King Charles live as hundreds turn up for rare West Midlands visit

King Charles III laid flowers during the dedication ceremony for a new memorial to the Armed Forces LGBT+ community at Founders Room National Memorial Arboretum.

The memorial, named "An Opened Letter" is the first to be dedicated to members of the LGBT+ community.

The king has moved on to Alrewas.

He has attended a dedication ceremony for a new memorial to the Armed Forces LGBT+ community at Founders Room National Memorial Arboretum.

The memorial, named "An Opened Letter" is the first to be dedicated to members of the LGBT+ community in the armed forces.

Until 2000, it was illegal for members of the British Armed Forces to be openly gay.

The memorial is dedicated to those who suffered under this law as well as those currently serving in the military.

The king has got a lot of hand-shaking done.

And we have photos to prove it....

Photos of HM King Charles III visiting Lichfield cathedral today.

Crowds turned out in numbers - displaying British flags.

Here are a tranche of photos of King Charles III as he waves to crowds during the Lichfield Cathedral visit...

He has entered the cathedral less than five minutes after arriving following a brief chat with those patiently waiting in the crowd.

“Is that it?” one person asked, disappointed. Others said they were delighted just to catch a glimpse of The King - no matter how fleeting.

Here is the first picture of King Charles in Lichfield:

A police convoy has arrived at Lichfield Cathedral.

The King expected any minute now…

Here are those capacity crowds.

Lichfield and the wider West Midlands has really turned out today.

We understand the public viewing gallery is now at full capacity, with people no longer being let into the church grounds.

Holly Smith, waiting in the crowd with her springer spaniel, Bob, said: “I needed to take him for a walk anyway, so I figured we may as well swing by to see The King.”

The 37-year-old added: “I mean, if I’m going to be picking up dog muck, I may as well do it in The King’s presence, right?”

From Harry Leach in Lichfield:

No sign of King Charles yet - but the crowd remains in good spirits despite the chilly morning.

We understand His Majesty is paying a visit to an unspecified local venue before his arrival here at the cathedral.

Jo Hickey, with her grandson James, said: “We were awake very early this morning. James wants to see The King because he thinks he saw Prince William at the Villa game yesterday.”

On the family’s impressive flag showing, Jo joked: “They’re probably from the Silver Jubillee, if I’m honest. No, I think they’re from the coronation.”

James told us he is very excited to see the King.

Thi Huyen Thuong Truong, 22, has arrived with her friends Hai Thi Hoang Duong, 49, and Bang Nam Tran, 46.

Thi, waving her Union Jack, said: “We live here, I’m from Vietnam. I’ve never seen [The King] before. We’re so excited to be here today. We are ready!”

She added: “I got up early this morning to be here and then we rushed here to get into the queue. We didn’t think the queue would be that long.”

Thi said Queen Elizabeth will “always” be in her heart as her favourite member of the Royal Family.

Olivia Byrne said she is excited to see King Charles and to be with her dad, James, for the special occasion.

James said: “It’s half-term fun. Something a bit different. We found out about it a couple days ago.”

When asked if he’s a fan of the Royal Family, he said: “Yeah, pretty much. I served in The Navy, so I had a little bit to do with them when I was doing that.

“Always enjoy the pomp ceremony. Feels very British, doesn’t it?

“We got up about 6.30am. We’re excited. We sometimes see Prince William from afar at the Villa.”

This is a lovely picture of crowds in Lichfield for the visit of King Charles III.

Crowds are arriving all the time in Lichfield for the visit of King Charles III.

Here are Dawn Guest and Angela Carswell who were among those to get here early.

Royal Family fan Dawn, who has seen King Charles on two occasions previously, told BirminghamLive she had set her alarm for 6am this morning to be here. She said: “We’ve been here since about 8am. I’m hoping we will get in. I’d like to go into the cathedral but we’re not allowed.”

Angela added: “I’ve met his brother, Edward, in Birmingham, when I did the Duke of Edinburgh years ago. We’re really excited to see him.”

From our reporter:

The queue, now easily a thousand people deep, has begun to move slightly as the first wave of people are being let into the church grounds.

Police and security are managing the queue.

The king is visiting the West Midlands at a fairly historic time of pressure on the Royal family.

You will know the backdrop - Prince Andrew was friends with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, named by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre and has had to stand down from Royal duties as a result.

It's highly unlikely the king will be addressing this today, but this is the latest story we have run.

We are minutes away from photos of the Royal visit but if you can't wait, we have your backs.

Here we previously gathered together photos from times King Charles visited the region before.

This from our reporter Harry Leach in Lichfield:

Hundreds of people have lined the streets of Lichfield in hope of catching a glimpse of King Charles.

His Majesty will be making a special visit to Lichfield Cathedral later on this morning, October 27, and excitement is building.

A huge queue of people, including families and children, are waiting patiently in a line leading to the church.

The King will be speaking to invited guests inside the cathedral, including volunteers and choirs from the local area.

Whilst entry inside will be for invited guests only, a public viewing area has been set up for a limited number of people within the grounds. It has been set up around The Close, with entry starting at 9am.

However, there will be limited capacity and the area will be closed once it's safely filled.