Queen Elizabeth II’s winding final journey from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch to Windsor Castle on Monday weighed heavily on the eight soldiers who bore her coffin — in part because it was lined with lead.
The tradition goes back centuries and began with a practical consideration: to help the bodies of deceased monarchs remain pristine, especially before modern preservation techniques.
Queen Elizabeth II buried after historic state funeral
As a material in coffins, “lead helps keep out moisture and preserve the body for longer and prevent smells and toxins from a dead body escaping,” said Julie Anne Taddeo, a research professor of history at the University of Maryland. “Her coffin was on display for many days and made a long journey to its final resting place.”
Taddeo noted that the added weight created the need for eight pallbearers rather than the usual six.
Soldiers carry the coffins of deceased British monarchs, following an incident in 1901 when horses pulling Queen Victoria’s catafalque were spooked and her coffin nearly spilled into the street. Winston Churchill, who received the last state funeral in Britain before Elizabeth’s on Monday, also had a lead-lined coffin. It was so heavy that it slid off some of the pallbearers’ shoulders when they had to pause on some steps, one of the pallbearers, Lincoln Perkins, told the BBC. When it fell to the two “pushers” at the back to keep the coffin from falling, Perkins said, he uttered aloud to the corpse, “Don’t worry, sir, we’ll look after you.”
Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin traveled from Westminster Hall to Wellington Arch and to her final resting place, Windsor Castle, for her state funeral on Sept. 19. (Video: Alexa Juliana Ard/The Washington Post)
“You could actually feel him sliding off the shoulders,” Perkins said. “If we had have dropped him … I don’t know what it would have been, very embarrassing, but we didn’t.”
Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned over the U.K. for 70 years, dies at 96
Elizabeth’s coffin was entombed Monday evening in a vault in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, part of the St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. She rests near her parents, sister and Prince Philip, her husband, who died last year.
The preservation measures are reminiscent of those used for ancient high-ranking Egyptians, who were also placed in chambers rather than buried in the ground and whose bodies were immaculately preserved. And while ancient wealthy Egyptians were often buried with caches of jewels, sculptures and other belongings, Taddeo said, the queen was reported to have been buried with just her wedding band, made of Welsh gold, and a pair of pearl earrings.
Such austerity would mean that Elizabeth, who was known to embrace frugality and plainness, was buried with fewer belongings than some of her predecessors; Queen Victoria was buried with her husband’s dressing gown and a cast of his hand, and a lock of hair and a photograph of her favorite servant, with whom she was rumored to have had a romantic relationship, Taddeo said. Elizabeth’s orb, scepter and crown — made of nearly 3,000 diamonds and dozens of other jewels — were taken from the top of her coffin and placed on an altar at her burial.
Epic queue for Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin had more than 250,000 people
Using lead in coffins is “a long-lived royal tradition,” said Mike Parker Pearson, a professor at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology. He said the embalmed corpse of King Edward I, who died in 1307, was “found in 1774 to be well preserved in his marble sarcophagus” in Westminster Abbey. Pearson added that the practice of using lead was probably adopted around the time of Edward’s death or in the century following it.
Earlier kings were not embalmed, he said. The corpse of William the Conqueror, who died in 1087, was apparently so badly decayed that his bloated abdomen exploded when priests tried to stuff his body into “a stone coffin that proved too small for his bulk,” Pearson said. “Mourners supposedly ran for the door to escape the putrid stench.”
William’s “swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the by-standers and the whole crowd,” according to Orderic Vitalis, a Benedictine monk who chronicled Anglo-Norman England.
Spectators positioned along London’s Horse Guards Parade watch live coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on a phone. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
LONDON — There have been royal blockbusters before, but never a show quite like this.
Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral was an intricately staged farewell production that had it all: elaborate costumes, bagpipes and tolling bells, soldiers on horseback, cannons and castles.
The streets along the procession routes were jammed with crowds, but the far bigger audience was watching on TV around the world.
Many analysts said the funeral could turn out to be the most watched single TV event in history, with a large portion of the 7.7 billion people around the globe catching at least some of it.
Those who have been planning this for decades clearly had that audience in mind.
An estimated 650 million people watched the first moon landing in 1969, a record at that time. More than 2 billion are believed to have watched Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, but improved cellphones and internet have made it vastly easier to watch a big event today.
Giant screens were set up in outdoor squares in cities across the country. More than 100 movie theaters and churches showed big-screen broadcasts of the BBC’s coverage. The Royal Shakespeare Company screened the funeral at its theater at Stratford-upon-Avon in central England.
