradition’.

Other locals were up at first light erecting posters commemorating the visit of the King to the royal village. Robin Campbell, of County Down, was among them as he admitted the historic event was a bittersweet moment for him.

‘Today means so much to me and my family, just to be present in my home village with my children to witness the arrival of the new King is a truly historic moment for us all.

‘Although it is also a day tinged with great sadness as we witness a loving son coming to our village while we are all in mourning for the loss of a truly magnificent Queen and his loving mother.

‘The enormity of today hasn’t really sunk in yet. Just to see the royal village of Hillsborough thronged with well-wishers is truly magnificent. The royal family has a special place in the hearts of all within our communities.’

Excitement was quickly spreading throughout those amassed at Hillsborough on Tuesday afternoon as families took their children out of school and brought pet dogs, including a corgi named Connie, for the historic visit.

Michael Poots, principal of Downshire Primary School in Hillsborough, said the visit of the King and Queen Consort to the Co Down village will make it a ‘wonderful day’, with a number of students from the school expected to meet King Charles and the Queen Consort.

‘It is great that as a school we can be part of it. We are so close to (Hillsborough) Castle and the children are greatly looking forward to it,’ Mr Poots said.

‘You can hear the excitement. They are looking forward to meeting the King and of course the Queen Consort today. We are all going into the village and hopefully we will get a glimpse of them.

‘Forty children (from the school) have been very fortunate to be picked to go into the castle and meet the new King and Queen.

‘The rest of the children will on the roadside waving and cheering as they go past.

‘We feel as a village very honoured that they have chosen to come here, especially in these very sad times, especially for the King. It means a lot to us all and the close links that we have with the Royal family in the village.’

Others started gathering outside St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast ahead of the King’s visit in the afternoon. Charles is due to meet members of the public at Writers’ Square outside the cathedral after attending a service of reflection inside.

Mother-of-two Andrea Reid, from Hillsborough, attended the castle with a group of Girl Guides from the village.

She said: ‘The royal family hold a special place in hearts of the people of Hillsborough, we have welcomed many royal visitors over the years and we are very proud today to welcome our new King Charles.

‘As a group and as an individual it is such an honour to be invited up on such a historic moment in time.

‘We celebrated the Queen’s jubilee only a few weeks ago and now we look forwards to welcoming the new King to our village.

‘We have great sadness for the loss of our beloved Queen and feel that loss greatly, however today is an exciting day for us that we very much look forwards to our future under the new King.’

This evening the Queen will leave her beloved Scotland for the last time and her coffin will be flown to London and taken to Buckingham Palace before lying in state at Westminster Hall from Wednesday.

Today the King will meet Stormont’s political leaders. Sinn Fein will attend after the party said it would not take part in any of the Accession Proclamation ceremonies held after the Queen’s death on Thursday.

Michelle O’Neill will be joined by other senior party officials at the Motion of Condolence event to be held in Hillsborough on Tuesday followed by a Service of Reflection in St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.

Charles and Camilla will arrive at Belfast City Airport where they will be greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, Dame Fionnuala Mary Jay-O’Boyle, and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

They will then travel to Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, for several engagements. There they will hold a private audience with Mr Heaton-Harris as well as meeting with representatives of political parties in the region. Charles will fly back to London this evening.

The royal couple will then receive a message of condolence from the speaker of the Stormont Assembly Alex Maskey on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland.

They will then attend a reception at the castle, hosted by Mr Heaton-Harris, which some members of the public will also attend.

Charles and Camilla will then travel to St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast where they will attend a service of reflection for the life of the Queen.

They will then undertake a walkabout at Writers’ Square before leaving Northern Ireland.

Members of the public are being advised they are welcome to line the route in Hillsborough but need to be in place by 11am.

There is no parking for non-residents in the village and transport will be laid on from a park and ride facility at the Eikon Centre on the Halftown Road.

People travelling to the castle will have to undergo a security search and they are being asked not to carry large bags.

When Charles and Camilla leave the castle they will travel along Main St and Lisburn Street in Hillsborough before heading to Belfast where they will travel along Wellington Place, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street and Victoria Street.

Again, the public is being invited to line the route as the royal couple travel towards St Anne’s Cathedral.

Donegall Street and Writer’s Square will be closed to the public.

The Queen’s coffin will make a poignant journey to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday while the King will travel to Northern Ireland for the first time as monarch.

Thousands of members of the public moved solemnly past the oak coffin through the night as it stood on public view for 24 hours at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Members of the public are already queueing for the Queen’s lying in state at Westminster Hall, which opens on Wednesday, and thousands are still placing floral tributes in Green Park.

