The Chair of Bath & North East Somerset Council, Cllr Shaun Stephenson-McGall, is pictured making the proclamation on the steps of the Guildhall on Sunday.

He said: “Our sadness at this time is shared by people across the globe, as we remember with affection and gratitude the lifetime of service given by our longest-reigning Monarch. Here in Bath & North East Somerset we held Her Majesty in great esteem and it was our immense good fortune to be visited by her a number of times - including for her silver jubilee year in 1977 and for her Golden Jubilee in 2002.

“Many people will have personal memories of those visits and we give thanks for all she did for our country during her long and illustrious reign.”

The ceremony marked the formal Proclamation to the people of the Bath & North East Somerset of the beginning of the new King’s reign.

The flags which had flown at half-mast since The Queen’s death were raised briefly to their full height to mark the start of His Majesty’s reign. The proclamation of the new Sovereign is a very old tradition which can be traced back over many centuries. The ceremony does not create a new King. It is simply an announcement of the accession which took place immediately on the death of the reigning monarch.