Tributes continue to pour in for Queen Elizabeth

In the UK, there were emotional scenes outside Buckingham Palace where huge crowds of people holding candles and flowers have spent the night.

They broke into the country's national anthem "God Save the Queen" and rounds of applause in celebration of the monarch's life.

 The Queen passed away peacefully at Balmoral on Thursday afternoon. Her family was there, including her son Charles, who's now King Charles III. His wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, becomes Queen Consort. He says they're “mourning profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved mother”.

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Royal watchers say it will take days for the shock news to sink in for many Britons, who only three days ago watched the country's longest reigning monarch appoint the new Prime Minister Liz Truss. 

She's led the tributes calling the Queen the “rock on which modern Britain was built”. 

And has called for the country to come together to support the new King. 

"With the passing of the second Elizabethan Age we are shot in a new era in the magnificent history of our great country. Exactly as her majesty would have wished by saying the words God Save the King."

Across the country, flags have been lowered to half mast. And the House of Commons says it'll hold a session, lasting 10 hours from midday, for tributes to Her late Majesty.

Elizabeth was just 25 when her father George VI died, making her Queen. She reigned for 70 years. 

She saw many celebrations, and jubilees but there were also times when she was called on to bring the nation together, such as during the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. 

"While we have more to still endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again. We will meet again."

Tributes have been pouring in from leaders across the world. US President Joe Biden says the Queen was "a stateswoman of unmatched dignity".

French president Emmanuel Macron described her as "a friend of France" in his tribute.

Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese says it's a day of grief and sadness. Meanwhile Canada's head of state Justin Trudeau says the monarch was a constant presence in their lives. 

"She was thoughtful, wise, curious, helpful, funny and so much more."

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President Cyril Ramaphosa has described her as an extraordinary public figure who lived a remarkable life. 

He says the monarch's life and legacy will be fondly remembered by many around the world.

He's described how he and the queen had reminisced together about former president, Nelson Mandela at the last Commonwealth meeting in London in 2018.

He says they spent some time looking at letters that Madiba sent to the Queen, who respected the former head of state enormously.

"The queen's commitment to education during the seventy years on the throne remains a noble and virtuous example to the entire world," says Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya. 

But not everyone in the Commonwealth's shared the sentiments.

EFF leader Julius Malema's says the Queen's death serves as a reminder of a tragic period of colonial rule in South Africa's history.

Meanwhile Kenya's president-elect William Ruto's hailed the monarch's "admirable" leadership of the Commonwealth.