King Charles flies to Scotland to grieve mother at Balmoral

Royal family will perform no public duties for a week as they continue to mourn for seven days

King Charles has flown to Scotland to grieve his mother in private following her state funeral.

The monarch left RAF Northolt in West London on a private jet at about 10.30am this morning.

Images showed the King sitting in the back of a car with a man thought to be a close protection officer, while his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, rode in the front passenger seat.

The pair landed at Aberdeen International Airport at 12.04pm, according to Flight Radar, where they will likely be driven the hour’s journey to the Balmoral estate.

Queen Elizabeth II’s children and grandchildren rushed to the very same airport just 12 days ago when they learned doctors were concerned for her health. She died later the same day.

Only King Charles and his sister Princess Anne are understood to have made it in time to be at the Queen’s side as she died at the age of 96.

The King is expected to visit Balmoral Castle, where his mother died on 8 September, and may also spend time at Birkhall, his home on the Balmoral estate, according to the MailOnline.

The Independent has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.

Queen Elizabeth II’s children and grandchildren rushed to the very same airport just 12 days ago when they learned doctors were concerned for her health (Phil Noble/Reuters)

The royal family released a previously unseen photograph of the Queen at Balmoral following her funeral on Monday.

The image, taken in 1971, shows her hiking in the moorlands surrounding the castle.

The image was shared on the royal family’s official Twitter account alongside a caption from Shakespeare’s Hamlet which read: “May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest. In loving memory of Her Majesty The Queen. 1926 - 2022.”

The quote is the same phrase King Charles III used at the end of his first TV address as the new monarch.

The release of the image came shortly after the Queen was laid to rest alongside her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as both her parents at the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle.