The steadying presence of Queen Elizabeth II will be missed during uncertain times ahead as a crisis-tossed United Kingdom faces the future with a new king and an inexperienced new prime minister, former UK Ambassador Peter Ford told Sputnik.

"Now the nation has, in the blink of an eye, a neophyte King and a neophyte prime minister," Ford, a former UK ambassador to Syria, said on Thursday. "The Queen's steadying presence will be missed."

The nation in its entirety will be united in mourning, Ford added, all differences put to one side.
"Former ambassadors like myself will feel a special pang of sadness because we were formally not representatives of our country but representatives of Her Britannic Majesty," Ford said. "No-one could not admire the Queen, for always retaining over such a long period her dignity and quiet charm."
Independent Institute Center for Peace & Liberty Director Ivan Eland agreed that Queen Elizabeth had been an outstanding success in representing her country for more than two-thirds of a century.
"A magisterial head of state beyond compare," Eland told Sputnik.
The death of the queen, who passed away at Balmoral castle in Scotland, makes her eldest son, Charles III, the new king of the United Kingdom.
The Times reported that Charles III will hold a number of meetings with government and church officials on Friday before being officially named the king of the United Kingdom.