Since covid, many churches are set up for Zoom funerals. On Monday, many people sat in pews at Holy Trinity in London’s Sloane Square, watching with the smell of incense filling the morning air.
Pubs and restaurants that ordinarily don’t have a TV got one for the funeral. At Motcombs, a Mediterranean restaurant not far from Buckingham Palace, people drank coffee or champagne as they watched.
“We thought some people might not be able to handle the crowds and need a place to watch, ” said Ken Anderson, who said his son was the owner.
When police no longer allowed any more people into London’s Hyde Park, several thousand just stood in an empty street near Harrods department store listening to hymns blasting over the loudspeaker.
“I will never see the likes of this again,” said Jillian Martin, an educator from Northern Ireland.
British officials are betting that the enormous effort to give the queen a proper send-off, the cost of which is still unknown, will return far more in tourism revenue.
Japanese broadcaster NHK carried the funeral live, with simultaneous interpretation, and the funeral was the third top trending term on Japanese Twitter.
In Hong Kong, hundreds of people watched the funeral on their phones and tablets, laid flowers and waved the Union Jack flag outside the British Consulate. Hong Kong was a British colony for a century and a half until the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
In Sydney, Graham Cousens, 56, was out with friends but said he had set his television at home to record the funeral.
“It’s such a momentous moment,” he said. “Not that I personally feel that much, but I can see what it means to the English.”
Even Google turned its logo black in the U.K. on Monday in honor of the queen.
Not everyone in central London was pleased with the massive security presence, the locked-down Tube stations and blocked streets.
“I can think of better things to spend all this money on. Sure, it’s great for tourism and the flower-sellers, but I’m not sure the queen would be into this extravaganza,” said Lily Haverford, 42, a teacher.
“It’s pretty as a picture, but, in the end, what does it really mean?” she said.
Many people interviewed around the world said it was a spectacle worth staging.
To prepare the backdrop, London landmarks were scrubbed. New rolls of sod were laid near Wellington Arch, where the coffin was transferred to a hearse for the 25-mile trip to the queen’s final resting place in Windsor.
Even that hearse was made-for-TV, with huge windows and internal lighting designed to give people the best possible view of Her Majesty’s coffin — but more importantly, to make it “pop” on television.
“It has to look good for TV,” said one busy gardener picking “dead bits” out of flower beds near Buckingham Palace ahead of the funeral.
The music was powerful, with military bands, bagpipers and drummers accompanying the queen’s coffin.
The players were perfectly costumed. Grenadier Guards wore bright red tunics and their famous bearskin hats, others were draped in ceremonial swan feathers. Beefeaters in their distinctive ruffled collars. King Charles III and Prince William, now first in line to the throne, in crisp military uniforms heavy with medals.
Photos: Inside the factory that makes the royal uniforms
In Bermuda, Kim Day, an expat who is involved in community theater and watched the funeral at a theater that showed it live, said Britain put on a “perfect show.”
Live events are nerve-racking to pull off, said Jon Reynaga, a British film and TV producer.
But he said having the military involved, the government planning for years and the royal family behind it all, is unique.
“They talked today for hours about orbs, scepters, symbolism — and people love it,” he said.
Along the London procession route, lined with huge British flags, for one day it seemed like everyone was an extra on a movie set.
Mourners in the streets locked arms and bowed their heads in a moment of silence. Some wore royal-themed costumes.
Many tossed flowers, such a rain of them that the royal hearse driver had to sweep them away with the windshield wipers.
“We take great pride in doing things properly,” said Jess Fox, 24, from York, England, who left her home at 4:45 a.m. to get to London. “The British feel very pleased and proud to look the part.”
People outside Westminster Abbey observed two minutes of silence to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 19. (Video: The Washington Post)
The funeral was the perfect bookend production to the queen’s seven-decade reign, which opened with the first televised coronation in history and ended with the most-watched royal event ever.
Many Britons bought TVs for the 1953 coronation, and then dressed up in ties and dresses to watch.
A BBC planning document, stored at the National Archives, showed that the network understood, even then, that it was broadcasting for the planet, not for just the British.
“The whole of the technical resources of the B.B.C. will be deployed in covering the Coronation for the world from dawn till after midnight on 2nd June,” it said.
There have been other blockbuster shows in the royal catalogue, mainly featuring Princess Diana in the starring or supporting role. The glamorous princess with the electric smile basically brought the royal family into a brightly lit new world — the way color TV pushed aside black and white.
