New King given a rapturous welcome on return to capital

It was the new King’s first walkabout and encounter with the public since his historic accession and crowds lined up behind a barrier clamouring to greet him, smiling and taking photos of him on their phones.

One woman leaned over to kiss Charles’s right hand and another kissed him on the cheek as he thanked people for their good wishes, shaking countless hands after stepping from his state Bentley.

The Queen, as Camilla is now known, followed at a distance behind him, before joining his side to view the large collection of brightly coloured floral bouquets left in tribute to his mother. Shouts of God Save the King went up, along with three cheers, for the new head of state, dressed in mourning black suit and tie, who smiled and waved at the mass of people.

Details of the King’s historic Accession Council, which will be held on Saturday at 10am in St James’s Palace, were announced by Buckingham Palace.

It will be televised for the first time in its history, showing the King being formally proclaimed monarch and Charles making his declaration and oath.

A Principal Proclamation will be read in public for the first time by the Garter King of Arms in the open air from the balcony overlooking Friary Court at St James’s an hour later at 11am.

It will be followed by a flurry of proclamations around the country, with the second one in the City of London at the Royal Exchange at midday on Saturday, and further proclamations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales at midday on Sunday.

The Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge is also travelling back to Windsor to be with his family ahead of the Accession Council, which William will attend.

Charles and Camilla made the poignant journey from Balmoral, where the Queen died peacefully on Thursday at the age of 96, arriving at RAF Northolt in west London at around 1.35pm.

Tributes continue to be paid to the woman described by the Prime Minister as the “rock on which modern Britain was built”, with the Dalai Lama expressing his “deep sadness” over the death of the Queen in a letter to the King.

Charles has already turned his hand to his duties He gave the order that a period of “Royal Mourning” will be observed from now until seven days after her funeral.

Royal Mourning will be observed by members of the royal family, royal household staff and representatives of the royal household on official duties, together with troops committed to ceremonial duties.

Royal salutes were fired with one round for every year of the Queen’s life on Friday at 1pm in Hyde Park by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.

Thousands of people stood in solemn silence for 16 minutes as the cannons boomed once every 10 seconds.

l Ben Lowry, page 23