The coffin of Elizabeth II, framed by soldiers in ceremonial dress, left Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, September 14 – the official residence of the Queen during her seventy-year reign – and joined the Palace of Westminster (Westminster Hall), where it will be exhibited for a final farewell with the British.
Laid on a Royal Horse Artillery gun carriage, the coffin was followed on foot by King Charles III in uniform and his sister Anne, brothers Andrew and Edward, and Princes William and Harry.
To the sound of funeral marches by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Chopin played by a military band, tens of thousands of people, often in tears, watched the procession pass for about forty minutes.
The coffin was covered with the royal standard, on which rested the imperial crown of pageantry set on a velvet cushion and a wreath of flowers, including roses and white dahlias and foliage from the royal estates of Balmoral and Windsor.
Escorted by grenadiers of the Royal Household Guard, the funeral procession was greeted by guards of honor along the route and accompanied by cannon shots, fired at one-minute intervals from Hyde Park, as well as the Big Ben bell.
Several kilometers of queue
Hundreds of thousands of Britons are preparing from Wednesday 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. Paris time) to march in London in front of the Queen’s coffin, until the Queen’s funeral, which will take place on September 19 at Westminster Abbey, in the presence of hundreds of dignitaries from around the world and many crowned heads. The global television audience is expected to number in the hundreds of millions of viewers.
Until then, the Palace of Westminster will be open to the public twenty hours a day. The queue should meander for several miles. Authorities have asked the public to “dress appropriately to pay homage” to Elizabeth II, who died Thursday at 96, and warned that the wait could last hours, even the whole night.
The public will only be able to bring inside a small bag. No food or drink other than a transparent, empty bottle of water will be accepted at security checks, which will be similar to those at airports. No cooler or folding chairs or sleeping bags, or animals, with the exception of dogs guiding the visually or hearing impaired.
The king and queen consort will travel to Wales on Friday for another session of condolences from local authorities, completing their tour of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales).