FOG BLOG QUEEN'S DEATH LOG: CASKET CARRYING QUEEN ELIZABETH GOES UP THE ROYAL MILE IN EDINBURGH!

Edinburgh crowd quiets to witness Queen’s coffin and King Charles Applause follows as cortege passes by en route to service of thanksgiving in Scottish capital Guns were fired from Edinburgh Castle as King Charles accompanied the Queen’s hearse along the Royal Mile and the crowd of thousands crammed on to the narrow pavements fell hushed.

It was the first opportunity for the public to see the new king and the Queen’s coffin together on the second stage of the Queen’s journey towards her funeral in London next Monday.

Charles walked behind the cortege as it proceeded from Holyroodhouse to St Giles’ Cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection on the Queen’s life. Alongside him were the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the Duke of York. Unlike his siblings, Prince Andrew was not wearing military uniform, because he is a non-working royal after the scandal of his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Camilla, the Queen Consort, wearing a thistle brooch given to her by the Queen, and other members of the royal family including the Countess of Wessex, who had grown close to the Queen, followed in cars.

The high windows of buildings overlooking the historic thoroughfare were filled with onlookers. As the hearse went by, the chatter of the crowd quietened to a hum and phones were held aloft to capture the moment, and applause followed once the cortege passed.

One man in the 12-deep crowds was detained after he allegedly shouted abuse at Prince Andrew. He was bundled to the ground by other onlookers, some of whom began chanting “God save the King” to drown out his shouts, before he was taken away by police.

Charles and Camilla had earlier flown to Edinburgh from London after attending Westminster Hall, where both houses of parliament met to express their condolences and Charles told them he was resolved to follow his mother’s “example of selfless duty”.

Arriving at Holyroodhouse, he inspected the guard of honour and took part in the ceremony of the keys, a tradition when the monarch arrives at Holyrood. From dawn, tens of thousands of people from across the UK and abroad had begun crowding into Edinburgh’s ancient city centre to witness the latest phase of the royal transition. The crowds – which security contractors and police at times struggled to marshal – were a foretaste of what is to come in London, when far larger numbers are expected to fill the streets daily as the Queen lies in state at Westminster Hall.