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Monarch marks 50th anniversary of accession with muted celebrations out of respect for Elizabeth II

Dee Dickens is ideologically opposed to private healthcare but was compelled to make switch after she found a lump in her breast

Exclusive: 10% of adults turned to private sector or independent healthcare in past year

Over the weekend, there has been a rush from people around the world to buy Elizabeth II souvenirs

Churches across UK say special Sunday prayers for the late Queen Elizabeth II and for King Charles III

Cambridges and Sussexes ensure focus remains on mourning Queen and celebrating new King

Former PM says he never felt Charles interfered, and ‘black spider memos’ should have stayed private

Rightwing bloc that has embraced anti-immigration Sweden Democrats aims to win power from centre-leftSwedes are voting in an election pitting the incumbent centre-left Social Democrats against a rightwing bloc that has embraced the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats in an attempt to win back power after eight years in opposition.With steadily growing numbers of shootings unnerving voters, parties have vied to be the toughest on gang crime, while surging inflation and the energy crisis in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have increasingly taken centre stage. Continue reading...

JD Salinger did not want his friends cashing in, so inscribed copy of classic novel is one of the hardest titles for collectors to acquireIt was once the most censored book in American schools and libraries. Now, the only edition of The Catcher in the Rye that the author JD Salinger signed with his childhood nickname, Sonny, is going up for sale for £225,000.Salinger was said to have been resentful of friends and family cashing in on the success of his 1951 novel, and as a result signed copies did not make their way into the book market – an inscribed first edition of The Catcher in the Rye was sold at auction only after his death, in 2010. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese has set 22 September as National Memorial Service Day for Queen Elizabeth II. This blog is now closed

Mourning has halted debate just when the opposition wanted to put pressure on new PM – but Labour conference will go aheadLabour will go ahead with its autumn conference later this month, as officials, advisers and politicians from all parties attempt to balance paying their respects to the Queen with avoiding a period of political paralysis.The Queen’s death and period of mourning has come at a moment of acute political tension, with concerns over the behaviour of Liz Truss’s new administration in Whitehall and significant gaps in the details of her energy price cap, set to cost well over £100bn. Continue reading...

Thursday 22 September to be a one-off national holiday and will coincide with a memorial ceremony in Canberra

New Zealand and Australia hold ceremonies to recognise new head of state and pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth IIAustralia and New Zealand have held proclamation ceremonies for the new head of state King Charles III, with New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern saying she expected her country’s relationship with the royal family to “deepen”, and Australia declaring a one-off public holiday as a national day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II.New Zealand held its formal ceremony on parliament’s grounds, with the proceedings led by governer general Cindy Kiro and Ardern, beginning with the national anthem and a prayer in te reo Māori – the Indigenous language. Continue reading...

As Elizabeth’s coffin leaves Balmoral on its way to Edinburgh, her neighbours in the village of Ballater say their parting will be sad, but restrained

New Zealand prime minister pays tribute to Queen’s ‘unwavering duty’ at ceremony to recognise King Charles III as head of state; Australia plans one-off national public holiday to mark Queen’s deathQueen’s funeral cortege to leave Balmoral – liveThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex have charted a path for themselves in California with King Charles’s stamp of approval. Will the Queen’s death change Meghan and Harry’s new chapter?Lois Beckett writes:The couple live in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, in a mansion reportedly purchased for $14.65m and have started Archewell, a combination of nonprofit and for-profit ventures that aims to “unleash the power of compassion to drive systemic cultural change”.

President claims thousands of square kilometres of ground have been retaken as Russian forces withdraw from parts of Kherson region

Prime minister Gaston Browne reiterates plan for referendum in wake of Queen’s deathThe prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, has said he will call for a referendum on the country becoming a republic within three years, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.Browne signed a document confirming Charles III’s status as the new King, but minutes later, said he would push for a republic referendum after indicating such a move earlier this year during a visit by the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Continue reading...

Under little-known nationhood obligation, MPs supply patriotic objects including flags, national anthem recordings and portraits of the monarch

The new monarch is quick to quote the playwright, but given the bard’s genius with simple language, who wouldn’t?Why is the apt phrase so often one from Shakespeare? King Charles’s address to the nation has been praised for its emotional authenticity and fitting use of moving words from Hamlet. They are spoken over the dying Danish prince by his friend Horatio, who bids a fond farewell: “Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”Some television viewers recognised the lines not from the classic tragedy, but from an episode of Blackadder. Ben Elton, who co-wrote the TV show, adores Shakespeare, proving his devotion with the sitcom and stage play Upstart Crow and his film All is True, starring Kenneth Branagh as the Bard. Continue reading...

