Glorious 8-page souvenir edition inside
In mourning black, she lands in London after 4,100-mile flight Valet found the King dead in bed at 7.15am
QUEEN Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh have arrived home from Africa following the tragically sudden death of her father, King George VI.
They reached London Airport at 4.30 pm yesterday after flying the 4,127 miles from Entebbe, Uganda.
As grey clouds scudded over an almost deserted airport, their Atalanta aircraft came to a stop. Waiting on the tarmac there was only a small hushed group led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
The 25-year-old Queen, who paused for a moment on the steps, smiled as she caught sight of Mr Churchill.
Wearing a small black hat with black plumes, black shoes and a black coat over a dark blue dress, she looked pale after her long journey. But the cold wind whipping across the airport brought colour to her cheeks.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had been staying at Treetops, a famously picturesque and romantic hotel tucked away in the Kenyan forest, as part of a royal tour of the Commonwealth. They had left their children, Charles, three, and Anne, 18 months, behind for the trip.
Mr Churchill issued an appeal to the public not to attempt to see the Queen’s arrival at London Airport, saying her return should be ‘as quiet as possible’.
The King died peacefully in his sleep at Sandringham at about 4 am on Wednesday. No one knew until his undervalet, James MacDonald, took in tea at 7.15 am. The previous day, the King had been out shooting and seemed in good health.
News of his death was broken to the Queen by the Duke of Edinburgh at 12.45 pm British time after it had been confirmed by a radio-telephone call to Sandringham. She wept, then quickly
recovering, decided to fly home immediately. A member of her household said: ‘She stood it bravely — like a Queen.’
The Queen and the Duke had spent Tuesday night at Treetops, in one of the hotel’s unique cabins which sit high up in the trees.
In the morning, they returned to Sagana Lodge 20 miles away, which they had been given as a wedding present by the Kenyan people. Soon after lunch, a newsflash of the King’s death reached the East African Standard newspaper and was at once passed to officials on the royal tour.
Half an hour later, a call to Sandringham confirmed the dreadful news.
The Queen took up her duties as Sovereign immediately. After her arrival yesterday, she drove to Buckingham Palace to attend a meeting of the Grand Accession Privy Council, the ceremonial body that makes a formal proclamation of the successor to the Throne after the death of a monarch.
At 11am today, after 115 years, a new Queen — Queen Elizabeth the Second — will be proclaimed from the balcony of St James’s Palace and at Charing Cross, Temple Bar and Royal Exchange. Flags flying at half-mast will be hauled to their mastheads when the words ‘God Save the Queen’ are uttered.
Mr Churchill received news of the King’s death while he was in bed dealing with State papers. He called an immediate Cabinet meeting to postpone all outstanding Parliamentary business until after the funeral.
Messages of sympathy flooded into Buckingham Palace from all over the world. The BBC shut down yesterday, except for news, and theatres and cinemas closed.
Prince Charles is now heir to the throne, with Princess Anne and then Princess Margaret next in succession. Queen Elizabeth becomes Queen Mother, and Queen Mary the Dowager Queen Mother.
Plans are being made to bring the King’s body from Sandringham on Sunday to Liverpool Street Station, London. There the coffin will be placed on a gun carriage and taken through troop-lined city streets to Westminster Hall.
The King will lie in state there for a week. The funeral at Windsor will probably be on Monday, February 18.