First was Diana’s 1981 “wedding of the century” to then-Prince Charles, then her funeral 16 years later, then the weddings of her celebrity sons, William and the elegant Catherine, then Harry and Meghan — fittingly, finally, an actual actress as royal co-star.
Speaking with a Washington Post reporter in 1994 at a dinner in Washington, Diana was asked how it felt to walk down the aisle with the eyes of the world upon her in her fairy tale dress.
“Oh God,” she said. “My dress was so wrinkled; all I could think was, ‘I need an iron.’ ”
And of course, the royal family has also been the subject of an actual television sensation, “The Crown,” which has blurred the lines between fact, fiction and fandom.
The Post’s Jennifer Hassan analyzes how Netflix’s “The Crown” depicted Queen Elizabeth II through her decades-long reign. (Video: Allie Caren/The Washington Post)
Here are ‘The Crown’ episodes to watch to learn more about the queen
Monday was about Elizabeth and staging the final show of her historic reign. British TV networks carried the events all day without commercial breaks.
The BBC has taken some heat from critics who believe the state-funded network has overdone the coverage.
“It was sad when she first died,” said Brendan Hoffman, 50, as he sat in a bar in Sydney. “But this,” he said, gesturing to a large television showing the queen’s hearse on its way to Windsor Castle, was “mourn porn.”
The funeral was planned with the kind of precision that would cheer a Broadway stage manager. The official schedule had the queen’s coffin moving to Westminster Abbey at 10:44 a.m. Not 10:40, not 10:45.
William Shawcross, a royal biographer, said planners would have worked out precisely how long the gun carriage would take to make the journey, rehearsing and measuring out every step of the 140 or so Royal Navy officers bearing it, down to the second.
Late Monday afternoon in Windsor, after a service in St. George’s Chapel, the Lord Chamberlain broke his ceremonial wooden Wand of Office and placed it atop the queen’s casket, symbolizing the end of her reign.
As the Sovereign’s Piper played a lament, her coffin disappeared from view as it was lowered into the Royal Vault.
And the curtain fell.
Michael E. Miller in Sydney, Amanda Coletta in Bermuda, Julia Mio Inuma in Tokyo and Karina Tsui in Washington contributed to this report.
Nation in grief, family in crisis: Queen Elizabeth’s funeral
People from around the world lined up for a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth’s casket as it was brought through the streets of London.
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
NEW DELHI — Jennifer Cooke was in middle school when her choir sang for Queen Elizabeth II during the monarch’s first visit to India in 1961.
“She came in a carriage. We had to stand in a straight line and couldn’t turn our eyes,” said Cooke, who performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in what was then Calcutta, the onetime capital of British India. “I don’t remember much else, but she read from the Bible.”
The 70-year-old retiree spent Monday in front of a television in the New Delhi retirement home where she now lives, watching with a touch of wistfulness as the queen was transported a final time during a traditions-laden funeral and procession.
In Mumbai, Sarvar Irani watched the ceremony furtively on her smartphone during her workday as a mall administrative officer. At home she has dozens of rare books, stamps and other memorabilia, collected over decades, highlighting Elizabeth and Princess Diana.
“Something about [the queen’s] eyes and her smile told me she must be a kind and nice person,” said Irani, 61. “That sparkle is gone forever now.”
But most Indians, particularly young people, felt little nostalgia. The queen’s death has sparked a complicated conversation here over colonial legacy, and so even as world leaders and heads of state gathered in London for the service, there was no profuse expression of sorrow in the country that once was a crucial corner of the British realm. Unlike many of his counterparts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed home.
Mumbai activist Yash Marwah, 27, called the funeral not a “big deal” and didn’t watch it. His first thought on hearing of the queen’s death on Sept. 8 was that it would overshadow more important events.
“I thought of all the news that won’t make it to the news,” he said.
In former British colonies, ghosts of past haunt mourning for queen
Though India attained independence before Elizabeth was crowned queen, many people feel she could have at least apologized for the violence and plunder that marked British rule in the subcontinent and led to the partition of India and Pakistan.
“There is a need and demand for an apology,” said historian Jyoti Atwal, who teaches at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The closest the queen came to that was in her third and last trip to India in 1997. Before a visit to Jallianwala Bagh, a site in the north where British troops in 1919 had fired on a gathering of unarmed Indian protesters and killed hundreds, the queen obliquely acknowledged the bloody past.
“It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past,” she said. “Jallianwala Bagh, which I shall visit tomorrow, is a distressing example.”
