The Queen: Floral tributes left by mourners after passing of monarch who ruled for 70 years

Members of the public gathered outside royal residences to pay their respects after the monarch died yesterday afternoon.

One message on flowers left at Balmoral read: “I love you Queen. I'll miss you. Tilly, aged 4.”

Another read: “A mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother, our Queen. Your job here is done. Rest easy. Charlotte, Adam, Harriet and Tilly.”

Despite growing darkness and torrential rain, people gathered throughout the evening to pay their respects to the Queen at the Balmoral gates.

More flowers have been laid on the roadside leading to the Balmoral gates, with one bouquet reading: “In tribute to a remarkable sovereign.”

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There have been similar scenes at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

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Well-wishers gathering outside Windsor Castle yesterday sobbed openly as the Union Flag was lowered to half mast.

Within minutes, the throng of mourners had grown so dense that members of staff returning to the castle were struggling to reach the entrance.

Well into the evening, crowds were streaming up from shops on nearby Peascod Street, their arms laden with floral tributes for the Queen.

Roses, tulips, elderflower and even potted plant were laid outside the Castle as people paid their respects with whatever they could lay their hands on.

When it had grown dark and the police had ushered the mourners back, they decorated a nearby statue of Queen Victoria with more flowers and candles.

Denise Speck, visiting from Australia, brought a bouquet of roses from the local Marks & Spencer, which was due to close at 7pm but stayed open late for well-wishers.

Saying that the world had entered a “new era” without the Queen, Ms Speck speculated that Australia and other Commonwealth countries could start to grow apart from Britain.

She said: “The Queen was something that everyone admired even though they didn't necessarily want to be part of the British system.

“It's the Queen that was the glue that kept it all going.”

King Charles III has succeeded his mother to the throne.