Prince William leaves Balmoral to be with family ahead of King’s proclamation

Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge, who is a Privy Counsellor, flying back to Windsor

Prince William has left Balmoral and is travelling back to Windsor to be with his family ahead of the Accession Council.

The Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge, who is a Privy Counsellor, will attend the event, which will see his father King Charles III formally proclaimed monarch.

William was among family members who rushed to Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands on Thursday following news doctors were concered about the health of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The official announcement of her death came later in the day at 6.40pm.

The duke’s younger brother, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, who was visiting the UK from his new home in the US, also travelled to Balmoral.

His wife Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, remained at home in Windsor where their three children attended their first day at a new school on Thursday.

King Charles and the Queen Consort landed back in London at RAF Northolt at 1.35pm on Friday, while Harry touched down at Heathrow Airport at about 11.30am.

The historic Accession Council will be held in the State Apartments of St James’s Palace at 10am on Saturday.

Prince William has left Balmoral and is travelling back to Windsor to be with his family ahead of the King’s proclamation (Victoria Jones/PA)

A Principal Proclamation will be read in public for the first time by the Garter King of Arms in the open air from the balcony overlooking Friary Court at St James’s an hour later at 11am.

It will be followed by a flurry of Proclamations around the country, with the second one at City of London at the Royal Exchange at midday on Saturday, and further Proclamations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales at midday on Sunday.

Clarence House confirmed the Accession Council would be televised for the first time in history.