LONDON (AP) — The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the final time Wednesday, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession by way of the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall. There, Britain’s longest-serving monarch will lie in state for the world to mourn.
Her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow.
The queen will lie in state for 4 days till her funeral Monday, with a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals anticipated to file previous. Eight pallbearers carried the oak and lead-lined coffin into Westminster Hall, inserting it on a raised platform often called a catafalque.
The army procession from Buckingham Palace was designed to underscore the queen’s seven a long time as head of state because the nationwide mourning course of shifted to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the U.Okay. capital.
Thousands who had waited for hours alongside The Mall exterior the palace and different areas alongside the route held up telephones and cameras, and a few wiped away tears, because the procession handed. Applause broke out because the coffin handed by way of Horse Guards Parade.
The coffin was draped in the Royal Standard and topped with the Imperial State Crown — encrusted with virtually 3,000 diamonds — and a bouquet of flowers and crops, together with pine from the Balmoral Estate, the place Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 on the age of 96.
Two officers and 32 troops from the first Battalion Grenadier Guards in crimson uniforms and bearskin hats walked on both facet of the gun carriage. The 38-minute procession ended at Westminster Hall, the place Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a service attended by Charles and different royals.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you,” Welby learn from the Book of John.
Thousands had queued up alongside the banks of the River Thames, ready their flip to enter the corridor and pay their respects.
The crowds are the newest manifestation of the nationwide outpouring of grief and respect for the one monarch most Britons have ever identified after her 70 years on the throne.
Joan Bucklehurst, a 50-year-old retail employee from Cheshire in northwestern England, stated the queen “meant so much for everybody.”
“She was amazing, yeah,” she added, choking up with emotion. “So, we had to be here. We’ve been here a few times when there have been special occasions, but this one, I couldn’t miss this.”
Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, of the Household division, who organized the ceremonial points of the queen’s funeral, stated it was “our last opportunity to do our duty for the queen, and it’s our first opportunity to do it for the king, and that makes us all very proud.”
Troops concerned in the procession have been making ready for the reason that queen died. So have the horses of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Sgt. Tom Jenks, from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, stated the horses had been specifically educated, together with the right way to deal with weeping mourners, in addition to flowers and flags being tossed in entrance of the procession.
Heathrow Airport briefly halted flights, saying it might “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.”
President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday with Charles to supply his condolences, the White House stated.
Biden recalled “the Queen’s kindness and hospitality” she hosted them and the primary woman at Windsor Castle in June, the assertion stated. “He also conveyed the great admiration of the American people for the Queen, whose dignity and constancy deepened the enduring friendship and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
Crowds have lined the route of the queen’s coffin at any time when it has been moved in its lengthy journey from Scotland to London.
On Tuesday night time, 1000’s braved a typical London drizzle because the hearse, with inside lights illuminating the casket, drove slowly from an air base to Buckingham Palace.
Earlier, in Edinburgh, some 33,000 individuals filed in silent respect previous her coffin because it lay for twenty-four hours at St. Giles’ Cathedral.
Hundreds of 1000’s are anticipated to go to the 900-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest constructing in Parliament, for 4 days earlier than her state funeral on Monday.
The corridor is the place Guy Fawkes and Charles I had been tried, the place kings and queens hosted magnificent medieval banquets, and the place ceremonial addresses had been offered to Queen Elizabeth II throughout her silver, golden and diamond jubilees.
Chris Bond, from Truro in southwest England, was amongst these lining up alongside the banks of the River Thames. He additionally attended the mendacity in state of the queen’s mom in 2002.
“Obviously, it’s quite difficult queuing all day long, but when you walk through those doors into Westminster Hall, that marvelous, historic building, there was a great sense of hush and one was told you take as much time as you like, and it’s just amazing,” he stated.
“We know the queen was a good age and she served the country a long time, but we hoped this day would never come,” he added.
Chris Imafidon secured the sixth place in the queue.
“I have 1,001 emotions when I see her,” he stated. “I want to say, God, she was an angel, because she touched many good people and did so many good things.”
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