King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla in Dunfermline

The King and his Queen Consort are today holding their first joint public engagement since the Queen‘s death by visiting Dunfermline to mark the former town becoming a city as part of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.

Charles and Camilla have been welcomed to Fife by community groups including a local pipe band and schoolchildren – with the UK’s new monarch stopping to speak to crowds and shake their hands.

Thousands gathered in Dunfermline to see the royal couple and other VIPs including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – who was greeted by cheers and boos. But there was clapping and cries of ‘God Save the King’ when Charles, wearing a blue tartan kilt, arrived.

His Majesty and his wife are attending an official council meeting at the City Chambers where the King will formally mark the conferral of city status on Dunfermline and make a short speech. It is their first joint public engagements since royal mourning ended last Tuesday.

After the ceremony they will visit Dunfermline Abbey to mark its 950th anniversary, and will meet with representatives from Historic Scotland to learn about the history of the local area and conservation of the site. The Abbey is the burial place of Robert The Bruce and more of Scotland’s royalty.

Eight places have won city status as part of the late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Dunfermline’s bid for the status was based on its heritage and its historic status as an ancient seat of royal power, but also one of the fastest-growing towns in Europe.

The King and his wife will also host a reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on Monday to celebrate British South Asian communities.

They will meet with between 200 and 300 guests of British Indian, Pakistani, Bangladesh, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Bhutanese and Maldivian heritage from across the UK.

The event will recognise the contribution many from these communities have made to the National Health Service, arts, media, education, business and the Armed Forces.

Charles will also hold an investiture ceremony for a small group of local people, his first as King.

It came amid claims that King Charles III will not attend the Cop27 climate summit after being told to stay away by Liz Truss.

The monarch was reportedly planning to make a speech at the meeting of world leaders in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November.

But the Prime Minister, who will also not attend, objected to his plans during an audience at Buckingham Palace last month.

It comes amid growing suspicion that the Government is planning to water down or even abandon its target of ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050. The Palace said advice had been sought by the King and was given by Miss Truss. ‘With mutual friendship and respect there was agreement that the King would not attend,’ the Palace said.

But the decision is likely to have disappointed the King, who as Prince of Wales had a long history of campaigning to reduce the effects of climate change. As heir to the throne he also had a reputation for interfering in government business, most recently expressing his distaste for the Government’s plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda.

After the death of his mother, friends insisted he will not cool on the issue of global warming.

But as monarch he is obliged to remain politically neutral, and in his address to the nation after the Queen’s death, he acknowledged that ‘it will no longer be possible to give so much time to the… issues for which I care so deeply’.

Before his ascension to the throne last month, King Charles had indicated he would attend the 27th UN Climate Change Conference, known as Cop27, which will run from November 6 to 18.

A source told the Daily Mail there had never been any firm plans for the King to go, though he has attended previously, leading to speculation he would again this year. As all foreign visits are undertaken at the request of the British Government, advice was sought by the Palace.

The ‘unanimous’ decision, it has been suggested, is that with so many demands for the King to be deployed abroad, Cop27 would not be the ‘right occasion’ for his first overseas visit as sovereign.

Sources highlighted his address to the nation following his mother’s death, in which he stressed that he remains ‘ever mindful’ of his constitutional role in light of his change of circumstances.

As previously highlighted by the Mail, it is understood that the environment will remain central to his work as sovereign.

In 2015, he delivered the opening address at Cop21 in Paris, describing climate change as the greatest threat facing humanity.

In a hard-hitting speech the King echoed Winston Churchill by calling on ‘the few’ to take action to save the planet, urging world leaders to commit ‘trillions, not billions, of dollars’.

He also delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of Cop26 in Glasgow last year, calling on world leaders to adopt a ‘warlike footing’ to deal with climate change. Although he will not attend Cop27 in person, it is understood he is still determined to make his presence felt, leaving the door open for a virtual appearance.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood said in a tweet that he hoped the King would be allowed to go to Egypt, adding that he was a ‘globally respected voice’ on the environment whose attendance would add ‘serious authority’ to the British delegation.

While Boris Johnson became an enthusiastic advocate for net zero, Miss Truss is thought to be more sceptical of the green agenda.

A government source said: ‘The Palace and the Government considered separately, and then agreed jointly, that… he is not going to be attending Cop.’