UK flag tributes to Saudi King Abdullah criticised

The Prince of Wales and David Cameron have arrived in Saudi Arabia to pay their respects following the death of King Abdullah.

The Prime Minister is meeting the new King Salman and other members of the royal family during his visit to Riyadh, with other world leaders including French president Francois Hollande also travelling to the country.

The US delegation is led by vice president Joe Biden, but Barack Obama will cut short a visit to India to travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

ITV News correspondent Richard Morgan reports:

Former Conservative MP Louise Mensch expressed her frustration over the glowing eulogies given to former Saudi ruler King Abdullah with some very colourful language.

Writing on Twitter, she responded to the UK embassy with a succinct "F*** YOU". When told the decision to put flags at half mast came from Buckingham Palace, and therefore the Queen, she responded "F*** HER".

Read: Rights groups and MPs criticise eulogies to Saudi ruler

President Barack Obama will cut short his trip to India this week to travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with new King Salman and to pay respects after the death of King Abdullah, the White House said.

Obama is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Sunday where he will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attend the Republic Day parade.

The lowering of flags on public buildings as a mark of respect after the death of the Saudi King Abdullah has been condemned as "nonsense" by the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson.

Downing Street, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace were among landmarks to put Union Flags at half mast after a request from government officials.

They said it was a matter of protocol and that the formal request had been made by the Palace. But the move caused disquiet because of the human rights record of the country during King Abdullah's reign.

Former prime minister Sir John Major has said Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah will be remembered as a "peacemaker and reformer".

David Cameron will travel to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to "pay his condolences" to the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, Downing Street has confirmed.

The Prime Minister's trip coincides with a visit to the kingdom by the Prince of Wales, who will also be paying his condolences to the monarch.

Saudi Arabia's new King Salman has pledged continuity in energy and foreign policies and moved quickly to appoint younger men as his heirs.

He settled the succession for years to come by naming a deputy crown prince from his dynasty's next generation.

King Salman has appointed his youngest half-brother Muqrin, 69, as Crown Prince and nephew Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, as Deputy Crown Prince.

Mourners gathered around the grave of Saudi King Abdullah during his funeral, which was not over elaborate, in keeping with tradition.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah was carried in a simple white shroud to an unmarked grave during a funeral in a Riyadh cemetery where many of his commoner subjects rest, in keeping with tradition.

The Saudi state school of Wahhabi Sunni Islam holds ostentatious displays of grief or mourning to be sinful.

Read: Saudi Arabia's new king faces formidable challenges

There was no official mourning period in Saudi Arabia and flags around the kingdom all flew at full staff. Government offices, closed for the Middle East's normal Friday-Saturday weekend, will open as usual on Sunday.