At 6pm, the Queen will depart Scotland for the last time. Her coffin will be flown from Edinburgh Airport to London on an RAF Globemaster C-17 flight, accompanied by her daughter the Princess Royal.

The King will be joined by Camilla as he receives his mother’s coffin at Buckingham Palace, where she spent so many of her decades as sovereign.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will also be at the Palace.

A guard of honour formed of three officers and 96 soldiers from The King’s Guard will be mounted in the Quadrangle.

Military commands, usually shouted, will be given as quietly as possible in honour of the solemn occasion.

The coffin will be carried by a bearer party to the Bow Room where a sovereign’s piper will play a lament.

It will remain in the Bow Room overnight before a procession on Wednesday to Westminster Hall for the start of the lying in state.

The Queen’s four children gathered around her coffin last night in a poignant evening vigil inside St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. 

After a short procession, King Charles III, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward each stood on one of the four corners of the oak coffin with their heads bowed in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes.  

The Duke of York kept his eyes closed for a period of time during the 10-minute vigil, while the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex had their eyes fixed towards the floor. The King – his eyes moistening – kept his hands joined and also looked towards the floor as members of the public filed past. 

The King and his family  stood alongside four suited members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were standing guard dressed in long-feathered hats and armed with arrows and quivers.  

Members of the public – who have been filing past the coffin in their thousands throughout the afternoon – were briefly held back to allow the royals to take their place. However, they continued to file past once the vigil began, offering them an extraordinary perspective on the historic moment.  

A number of members of the public bowed as they passed the King, with others walking solemnly by with heads down. Charles wore the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan and white heather in his lappelle from Balmoral, while Anne and Edward appeared in military uniform. 

However, Andrew – despite having served in the Falklands War – wore only a morning suit, having been banned from wearing uniform on public occasions following his exile from public life amid the fallout from his role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The Duke of York will only be permitted to appear in military dress during a second Vigil of the Princes in Westminster Hall. 

The tradition has been honoured since the death of King George V in 1936, with Princess Anne today becoming the first female royal to take part.   

The Queen Consort and Countess of Wessex sat on seats opposite the coffin while the vigil, which began at at 7.46pm and finished it at 7.56pm, took place in the ancient cathedral. The Archers have been completing 20-minute periods of standing guard at the coffin, which will remain at St Giles’ for 24 hours before it is taken to London to lie in state.

Members of the crowd cheered as Charles arrived at the cathedral, and as he departed. As he drove past them, they took pictures and video and said: ‘Here he is. Here he is. It’s the King.’

Charles waved at onlookers waiting at the barriers to see him. One woman was heard to say: ‘I missed him earlier and travelled up from Glasgow to see him. I waited five hours – I finally saw him.’ 

The King and Queen Consort arrived at the Scottish Parliament at around 5.45pm after holding an audience with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

 George Higgins, a former soldier in the Scots Guards, was at the front of a queue of hundreds of well-wishers behind him lining George IV bridge. The 61-year-old has been queuing since 7am, shortly after he finished an overnight shift as a security guard at the University of Edinburgh.

He said: ‘I’ve been here since 6.45am, I came straight here after a night shift at work. I took my clothes to work, got changed and came straight here. I’m going back on shift at 9.30pm tonight, so I’m going to be very tired. But it’s worth it, with her service to the country, to us, to people and to the Commonwealth, the least I can do is give her a couple of days of my time to say farewell.

‘It’s a real privilege to be here. I can’t believe I’m actually first. I have actually got to pinch myself. It’s just luck.’

The first people to view the late Queen’s coffin at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, where it will lie for 24 hours, have spoken about their experience.

Karen Whitehouse left her home in Loweswater, Cumbria, at 2am this morning to start queuing to pay her respects to the late monarch in the Scottish capital.

Speaking about her moment with the royal coffin this evening, the 64-year-old said: ‘It was surreal. It was very quiet, everyone was very still. It was like they were all statues. I can’t believe I’ve done it and I was that close. I paid my respects, it was just beautiful.’

Ms Whitehouse said the Queen’s coffin was lying on a tall plinth inside the cathedral.

She added: ‘The wreath was on the top, and a cushion, and the crown on top of that. There’s a lot of officials in there, in their robes. Everyone is very still, it’s a beautiful experience. It was worth the 12 hours to get here.’

Amy Calvert, from Stoke-on-Trent, is on holiday in Edinburgh and was one of the first in line to pay her respects to the late Queen at a vigil in the Scottish capital. 

The 31-year old is among hundreds queuing outside St Giles’ Cathedral ahead of the service, which is due to take place at 7.20pm.