It is thought to be the first time royals have been seen in public together since March 2020

The new Duchess of Cornwall is expected to take on more royal patronages and engagements as wife of the heir apparent to the British throneThe former Duchess of Cambridge intends to “create a new path” as she takes on her role as Princess of Wales, she has said.King Charles confirmed the change to the roles of heir apparent Prince William and his wife in his first speech to the nation as monarch on Friday evening. Continue reading...

Kyiv reportedly takes control of vital town and encircles thousands of Russian troops in Izium

Russian-installed administrator makes announcement after occupying forces pull out of two key towns in face of Ukrainian offensiveResidents of areas occupied by Russia in the early stages of the invasion have told the Guardian about what life is like now and the rebuilding that will have to be done.Vadim, a 65-year-old resident of Borodianka, outside Kyiv, used to live in a third-floor apartment on the town’s central street, but it was destroyed in March by Russian grad missiles. Continue reading...

Muslim journalist Siddique Kappan arrested while covering gang-rape and killing of Dalit woman in Uttar PradeshA journalist who has been in jail for nearly two years for trying to meet the family of a young Dalit woman allegedly gang-raped in Hathras in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) has been granted bail.The supreme court of India issued the bail order to Siddique Kappan, 43, a Delhi-based Muslim freelance journalist, on Friday. Continue reading...

Well-wishers packed the Mall on Saturday to pay their respects, bringing flowers, notes and tributes

Elizabeth II got on well with PMs of widely differing politics and backgrounds and played a key role in the background of British politicsFor seven decades, she bore intimate witness to the shifting of power around the globe. Coming to the throne in the distant era of Stalin’s Russia, Elizabeth II reigned through wars cold and hot and through sweeping economic change. She presided over Britain’s retreat from empire and its emergence as a modern networked power, but also its struggle to forge a post-Brexit identity and the beginning of a painful reckoning with colonialism. With her goes a unique institutional memory, a reservoir of insights shared with 15 prime ministers.The relationship between constitutional monarch and elected politician is an odd one – part bowing-and-scraping deference, part curious intimacy. Tony Blair said she was the one person to whom he spoke freely, knowing it wouldn’t leak, and the Queen herself once described her function as “a sort of sponge”, soaking up confidences. But it also, she added, occasionally involved offering governments a different point of view: ‘perhaps they hadn’t seen it from that angle’. She was a mistress of soft power, knowing when to project full regal majesty and when to play kindly grandmother, and a unique diplomatic resource. At times she could make Britain’s case to a foreign head of state better than any elected politician. (Contrast Emmanuel Macron’s spiky relationship with Liz Truss and the genuine warmth of the French president’s tribute to the Queen.) Never party political, she was nonetheless core to the body politic, and her relationships with successive prime ministers help tell a story of what Britain has become. Continue reading...

Queen Consort facing down challenge of a past that starred Diana with charitable patronage and choreographed media appearances

The event will take place at 11am at Westminster Abbey at the end of an official 10-day period of mourning

Queen’s family applauded after stopping to talk to well-wishers on way from private service at Crathie Kirk

First MP to take new oath was Lindsay Hoyle, followed by Harriet Harman and Peter Bottomley, then Liz Truss

Hundreds of protesters march through Whitehall demanding justice as police watchdog launches homicide investigationThe family of Chris Kaba has called for the immediate suspension of the Metropolitan police officer involved in his fatal shooting.The 24-year-old, who was due to become a father for the first time, was shot dead by a firearms officer in Streatham, south London, on Monday night. Continue reading...

The hereditary behind-the-scenes role involves organising state funerals of sovereigns and arranging the accession of monarchs

Posts by Playmobil and Legoland Windsor provoked comment, as did the Queen Elizabeth II workout

UK’s new home secretary upsets civil servants with speech on migrants, trashy TV and back-to-office callThe new home secretary has already prompted consternation among Home Office officials after telling them she wants to ban all small boats crossing the Channel, the Observer has learned.During her inaugural address to departmental staff last Wednesday, Suella Braverman said a top priority would be stopping all Channel crossings. She has also asked all staff to watch “trashy TV” to help their “mental wellbeing”, a source said, specifically citing Channel 4’s Married at First Sight and First Dates as well as Love Island. Continue reading...

First such historic event to be held in 70 years was attended by judges, archbishops and ex-prime ministers

Mia Mottley praised his environmental and social commitment and noted his recognition of the atrocities of slavery

Merseyside police are holding man from West Derby on suspicion of assisting an offenderA 37-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the killing of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Merseyside police have said.The force said the man, from West Derby, had been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and remained in custody being questioned by detectives. Continue reading...

Stories of the monarch doing the washing up and slipping her corgis toast under the table always proved popularThough she lived a very different life, the Queen embraced a few common touches that endeared her to many of her subjects.Famously, she stored her morning cornflakes in Tupperware containers, an incongruous sight among the gilt and silverware at Buckingham Palace, a fact revealed by a tabloid journalist who managed to work undercover as a footman for two months. Continue reading...

