Lloyd's of London rings Lutine bell to welcome King Charles

LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyd's of London rang its Lutine bell on the underwriting floor of its City of London tower to mark the accession of King Charles at a ceremony on Thursday.

Commercial insurance market Lloyd's, which started life in Edward Lloyd's coffee house in 1688 and specialised originally in shipping, traditionally rang the bell once if an overdue ship was lost at sea, and twice if the ship returned.

The bell was rescued from the shipwrecked HMS Lutine in 1857, Lloyd's said on its website.

The ceremony began with a single ring of the bell to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth. Lloyd's also rang the bell once last Thursday to commemorate the queen.

The ceremony, which included bagpipe playing and a performance by the Lloyd's choir, ended with two rings of the bell to welcome King Charles, Lloyd's said.

"In recent years we have worked alongside His Majesty King Charles in support of his Sustainable Markets Initiative and look forward to continuing our close association with this important work to create a more sustainable world,” Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said in a statement.

Lloyd's and Charles launched an insurance task force last year to help the industry make the transition to a net zero economy.

Lloyd's said it would close all its offices around the world on Sept. 19 for the queen's funeral.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Toby Chopra)