Queen Elizabeth death LIVE Updates: King Charles III pledges to uphold constitutional principles in his first speech

Rail and postal worker strike was due to take place next week.

British horseracing chiefs suspended all events after the death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced on Thursday as sport paid tribute to the late monarch. Buckingham Palace made the announcement in a short statement, triggering 10 days of national mourning. Charles, Prince of Wales, becomes king immediately.

Britain's new monarch, King Charles, will address the nation on Friday, his spokesman said, his first speech following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth. Buckingham Palace said she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.

“Queen Elizabeth II was a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock Alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States,” the Bidens said. “She helped make our relationship special.” Biden's predecessor in the White House, Donald Trump, said in a statement that Elizabeth "will always be remembered for her faithfulness to her country and her unwavering devotion to her fellow countrymen and women.

Charles, the oldest person to ever assume the British throne, became King Charles III on Thursday following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. No date has been set for his coronation. After an apprenticeship that began as a child, Charles embodies the modernization of the British monarchy. He was the first heir not educated at home, the first to earn a university degree and the first to grow up in the ever-intensifying glare of the media as deference to royalty faded.