King Charles has already got to work by hosting a Buckingham Palace reception with Commonwealth dignitaries, including officials from Antigua and Barbuda who are threatening to ditch the crown.

King Charles has already got to work by hosting a Buckingham Palace reception with Commonwealth dignitaries, including officials from Antigua and Barbuda who are threatening to ditch the crown

King Charles has already got to work by hosting a Buckingham Palace reception with Commonwealth dignitaries, including officials from Antigua and Barbuda who are threatening to ditch the crown

The new British monarch smiled through his grief at losing Queen Elizabeth as he met with VIPs with Queen Consort Camilla on Sunday (11.09.22), only three days after the British monarch died at Balmoral aged 96.

Charles and Camilla’s reception with Realm High Commissioners and their spouses was held in the Bow Room of Buckingham Palace, with the king pictured smiling as he greeted officials from around the globe.

It included dignitaries from Antigua and Barbuda, including the county’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who told the Earl and Countess of Wessex during a royal tour in April it was his country’s wish to “one day become a republic”.

Charles also met Commonwealth general secretary Patricia Scotland in the 1844 Room of the palace, before attending the reception at the royal residence.

Other guests included the UK’s foreign secretary James Cleverly, as well as representatives for Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, New Zealand, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Honorary Consul of Tuvalu.

The king, formally proclaimed at St James’ Palace on Saturday (10.09.22) also received the Dean of Windsor on Sunday.

He and his wife Camilla were cheered by thousands of well-wishers as they separately entered Buckingham Palace on Sunday, while the Queen’s coffin made its 180-mile journey from her home in Balmoral, where she died, to lie at rest in Edinburgh before it is taken to Westminster Abbey for her state funeral.

The king and Camilla will next week take a tour of the four home nations in the run-up to Her Majesty’s send-off and burial at St George's Chapel, Windsor.

Charles will visit Edinburgh, Belfast and Wales in the coming days with Camilla and the UK’s Prime Minister to hear well-wishes from politicians.

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