London / Tunis - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron will hold a minute's silence on Friday, a week after a gun massacre at a Tunisian beach resort in which 30 out of the 38 victims were Britons.
Flags flew at half-mast as schools, government offices and the Wimbledon tennis tournament prepared to honour the victims of Britain's worst terror attack since the 2005 London suicide bombings at 11.00 GMT.
The nationwide moment of remembrance for the attack claimed by the Islamic State group comes a day after the government raised the possibility of carrying out air strikes against IS jihadists in Syria.
The queen and her husband Prince Philip will join the silence during a visit to Strathclyde University in Glasgow, while Cameron will mark the moment in his Witney constituency northwest of London.
A special ceremony is also due to be held at the scene of the killings in Sousse, where tourists were expected to attend.
Several mosques in Britain were also expected to join in the silence and many Muslims will mark the moment during Friday prayers, the BBC said.
At Wimbledon, the start of matches will be delayed by 45 minutes to 12.15pm (11.15 GMT) to allow spectators and tennis players to take part.
The bodies of 17 of the British victims have now been repatriated on a military transport plane to Royal Air Force base Brize Norton and two further flights were planned for later on Friday and on Saturday.
The grieving son of one of the victims being flown home, Sue Davey, expressed his anguish on Twitter.
“Finally ready to go meet my mom with my family and I cannot sleep thinking about it,” Conor Fulford wrote.
The remains will be released to the families following post-mortem examinations. Inquests into the deaths will be opened and then adjourned to a later date for an investigation into what happened.
Three Irish nationals, two Germans, one Belgian, one Portuguese and one Russian were also among the dead.
Tunisia on Thursday said eight people had been arrested in connection with the jihadist massacre in which 23-year-old student Seifeddine Rezgui gunned down foreign tourists after pulling a Kalashnikov assault rifle from a beach umbrella.
The attack also comes as Britain prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the July 7, 2005 attacks in which four suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport network.
AFP