She said: ‘It’s really surreal. I haven’t quite taken it in that we are here. But I can’t wait to pay my respects. It will be a time for reflection. The example she’s set within her faith is just incredible.’

Hundreds of thousands of Scots had earlier crammed into Edinburgh’s narrow streets to catch a glimpse of the Queen’s coffin today as King Charles led senior royals in a solemn military procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse – where the late monarch’s body had been resting overnight after the 180-mile drive from Balmoral yesterday – to the cathedral.

The King walked solemnly in step with his younger brothers and sister behind the Queen on the march up the Scottish capital’s Royal Mile. The assembled well-wishers fell silent as the hearse appeared. The crowd then broke out in spontaneous applause as the cortège approached and many shouted God Save the King and God Save the Queen.

Around 30 minutes later the Queen arrived at St Giles’ Cathedral and Her Majesty’s coffin was lifted out of the hearse and brought into the place of worship – with the King, his wife the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, and the Earl and the Countess of Wessex all walking behind. 

The Crown of Scotland – which was made in 1540 for King James V – was then placed upon the coffin, which was draped with the Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a wreath of flowers consisting of white Spray Roses, white Freesias, white button chrysanthemums, dried white heather from Balmoral, spray eryngium, foliage, rosemary, hebe, and pittosporum.

Before arriving at the cathedral, the procession was greeted by the Guard of Honour and Band in front of the fountain, with the High Constables and the Baillie’s Guard in position under the Colonnade. 

When the coffin arrived, the guard of honour gave a royal salute and the band played one verse of the national anthem.

The bearer party, found by the Royal Regiment of Scotland, then took up their flanking position. 

The escort party, found by the King’s Body Guard for Scotland, and royal cars, flanked by members of the royal family, walked at the rear of the procession, and took their positions close to the hearse. 

The guard of honour was accompanied by a pipe band with drums, draped and muffled.

The crowd outside the cathedral joined in with the congregation during the national anthem – some singing God Save the King while others sang God Save the Queen. There was then spontaneous applause from many of those gathered at the end of the hour long service. There was more applause as King Charles left the cathedral in a waiting car. 

Her Majesty’s coffin was lifted out of the hearse and brought into the place of worship, with the King, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, and the Earl and the Countess of Wessex walking behind.

As the coffin made its way through the cathedral the choir sang Thou Wilt Keep Him In Perfect Peace, Whose Mind Is Stayed On Thee.

The Queen’s coffin was placed on a wooden catafalque as the congregation continued to stand.

The King, Queen Consort, and other members of the royal family, then walked to their seats alongside the coffin.

The King has his wife to his left and the Duke of York to his right.

At the beginning of the service, Reverend Calum MacLeod welcomed the royal family, ‘representatives of our nation’s life’ and ‘people whose lives were touched by the Queen in so many unforgettable ways’.

He said: ‘And so we gather to bid Scotland’s farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate.

‘And whose love for Scotland was legendary.’

The Queen‘s coffin arrived at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh today followed by her four children on a sorrowful journey through the Scottish capital lined by hundreds of thousands of mourners who stood in silent revelry punctuated by the sound of gun salutes from the city’s castle.

Led by a lone piper from Balmoral playing a lament, Her Majesty was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse where she was lying in rest since a six-hour journey from her Aberdeenshire home yesterday. 

As the national anthem played the coffin was gently lowered into the hearse, watched by a visibly emotional King Charles and his siblings, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, who then marched dolefully for 1,200 yards behind their beloved mother. 

The Duke of York was not in military uniform like his siblings after Her Majesty stripped him of his titles because of the Epstein scandal. He was briefly heckled during the procession. Police Scotland said a 22-year-old man had been arrested.

Hundreds of thousands lined the streets and applauded as the Queen was taken to the cathedral where her family, and a congregation drawn from all areas of Scottish society, attended a service of thanksgiving for her life. 

Bagpipes played the National Anthem from Holyrood Palace as the Queen’s coffin cortege began the walk up the Royal Mile. The hearse was flanked by a Bearer Party found by The Royal Regiment of Scotland and The King’s Body Guard for Scotland. Mounted police in ceremonial dress rode ahead of the parade. 

Earlier the King met with well-wishers who lined the streets of Edinburgh to see him today in an unplanned walkabout as Scotland’s capital welcomed the new monarch and mourned the Queen – with so many people turning up that police were forced to turn many away. 

Senior church officials stood patiently at the entrance to the church as the procession made its way up the Royal Mile from the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Crowds packed in 10 deep along the narrow pavements of the historic old town while others took up positions in windows along the route during the solemn procession.