As it happened: York welcomes the King

YorkMix photographer Richard McDougall and PA’s Danny Lawson were on hand to capture these great pictures of the King and Queen Consort at York Minster today.

The royal couple were heralded by the Minster bells when they arrived. They were welcomed by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, the Acting Dean of York, Canon Michael Smith and members of the Chapter of York.

Children from the Minster Mice weekly service presented posies to the King and the Queen Consort.

After a short service of prayer, the couple met people from the area who’ve been doing outstanding work in their communities and making a difference to the lives of local people.

The King then met Minster stonemason Richard Bossons, the designer and carver of the statue of Queen Elizabeth II, and his assistant Rita Dawe.

He toured a new exhibition documenting the creation of the statue from concept through to the finished work of art.

The King then meet children young people from the Minster community and talked to staff and volunteers who met Queen Elizabeth II when she visited the Minster in 2012 to distribute the Royal Maundy.

Meanwhile, the Queen Consort will meet representatives from the military and emergency services in the city and region.

She was introduced to two pupils from Husthwaite Church of England Primary School who won a competition to design a stone carving to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.

Representatives from local social action groups, refugee organisations and charities working to support some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in York and the region were alsointroduced to Camilla.

After signing the visitors’ book, the King and the Queen Consort left through the Great West Door for the unveiling and blessing of the statue.

Here’s the moment the King unveiled a statue of his late mother, the Queen, on the West Front of York Minster.

The King has unveiled a statue to his ”beloved” mother for the first time since her death.

Speaking at the ceremony at York Minster, Charles said: “The late Queen was always vigilant for the welfare of her people during her life.

“Now her image will watch over what will become Queen Elizabeth Square for centuries to come.”

The 2m sculpture weighing 1.1 tonnes and made from lepine limestone from France was designed to celebrate the late Queen’s platinum jubilee and was completed in August, the month before her death.

Here are some great pictures of the King on Micklegate this morning.

He followed the tradition of so many sovereigns before him when entering through the royal gateway to York.

He was greeted by

• The Lord Mayor of York – Councillor David Carr
• The Lord Mayoress – Mrs Lunda Carr
• The Sheriff of York – Mrs Suzie Mercer
• The Sheriff’s Consort – Mrs Rebecca Murphy
• Leader of the Council – Councillor Keith Aspen
• Deputy Town Clerk – lan Floyd, Chief Operating Officer of City

This is what happened. The Lord Mayor inviteed His Majesty to approach the Sword and Mace Bearers at the gate where The King will touched. The sword bearer will then turn the sword while the Mace bearer will turn the mace.

Once the Sword and Mace bearers stand aside their maiesties, escorted by the Lord Mayor, entered the city. And the Town Clerk will read the ‘Declaration of Welcome’ to York.

There was drama today as eggs were thrown at the King.

It happened moments after King Charles and Camilla had stepped out of the limousine at Micklegate Bar.

As he greeted the Lord Mayor at least three eggs were thrown by people in the crowd. None hit the King or Queen Consort.

The police then waded into the crowd as the Royal party made their way through the bar.

The Lord Mayor Cllr David Carr is here with members of the civic party ready to meet the King and Queen Consort

Police are out in force here at Micklegate Bar as the city prepares to welcome the King.

Crowds are growing outside the royal gateway but there’s still plenty of room on the rest of the street.

After a gloomy start, the sun is now bathing the gathering crowd in its autumn glow.

People are beginning to line Micklegate ready to cheer the King and Queen Consort.

Victoria Charles, Lydia Burley and Rachel Rogers from YorkMix are there too, and have sent these great pix.

The first people are in place to watch the unveiling of the statue by the King.

Barriers are out around York Minster for what are expected to be large crowds for the royal visit of King Charles and Camilla.

They are due at Micklegate Bar late morning, then will go on to the Minster for a short service before the King unveils the statue.

Happily the weather forecast is good – there is only a 17% chance of a shower during the royal visit, according to the BBC weather service.

Preparations are almost complete at York Minster as we await the arrival of the King.

And the statue he will unveil of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, is now covered with a purple silk cloth.

It will be this that King Charles will pull aside to finally reveal the statue, designed and carved by Minster stonemason Richard Bossons, to the world.

Previously it was hidden by a rather rougher material:

Meet the first woman in the queue to see the King at Micklegate Bar.

She is Justine Spencer, and she got up at 5am to see Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, enter the city through the royal gateway.

Justine is a familiar figure to YorkMix readers, as the woman who looked after Gerald, the York Minster cat.

She told YorkMix: “We all got very early up out of bed and the whole family are down here to King hopefully because it’s an amazing opportunity to see him so close. I can’t wait. I’m really hoping that we get to see him today.

“We arrived at about six. So we all got up about five o’clock in the morning, which is not too bad considering if it was London, we’d have had to camp out.

“It’s really nice he’s come to York. I’m really pleased that he’s got the climate issues as a priority. I really like what he’s doing there.

“There will be a massive crowd. I’m just glad that we got here early and we have a slight chance to see him. So fingers crossed!”

The city is getting ready.

Here’s Micklegate this morning, with barriers in place for the crowds expected when the King and Camilla, Queen Consort, arrive in the late morning today.