King Charles III is proclaimed in his absence at an accession council in the state apartments at St James’s Palace

Police blamed the accident, in which passengers burned to death, on speeding and reckless drivingAt least 20 passengers burned to death when a bus collided with another vehicle and caught fire in south-west Nigeria, police and an official have said.The accident at Lanlate in the Ibarapa area of Oyo state on Friday, is the latest road crash in the vast west African nation of 210 million people. Continue reading...

The new prime minister had her first audience with the monarch on Friday, when she offered her condolencesCabinet ministers will meet King Charles III for the first time on Saturday, days after Liz Truss formed her new government.Charles was formally proclaimed King at an accession council in an ancient ceremony at St James’s Palace, which was televised for the first time. Continue reading...

Sovereign says he is ‘deeply aware of the duties and heavy responsibilities’ that pass to him

Several of the poets appointed by, or inherited by the Queen, had to deal with public mockery. No wonder Philip Larkin turned down the role“Oh, God, the royal poem!” John Betjeman wrote to a friend early in his laureateship. “Send the H[oly] G[host] to help me over that fence. So far no sign: watch and pray.” For a woman who wasn’t noted for a deep interest in literature, the Queen was served by some highly skilled poets laureate. Yet almost all found the job burdensome, and none produced his or her best work while wearing the laurels – certainly nothing to match, say, Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade.The official verse they wrote in some ways mirrors changing attitudes towards the monarchy over the course of Elizabeth II’s long reign. Though, given that most holders of the job have written poems on a wide range of themes – not just to mark royal hatches, matches and dispatches – it’s fair to say that their work reflects broader shifts in social and political concerns.

Date of funeral has not yet been announced but new monarch confirms day will be bank holiday

In the era of the Queen’s coronation, the UK was a land of deprivation and deference, but profound social and economic change was about to transform the nation and then the monarchyOn the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, on 2 June 1953, Marian Raynham, living in the Surrey town of Surbiton with her husband and two children, recorded the celebration lunch they had that day. Nothing gives a greater flavour of the times – or of how much life in Britain has changed since then.“Listened to it all,” Raynham told the chroniclers of Mass Observation, the forerunners of public opinion testing. “I took advantage of the religious part to put the lunch on the table. They loved the lunch – tom [-ato] soup, a big salad with Nut Meat brawn and strawberry blancmange and jam and top of milk.” She went on to spring clean behind the couch: “did room, later crocheted, later rested.” Continue reading...

Guardian Australia understands the few remaining Qantas seats from Australian capital cities to London have been quickly booked since the news of monarch’s death

Professor finds pattern of wellbeing problems in political families, often linked to parents’ workProminent politicians must do more to protect the mental wellbeing of their children, according to a leading historian whose research has revealed the enormous pressures faced by those with parents in the government.Prof Elizabeth Hurren, the chair in modern history at the University of Leicester, found a troubling pattern of mental health and wellbeing problems in children of politicians, which were often linked to their parents’ work and the relentless attention that comes with public life. Continue reading...

Queen Elizabeth’s achievement was to adapt the monarchy to sweeping change without ever letting on what she was doingWhen the future Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926, her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, had been dead for scarcely a quarter of a century, and it was less than 30 years since the spectacle and splendour of her diamond jubilee. Viewed from the vantage point of 1897 or 1901, the long years of Victoria’s reign had given the British much to feel proud of and be grateful for: constitutional stability, democratic progress and increased prosperity at home, and the extraordinary expansion of the greatest empire that the world had ever known. Small wonder, then, that Queen Victoria gave her name to her age – an age in which everything about Britain and its dominions had seemed to be getting bigger and better and greater and grander.These precedents were much in the mind of the new Queen’s first prime minister, Winston Churchill, when he broadcast in February 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI. For Churchill was a product of the late 19th century, and the last authentically Victorian figure to occupy 10 Downing Street. As he ended his broadcast, he turned from eulogising the late king to acclaiming the new monarch, by linking the last great reign of a female sovereign with the one to come: “I,” he concluded, “whose youth was nurtured in the august, unchallenged, tranquil glow of the Victorian era, may well feel a thrill in invoking once more the prayer and the anthem ‘God save the Queen.’”

Exclusive: Mark Rowley has 100-day plan to turn force around after it was placed into special measuresThe new Metropolitan police commissioner is recruiting scores of new investigators to root out prejudiced and corrupt officers, the Guardian has learned.Mark Rowley starts on Monday and will launch a 100-day plan to turn Britain’s biggest force around after it became mired in repeated crises and was humiliatingly judged to be so poor it was placed into special measures by the official inspectorate. Continue reading...

New King to swear oath in presence of privy counsellors at St James Palace on Saturday