Yet she went no further, saying “history cannot be rewritten, however much we might sometimes wish otherwise. It has its moments of sadness, as well as gladness. We must learn from the sadness and build on the gladness.”
In Britain’s oldest overseas territory, a farewell toast to Her Majesty
Atwal said the queen played an important role in outreach to former colonies and that the new king must decide what to do next. “She laid the foundation for this kind of renegotiation and recasting the role between the crown and colonies,” she said. “This is the changed scenario in which Charles has to function.”
On social media, memes and posts have demanded a return of the Kohinoor, a 105.6-carat diamond originally from India that adorns the queen’s crown. “Reminder that Queen Elizabeth is not a remnant of colonial times,” one tweet noted. “She was an active participant in colonialism.”
And just last week, Modi renamed a stretch of road in the heart of Delhi that had been called Kingsway or Rajpath. He described it as a “symbol of slavery.”
“Today, we are filling the picture of tomorrow with new colours, leaving behind the past,” he said.
Queen’s coffin on way to final resting place in Windsor
Monarchs and leaders gather in London for state funeral
Thousands line streets for display of pomp and pageantry
Queen Elizabeth was widely revered in Britain and beyond
Death comes as Britain faces risk of economic crisis
LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people lined the route taking the late Queen Elizabeth to her final resting place at Windsor Castle on Monday, throwing flowers towards the hearse and cheering as it departed the British capital following her state funeral.
Many thousands more crammed into central London to witness a ceremony of matchless pageantry attended by leaders and royalty from across the world, a fitting end for Britain’s longest-serving monarch who won global respect during 70 years on the throne.
After the service, her flag-draped casket was pulled through silent streets on a gun carriage in one of the largest military processions seen in Britain involving thousands of members of the armed forces dressed in ceremonial finery.
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They walked in step to funeral music from marching bands, while in the background the city’s famous Big Ben tolled each minute. King Charles and other senior royals followed on foot.
The casket was taken from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, where it was transferred to a hearse to begin its journey to Windsor. There the queen was to be laid to rest alongside her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip.
Inside the majestic Westminster Abbey where the funeral was held, music played at the queen’s wedding in 1947 and her coronation six years later again rang out.
The coffin entered to lines of scripture set to a score used at every state funeral since the early 18th century.
The 2,000-strong congregation included some 500 presidents, prime ministers, foreign royal families and dignitaries including Joe Biden of the United States and leaders from France, Canada, Australia, China, Pakistan and the Cook Islands.
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told the congregation that the grief felt by so many across Britain and the wider world reflected the late monarch’s “abundant life and loving service.”
“Her late majesty famously declared on a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and Commonwealth,” he said.
“Rarely has such a promise been so well kept. Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen.”
Among the crowds who came from around Britain and beyond, people climbed lampposts and stood on barriers and ladders to catch a glimpse of the royal procession.
Some wore smart black suits and dresses. Others were dressed in hoodies, leggings and tracksuits. A woman with dyed green hair stood next to a man in morning suit as they waited for the procession to begin.
Millions more watched on television at home on a public holiday declared for the occasion, the first time the funeral of a British monarch has been televised. Around the wider capital, normally bustling streets were deserted.
Ben Vega, 47, a nurse from the Philippines standing at the back of the crowd on a stool, said he was a royalist.
“I love pageantry. I love how the British do this,” he said. “I’m from the Philippines, we don’t have this, we don’t have royal families. It’s a sad day for me. I’ve been here 20 years. I saw the queen as my second mum, England as my second home.”
‘INVINCIBLE’
Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle, her summer home in the Scottish highlands.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: The Queen’s funeral cortege borne on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy travels along The Mall on September 19, 2022 in London, England. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born in Bruton Street, Mayfair, London on 21 April 1926. She married Prince Philip in 1947 and ascended the throne of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth on 6 February 1952 after the death of her Father, King George VI. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III. Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS
Her health had been in decline, and for months the monarch who had carried out hundreds of official engagements well into her 90s had withdrawn from public life.
However, in line with her sense of duty she was photographed just two days before she died, looking frail but smiling and holding a walking stick as she appointed Liz Truss as her 15th and final prime minister.
Such was her longevity and her inextricable link with Britain that even her own family found her passing a shock.
“We all thought she was invincible,” Prince William told well-wishers.
The 40th sovereign in a line that traces its lineage back to 1066, Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952 and became Britain’s first post-imperial monarch.
She oversaw her nation trying to carve out a new place in the world, and she was instrumental in the emergence of the Commonwealth of Nations, now a grouping comprising 56 countries.
