[EN IMAGES] William, Harry, Kate and Meghan reunited nine days before the funeral

Princes William and Harry and their wives Kate and Meghan created a surprise on Saturday by sharing a walkabout near Windsor Castle, an unprecedented joint appearance since 2020, to pay tribute to Elizabeth II, whose funeral will take place on September 19 .

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Reputed to be cold for months, this is the first time that the sons of King Charles III and their wives have been seen together since March 2020.

What steal the show from Charles III, officially proclaimed king by the Accession Council meeting in London on Saturday morning during a historic ceremony, two days after the death of Elizabeth II at 96 years old.

“All 4 One”, headlined the tabloid The Sun for its Sunday edition, eclipsing the new king from its front page to instead post an image of the quartet, also front-paged on all UK media sites on Saturday night.

The two couples, once dubbed “the Fab Four” (the fantastic four) have been estranged since Harry and Meghan announced that they were stepping down from the royal family before leaving for California.

On Saturday, the two couples first gathered in front of the bouquets left by the crowd at the gates of the castle where the queen has lived most of the time for the past two years. Despite everything remaining distant, they then granted themselves a walkabout of more than 40 minutes before leaving in the same car.

Earlier, William, now heir to the throne, had sent a poignant message to the British to evoke “the loss of a grandmother”. “It’s going to take me some time to get used to the reality of life without Grandma,” he said.

Funeral and proclamation of Charles III

Buckingham Palace said the funeral of Elizabeth II, who died aged 96 after a 70-year reign, would take place at Westminster Abbey on September 19 at 11 a.m. (10 a.m. GMT).

Leaders from all over the world are expected there, and the king has declared a public holiday for the occasion.

“I will honor his memory by supporting my father, the king, in every way possible,” added William, eldest son of Charles III, who on Friday awarded him the title of Prince of Wales.

Step by step, in the greatest solemnity, Charles III, 73, installed himself as head of state with the heavy task of succeeding an ultra-popular monarch, respected for her sense of duty and for the fact that she preserved the monarchy over its historic reign, the longest in British history.

“Prince Charles Philip Arthur George is now, by the death of our Lady Sovereign of happy memory, become our Charles III… God Save the King [que Dieu protège le roi]“, proclaimed Saturday morning the Board of Accession, even if Charles became automatically monarch at the time of the death of the queen.

The ceremony at St. James’s Palace, attended by some 200 dignitaries, including Prime Minister Liz Truss and her six predecessors, was televised, a first. The accession of Charles III was then announced on the balcony of the palace, during a ceremonial ceremony from another time.

“My mother’s reign was unmatched in its duration, dedication and devotion […]. I am deeply aware of this great heritage, of the duties and the heavy responsibilities of sovereignty which are now transmitted to me,” said Charles III.

The trumpets then sounded, and cannons were fired across the UK. Hundreds of people had gathered outside St. James’s Palace in the hope of catching a glimpse of the monarch. They were thousands around Buckingham Palace.

Prime Minister Liz Truss and MPs including Opposition Leader Keir Starmer pledged their allegiance to the King in a rare sitting in the House of Commons on a Saturday. Charles III then received the Prime Minister, the principal ministers and the leaders of the opposition in the afternoon.

At Balmoral, where the Queen died on Thursday, Princes Andrew and Edward and Princess Anne went to thank the public who had come to pay tribute to their mother.

“Thank you for coming,” Andrew said after hunkering down with his brother Edward and sister, Anne, in front of the flowers laid outside the Scottish residence.

The coffin of Elizabeth II will be transferred by road to Edinburgh on Sunday during a long procession which will pass in particular in Aberdeen and Dundee. He is due to arrive in the Scottish capital around 3 p.m. GMT.

In the Scottish capital on Saturday, many onlookers watched police and security guards prepare for the arrival of the coffin in the city.

“I told the boys that we were living history. And since we are there, we wanted to come and see where she was going, ”explains Laura Burns, a Northern Irishwoman passing through the Scottish capital, where one of her sons is preparing to study.

After a ceremony in Edinburgh, the body will be taken to London on Tuesday and, after a procession through the streets of the capital on Wednesday, it will rest for four days in Westminster Hall, the oldest section of the Houses of Parliament open to the public for the occasion 23 24 hours.

Friday night, for the first time in 70 years, the British anthem God Save the King was sung at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. He replaces God Save the Queenwhich had been sung since 1952.

Difficult start of reign for Charles III

Earlier, Charles III gave his first televised address as sovereign, a recorded address in which he paid a moving tribute to his “dear mother” and promised to serve the British all her life.

Charles III ascends to the throne at a difficult time, with Britain facing the worst economic crisis in 40 years as four prime ministers have come in six years.

At 73, he is the oldest British monarch at the start of his reign and remains infinitely less popular than his mother, who had known how to maintain the prestige of the monarchy, giving no interviews and keeping her opinions to herself.

But the new king still received a standing ovation when he arrived in Buckingham on Friday afternoon on his way back from Scotland.

The King has made it known that royal mourning – which involves family, staff and representatives of the Royal Household – will last for up to seven days after the Queen’s funeral. The national mourning decreed by the government must last until the day of the funeral.