This is how Birmingham is paying respects to Queen Elizabeth II

Birmingham has made arrangements for residents to pay respects to QueenElizabeth II, who passed away on Thursday (8 September). The City Council is taking multiple steps to pay homage to the Queen, including cancelling all public meetings.

The Queen was at her Balmoral Castle residence and surrounded by her family when she passed away yesterday.

The 96-year-old monarch had a decades long reign and will be known as the longest-reigning monarch of the UK. She took up the helm at the age of 27 and was 96 when she bid farewell to her subjects.

If you are in Birmingham, this is how you can pay your respects to the Queen:

1. Books of Condolence

Books of Condolence wil be available from today (Friday 9 September) at the Hall of Memory at Centenary Square. These will not be sent to London (in line with Royal wishes).

The Hall of Memory books will be available to sign from 9am to 5pm daily and will remain open until 5pm on the day following the funeral. There might be bag searches and waiting times to sign the book will be reduced if visitors avoid bringing bags with them, should this situation arise.

Following the period of mourning, the local books will be placed in the Birmingham City Council archive at the Library of Birmingham.

There will also be books of condolence available at a number of locations across the city centre and Birmingham more widely.

2. Flowers

Citizens of Birmingham and visitors to the city who wish to pay floral respects to The Queen can do so at the official site in the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral (off Colmore Row).

To make space for for mourners to lay tributes, previous tributes might be removed on a daily basis and sensitively recycled. This will only be the case if the need arises.

Anyone who lays flowers is kindly asked to remove any plastic wrapping/packaging and make any written tribute via the Books of Condolence in the city or online.

If flowers are left in any other public place, they will also be removed at an appropriate frequency and sensitively recycled.

The Council has requested people to use only flowers since it cannot be guaranteed that other items and materials will be easily reused or recycled.

3. Flags

Just one flag will fly from the Council House – the Union flag at half-mast, the only exception being that it will be raised to full mast from 11am today (9 September) until 1pm on Saturday, 10 September (the period covering the proclamation of the new King in London, the national capitals and counties).

The Accession Proclamation, part of the formal process by which The King takes to the throne, will be read in Birmingham by Lord Mayor Cllr Maureen Cornish from outside the Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square.

As well as the lowering of flags at appropriate times, the Library of Birmingham will be lit in the colour purple for every night of the period of mourning. Flags will be raised to full mast at 8am on the day after the funeral.

4. Photographic exhibition at Library of Birmingham

The Library of Birmingham will have an exhibition of photographs charting her relationship with the city. Covering many of her numerous visits to Birmingham, the display will be open for viewing during normal library opening hours from today (Friday 9 September) until the day after the funeral.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.