Janine Henni is a Royals Staff Writer for PEOPLE Digital, covering modern monarchies and the world's most famous families. Like Queen Elizabeth, she loves horses and a great tiara moment.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla have traveled north.
The new King, 73, and Queen Consort, 75, flew to Scotland on Tuesday, the day after Queen Elizabeth‘s state funeral at Westminster Abbey and committal service at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The royal couple was seen at Aberdeen Airport around noon.
It’s possible that they drove an hour west to Balmoral Castle, Queen Elizabeth‘s beloved retreat in the Scottish Highlands, where she “peacefully” died at age 96 on September 8. Charles and Camilla may also be spending time at Birkhall, their private home on the 50,000-acre estate, as they continue grieving the late Queen.
Though the national period of mourning for Queen Elizabeth has come to a close across the United Kingdom, her family will remain in mourning until one week after the funeral, a wish King Charles expressed soon after her death. Members of the Royal Household Staff, related representatives and troops with ceremonial duties will also honor this period of grievance, set to end September 26, Buckingham Palace said.
On Monday, King Charles joined the procession of the Queen’s coffin from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, wrote the personal note that was placed on top of the coffin and top a spot of prominence near the coffin at the state funeral and committal service.
There were no cameras at the final funeral event for the late monarch, who was privately buried beside Prince Philip — her beloved husband of 73 years, who died in April 2021 at age 99 — and near her sister, Princess Margaret, and parents, King George VI and the Queen Mother.
Samantha Cohen, Queen Elizabeth‘s former assistant private secretary, attended the committal service earlier in the evening, and tells PEOPLE that the gravity of the Queen’s death has truly hit.
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"It was a shock, and now it's real. And the real mourning starts," she says. "The reality of life without the Queen starts now."
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