When she succeeded her father George VI, Winston Churchill was her first prime minister and Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union. She met major figures from politics to entertainment and sport including Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Pele and Roger Federer.
Despite being reputedly 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, she dominated rooms with her presence and became a towering global figure, praised in death from Paris and Washington to Moscow and Beijing. National mourning was observed in Brazil, Jordan and Cuba, countries with which she had little direct link.
“People of loving service are rare in any walk of life,” Welby said during the funeral. “Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.”
The tenor bell of the Abbey – the site of coronations, weddings and burials of English and then British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years – tolled 96 times.
Among the hymns chosen for the service were “The Lord’s my Shepherd”, sung at the wedding of the queen and her husband Prince Philip in the Abbey in 1947. Among the royal family following the casket into the Abbey was the queen’s great-grandson and future king, Prince George, aged nine.
In addition to dignitaries, the congregation included those awarded Britain’s highest military and civilian medals for gallantry, representatives from charities supported by the queen and those who made “extraordinary contributions” to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards the end of the service, the church and much of the nation fell silent for two minutes. Trumpets rang out before the congregation sang “God Save the King”. Outside, crowds joined in and broke into applause when the anthem was over.
The queen’s piper brought the service to an end with a lament that faded to silence.
Afterwards, the coffin made its way through central London, past the queen’s Buckingham Palace home to the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, with the monarch and the royal family following on foot during the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) procession.
From there, it was placed on a hearse to Windsor Castle, west of London, for a service at St. George’s Chapel. This will conclude with the crown, orb and sceptre – symbols of the monarch’s power and governance – being removed from the coffin and placed on the altar.
The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the royal household, will break his ‘Wand of Office’, signifying the end of his service to the sovereign, and place it on the casket.
It will then be lowered into the royal vault.
Later in the evening, in a private family service, the coffin of Elizabeth and her husband of more than seven decades, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will be buried together at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, where her parents and sister, Princess Margaret, also rest.
“We’re so happy you’re back with Grandpa. Goodbye dear grannie, it has been the honour of our lives to have been your granddaughters and we’re so very proud of you,” grandchildren Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie said.
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Additional reporting by by William James, Kylie MacLellan, Estelle Shirbon, Andrew MacAskill, Paul Sandle, Alistair Smout, Muvija M, Sachin Ravikumar, Farouq Suleiman, Angus MacSwan, Richa Naidu, Peter Hobson, Julia Payne, Natalie Grover, Lindsay Dunsmuir, Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Janet Lawrence
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Britain is bidding farewell to Queen Elizabeth II with a majestic funeral steeped in tradition and a send-off reflective of the broad popularity she managed to retain over her remarkable seven-decade reign.
Thousands of people have flocked to Westminster Abbey and streets along the 25-mile (40-kilometer) procession route from central London to Windsor, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sovereign’s flag-draped coffin as it travels by hearse to her final resting place in St. George’s Chapel, within the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Though the death of Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, had been anticipated and carefully planned for for years – funeral arrangements, codenamed “Operation London Bridge,” were long the subject of speculation – the magnitude of this moment of mourning and the public outpouring of emotion has still caught many off guard. Even for those who are not fans of the royal family, her death marks the end of an era, a shift in the national landscape.
At 96, the Queen had become an almost mythical symbol of stability amid constant change. Her 70-year rule was bookended by war and pandemic, punctuated by uncertainty about Britain’s role on the world stage. She came to power as the sun had started to set on the British Empire, and her death has renewed a conversation about the country’s dark colonial past. It comes at a time of great political and economic upheaval, not only in the United Kingdom, but across the globe.
Presidents, prime ministers, princes, an emperor and empress, and other public figures sat side-by-side in pews at Westminster Abbey to pay their last respects – a testament to her far-reaching appeal and deft diplomacy. More than 200 foreign dignitaries were invited, including US President Joe Biden and Commonwealth leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Many traded limos for buses to arrive at the funeral, just one part of a plan that amounts to the single biggest security operation that British authorities have seen since World War II.
From humanitarian groups, to women’s rights and animal welfare, the Queen was patron of hundreds of charities. Representatives of those patronages, along with emergency service workers and public servants, are also among the 2,000-strong congregation.
The funeral, which serves as both a state and religious service and marks the culmination of 10 days of mourning, honors the Queen with the sort of pageantry that she used to promote the royal family and “brand Britain” throughout her life.
