Following the State Funeral, the coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in London for its onwards journey to Windsor…reports Asian Lite News
The State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II will take place at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19, at 11am local time, Buckingham Palace announced on Saturday.
Prior to the State Funeral, the late British monarch will lie-in-state at Westminster Hall nearby for four days, to allow the public to pay their respects.
“During the Lying-in-State, members of the public will have the opportunity to visit Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the Queen, the palace statement said.
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“On the morning of Monday 19th September, the Lying-in-State will end and the coffin will be taken in Procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, where the State Funeral Service will take place, it said.
Following the State Funeral, the coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in London for its onwards journey to Windsor.
In Windsor, the State Hearse will travel in procession to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, the monarch’s final resting place with her late husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years. She was 96.
On Sunday, the coffin will travel to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, a journey of six hours by road, via Aberdeen. Six of her Balmoral gamekeepers will carry the coffin from the Balmoral ballroom to the hearse.
It will remain in the throne room at Holyroodhouse until Monday afternoon, before a procession to St Giles’ Cathedral on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, with the King, Queen Consort and other members of the royal family walking behind. At 3pm there will be a service, attended by the King and family members, during which the crown of Scotland will be placed on the coffin.
The Queen will then lie at rest at St Giles’ Cathedral for 24 hours, enabling the people of Scotland to pay their last respects, with vigils mounted by the military. That evening, the King and members of the royal family will mount their own vigil.
The following evening the Queen’s coffin will be flown to London, accompanied by the Princess Royal, and arriving at Buckingham Palace at 8pm, the palace said. It will be received by a guard of honour, with the King, Queen Consort and other family members watching, before being carried to the Bow Room, where a rota of chaplains will keep watch.
In the early afternoon on Wednesday, the coffin – adorned with the Imperial State Crown, along with a wreath of flowers – will be taken by procession to the Palace of Westminster for the lying in state, where it will remain for four days until the morning of the funeral.
The King, members of the royal family and senior staff of the Queen and King’s households will walk in silence behind the coffin as it follows a route along Queen’s Gardens, the Mall, Horse Guards Parade and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard.
Throughout the procession, guns will be fired at Hyde Park by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and Big Ben will toll. The coffin will be carried in procession from the gun carriage to the catafalque positioned in the centre of Westminster Hall by a bearer party.
During the lying in state, a continuous vigil will be mounted around the catafalque from the Household Division, the King’s Body Guards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, the King’s Bodyguard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers and the King’s Bodyguard the Yeomen of the Guard.
The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, who has overall responsibility for the funeral, which the Queen herself would have approved, said he and others involved “will carry out our duty over the coming days with the heaviest of hearts”.
“But also, with the firmest of resolve to ensure a fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our times; a monarch whom we were truly privileged to have had as the head of state of our country and the realms, and head of the wider Commonwealth,” he said.
“While His Majesty the King was speaking about his family, I think it applies to us all when he said in his broadcast yesterday that ‘we owe her the most heartfelt debt’. I think we can, in some way, repay that debt by carrying out her last wishes in delivering Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral.”
On his visit to Scotland, the King will have an audience with the first minister, followed by an audience with the presiding officer of the Scottish parliament.
The King and the Queen Consort will then attend the Scottish parliament to receive a motion of condolence.
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