Queen Elizabeth II dies — follow the latest news as the world mourns
Residents in the UAE are making their way to the Queen Elizabeth 2 ship in Dubai to leave flowers and trinkets at the foot of a bust of the British monarch who died on Thursday.
The UK Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the office of the British Embassy in Dubai announced the location for mourners to visit and sign a book of condolence on social media on Friday.
People are invited to sign the book between 10am and 6pm over the coming days and leave mementos at the floating hotel in Port Rashid.
A book sits on a table decorated with flowers, next to a picture of the queen in a silver frame.
About an hour after welcoming mourners, there was already a collection of bouquets, teddy bears and handwritten cards laid in front of the bust.
The location for Abu Dhabi's book of condolence will be St Andrew's Church and available for people to sign from Monday.
On-line messages of condolence can also be sent at https://www.royal.uk/.
On Friday at 4pm, a poignant 96-round gun salute ― one for every year of the queen's life ― echoed across Dubai.
Fired by a HMS Montrose, a UK Royal Navy ship at Jebel Ali Port, the event was held in tribute to the British monarch.
A subsequent display on Saturday marked the accession of King Charles III as the new reigning monarch of the UK.
A period of national mourning also began across the UAE on Friday and will continue until Monday to honour the longest-reigning British monarch.
HMS Montrose, a Type 23 frigate, is on long-term deployment to the Gulf, where it protects shipping lanes as part of Operation Kipion.
Its crew seized smuggled Iranian missiles in July and carried out one of the biggest drug busts in a decade in January, when a tonne of drugs worth about $20 million was captured off the coast of Oman.
