On Friday 9th September, the day after the Queen died, I decided, as a documentary photographer, to head into London and capture the mood. Within moments of leaving home I saw a house with a Union Jack flag at half mast. At my local train station the digital notifications boards were displaying messages of condolences, and on arrival at Victoria I noticed all the digital advertising sites were showing portraits of the Queen.

It was all quite surreal, with the sound of cannons firing across London and person after person carrying flowers to the palace where, despite there being hundreds of people from all walks of life, the mood was strangely calm. At one point there was a moment of excitement when police started to clear a path, the crowd was clearly expecting someone special but it was merely for a procession of horseguards and cannons.

This procession had however drawn the crowds away from the barriers opposite the palace so I grabbed the opportunity to take some pictures where flowers had been laid. As a documentarian I always try to remain impartial, watching the world, capturing things as they happen and, to be honest, didn't even register that Charles, now King, could be coming to the palace. I was soon surrounded by people, police were taking flowers and laying them for the public and then the mood again changed, with whispers of the King's imminent arrival.

And then his car arrived at a gate quite a distance away and stopped. He emerged to cheers and calls of "God Save the King”

Completely unplanned I’d found myself in prime position and, with a long lens, I captured the new King as he began shaking hands with the public.

I didn't expect him to come all the way along the barriers but he kept moving closer and closer, soon so close I had to quickly change to a wider lens.

And then for a brief, somewhat chaotic moment, all impartiality was gone; my camera in one hand, the other shaking the hand of the King! People on either side of me began to get messages, and I, a call from my mum to say I was on the news with King Charles III….

A strange serendipitous day

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