The King will have a private day of reflection after a momentous week which has seen him become monarch. Charles has returned to his home in Highgrove in Gloucestershire and is not expected to attend any public events on Thursday. In the detailed planning for the wake of the Queen’s death – known as “London Bridge” – a day was set at this point for the new monarch to have some time away from public duties. He will allow the King to stand down, but it is understood that he will prepare for his new role and will already receive the red boxes of his state papers. The new monarch has put his own deep personal grief to the side to focus on his new duties, traveling more than 1,500 miles around the UK in his first week on the throne and carrying out countless engagements. And all under the glare of a global audience captivated by his every move. The new monarch has put his own deep personal grief aside to focus on his new duties (Image: Reuters) Understandable tension was evident, with the King going viral after losing his rag with a dripping pen and earlier impatiently signaling an aide to move an awkwardly placed inkwell during Saturday’s Council of Accession ceremony. On Wednesday, he led the royal family in a public display of tribute to the late queen by walking behind her coffin with his brothers, sons and other relatives as it was taken to Westminster Hall, where she will lie in state until her state funeral on Monday . Watched by tens of thousands en route from Buckingham Palace, the King delivered his mother into the hands of the nation over a period of four days. The Queen will be laid to rest on Monday in a state funeral expected to be watched by more than four billion people around the world. Every day of the year, except Christmas Day, it will receive from government ministers – and from representatives in the Commonwealth and foreign countries – information in the form of policy papers, cabinet papers and Foreign Office cables. The correspondence also includes a daily summary of events in Parliament, letters and other government documents sent by his private secretary in the red boxes also used by government ministers to carry confidential documents. All documents must be read and, where necessary, approved and signed. The red boxes are made by the leather company Barrow and Gale but it is not known if Charles has received a new set or is using the Queen’s boxes for now. The late Queen still used the boxes made for her at her coronation in 1953, having refurbished them over the years. Contact our news team by emailing us at [email protected] For more stories like this, check out our news page.
