The death of the Queen was announced by Buckingham Palace just after 6.30pm.

Her son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, is now King Charles III. He will address the nation, as the world grieves Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

The Queen, 96, pulled out of a virtual Privy Council on Wednesday, with doctors advising her to rest and two days after she met the new Prime Minister Liz Truss at Balmoral.

All her children were called to be at her bedside at the Aberdeenshire estate after doctors became ‘concerned’ for her health. She died surrounded by her family.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

Prime Minister Liz Truss said the Queen’s death was \a “huge shock to the nation and the world”.

She described the Queen as “a rock on which modern Britain was built”, adding: “Britain is the great country it is today because of her.

“Today the Crown passes, as it has done for more than a thousand years, to our new monarch, our new head of state, His Majesty King Charles III.

“With the King’s family we mourn the loss of his mother and come together.

“We offer him our loyalty and devotion, just as his mother devoted so much to us for so long.”

She finished her statement saying it is “the passing of the second Elizabethan age”.

Ms Truss concluded by saying: “God save the King.”

Procession and service in Edinburgh

The Queen’s death will see Britain and her Commonwealth realms enter into a ten-day period of mourning as millions of her subjects in the UK and abroad come to terms with her passing.

Charles will give a broadcast to the country and the Commonwealth on Thursday evening and a state funeral will take place in 10 days’ time.

In the coming days the coffin will leave from Balmoral to be taken by road to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

There will be a ceremonial procession from the palace along the Royal Mile to St Giles’ Cathedral for a service attended by members of the royal family. Afterwards, St Giles’s Cathedral will open to the public for 24 hours for a period of lying at rest, not lying in state because that will take place in London.

King Charles is expected to travel to the Palace of Westminster to receive a motion of condolence. He is then due to fly to Edinburgh.

In his first act as sovereign, he will attend the Palace of Holyroodhouse for the ceremony of the keys, followed by a service at St Giles’ Cathedral.

He will have his first audience with Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and will also receive a motion of condolence at the Scottish parliament.

Other developments

• Royal Mail staff who were due to go on strike on Friday called off their industrial action.
  
• Current bank notes featuring a portrait of the Queen will continue to be legal tender, the Bank of England has reassured consumers. A further announcement regarding notes will be made once the period of mourning has been observed following the Queen’s death. The Queen was the first monarch to feature on Bank of England banknotes
  

… more follows