Prime Ministers past and present have paid tribute to Her Majesty the Queen after she passed away aged 96.

Liz Truss hailed the Queen as the “rock on which modern Britain was built”, as she led tributes to the country’s longest-serving monarch.

Speaking in Downing Street, Ms Truss described the Queen as the “very spirit of Great Britain” before declaring: “That spirit will endure.”

She also said: “Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built. Our country has grown and flourished under her reign.

“Britain is the great country it is today because of her.”

She said: “In the difficult days ahead, we will come together with our friends, across the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the world, to celebrate her extraordinary lifetime of service.

“It is a day of great loss, but Queen Elizabeth II leaves a great legacy.

“Today the Crown passes – as it is has done for more than a thousand years – to our new monarch, our new head of state: His Majesty King Charles III.

“With the King’s family, we mourn the loss of his mother. And as we mourn, we must come together as a people to support him.

“To help him bear the awesome responsibility that he now carries for us all.

“We offer him our loyalty and devotion just as his mother devoted so much to so many for so long.

“And with the passing of the second Elizabethan age, we usher in a new era in the magnificent history of our great country, exactly as Her Majesty would have wished, by saying the words God save the King.”

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the death of the Queen would leave a “void” and “this is our country’s saddest day”.

“As is so natural with human beings, it is only when we face the reality of our loss that we truly understand what has gone.”

“It is only really now that we grasp how much she meant for us, how much she did for us, how much she loved us.

“As we think of the void she leaves, we understand the vital role she played, selflessly and calmly embodying the continuity and unity of our country.

“We think of her deep wisdom, and historic understanding, and her seemingly inexhaustible but understated sense of duty.

“Relentless though her diary must have felt, she never once let it show, and to tens of thousands of events – great and small – she brought her smile and her warmth and her gentle humour – and for an unrivalled 70 years she spread that magic around her kingdom.

“This is our country’s saddest day because she had a unique and simple power to make us happy. That is why we loved her.

“That is why we grieve for Elizabeth the Great, the longest serving and in many ways the finest monarch in our history.”

Former PM David Cameron said “there are no words that can adequately express the sense of loss our nation will feel” after the Queen’s death.

In a statement posted on Twitter, he said the Queen had been “a rock of strength for our nation and the Commonwealth”.

“There can simply be no finer example of dignified public duty and unstinting service, and we all owe our sincere gratitude for her continued devotion, living every day by the pledge she made on her 21st birthday. Her dedication to our country has been incomparable and, as such, she leaves an enduring legacy.”

He added he was “very proud” to have served as the Queen’s twelfth prime minister, adding it was a “privilege” to call on her “sage advice and wise counsel”.