'Our saddest day': tributes pour in from politicians, public figures and celebrities

 The nation is grieving with "profound sadness" for the passing of "the person whose steadfast loyalty, service and humility" sustained the United Kingdom for more than 70 years, said Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, as tributes poured in following the death of the Queen at 96.

- Lisa O'Carroll and Dan Milmo

Liz Truss - who met the Queen only on Tuesday when she was asked by the monarch to form a government - led the tributes in only her second address outside Downing Street since taking office.

"The death of Her Majesty the Queen is a huge shock to the nation and to the world," she said in a brief and sombre address on the steps of Downing Street which ended with the solemn words: "God save the King".

"Today the crown passes, as it has done for more than a thousand years, to our new monarch, our new head of state, His Majesty King Charles III." Noting the passing of the second Elizabethan era, she described the Queen as "the rock on which Britain was built", describing Britain as the "great country it is today because of her".

"It's an extraordinary achievement to have presided with such dignity and grace for 70 years. Her life of service stretched beyond most of our living memories.

"In return she was loved and admired by the people in the United Kingdom and all around the world.

"Her devotion to duty is an example to us all," she said.

The death of the Queen, who acceded to the throne after the second world war, brings an end to the longest reign of any British monarch, seven years longer than Queen Victoria.