ROYAL gun salutes are being fired from Edinburgh and Stirling Castle to commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth, with 96 rounds fired in total from 1pm on Friday.

Each round is to commemorate a year of the Queen’s life, with Edinburgh and Stirling Castle being two of the designated saluting stations around the world.

The official royal gun salutes are at Hyde Park in London, with others being held in places including Woolwich, York, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Gibraltar and Dover Castle.

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The UK is in a state of mourning until the Queen’s funeral, expected on Monday, September 19.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, her body will now be moved from Balmoral Castle to Edinburgh, where the monarch’s coffin will lie in rest for 24 hours at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

In Scotland, people have been paying their respects to the Queen in Edinburgh, where various road closures have been announced in anticipation of major disruption, and at Balmoral Castle.

Police started to let members of the public stand at the gates of Balmoral Castle to pay their respects to the Queen on Friday morning, and several people walked to the entrance of the grounds of the royal retreat from 6.30am to lay bouquets of flowers as a tribute to the late monarch.