The service takes place in the same abbey nave where, 69 years ago, the Queen was crowned and where, 75 years ago, she was married to her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died last year. A sovereign who knew the soft power of spectacle, her coronation was, at her request, broadcast for the first time on television, bringing the splendor of the monarchy to millions around the world. On Monday, all eyes are on her once again.
Head of state of 15 countries in the Commonwealth realm, including the UK, and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, her appeal as a figurehead lay in her extreme sense of duty, diligent work ethic, and an ability to appear neutral yet personable. Admiration for the Queen has staved off a major reckoning of the crown’s brutal legacy in former colonies – including its historic links with the slave trade – but that already appears to be changing as some Commonwealth countries look to break away.
Last week, Antigua and Barbuda announced plans to hold a referendum on whether to become a republic, and last November, Barbados became the first realm in nearly 30 years to remove the British monarch as head of state.
Many of the Queen’s subjects felt as though they knew her – the woman whose image is on coins and postage stamps, who surveys say appears most frequently in people’s dreams.
“She isn’t just a 21st century monarch, she’s something more,” Chris Rowe, 60, who was camped out on a grassy bank of The Mall to watch the funeral procession with his wife, told CNN. The Queen represents the “continuity of a hundreds-years-old tradition,” he said, adding that he came to London to see “the continuity of the nation.”
While there were no screens, mourners on The Mall were able to hear a radio broadcast of the funeral. People stood still, their gazes lowered.
Over the past four days, an almost familial sense of loss was palpable among mourners in a queue that snaked from Westminster Hall, where the monarch’s body lay in state, for miles along the south bank of the River Thames. In quintessentially British fashion, thousands lined up to say goodbye to the Queen, waiting up to 20 hours to file past her coffin.
Queen Elizabeth’s children, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward, on Friday entered the cavernous chamber, heads bowed, joining guards to hold silent watch over the velvet catafalque bearing her coffin, adorned with the sovereign’s jewel-encrusted crown, orb and sceptre. A day later, Prince William and Prince Harry, dressed in military uniform, held their own sombre vigil, standing alongside the Queen’s six other grandchildren.
On Monday morning, the King and other members of the royal family followed the coffin as it was conveyed from Westminster Hall, on her final journey to the abbey. It was carriedon the same gun carriage used for the funeral of the Queen’s father, King George VI, and Winston Churchill, the first of 15 British prime ministers who served under her.
Small details like the wreath of flowers atop her coffin provided a view into the Queen’s personal taste. Made from flowers and foliage cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace and other royal estates, it included pink and gold pelargoniums, garden roses and dahlias, with myrtle cut from a plant grown from a sprig that featured in the Queen’s wedding bouquet.
Westminster Abbey’s Tenor Bell tolled throughout the procession, sounding out once a minute for 96 minutes before the service, marking each year of the Queen’s life.
As the coffin moved inside, the Queen’s great-grandchildren Prince George and Princess Charlotte formed part of the procession behind her coffin. The Choir of Westminster Abbey in the Nave sang the Sentences – lines of scripture set to music which have been used at every state funeral since the early part of the 18th century.
It is the sort of traditional, classical music that the Queen championed in life. Hymns chosen are “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord” and “The Lord is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want,” which was sung at her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947, and the anthem “O Taste and see how gracious the Lord is,” which was composed for the Queen’s coronation in 1953 by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
A choral piece was also especially commissioned for the day, composed by the master of the king’s music, Judith Weir, “Like as the hart.” It is said to be inspired by the Queen’s “unwavering Christian faith,” and is a setting of Psalm 42 to music.
Rev. David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster, is conducting the service. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, who the Queen appointed just two days before her death, and Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland read lessons and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, delivered a sermon.
The hour-long service will conclude with a two-minute silence, after which the congregation will sing the national anthem, “God Save the King.” The Queen’s piper, who roused her every morning, will play a fitting lament, “Sleep dearie, sleep,” to close the proceedings.
The day’s events are a display of centuries-old rituals – a royal cavalcade flanked by guards in braided uniforms, kilted bagpipers and drummers, streets lined with soldiers saluting as the coffin passes. Minute guns will be fired in Hyde Park and Big Ben will toll throughout the procession to Wellington Arch, where the coffin will be lifted into a hearse and transported to Windsor.
In a committal service Monday afternoon, attended by members of the royal family and the Queen’s household staff past and present, her coffin will be lowered into a royal vault in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Later in the evening, in a private burial, she will be reunited with her husband of 73 years, “her constant strength and guide,” the Duke of Edinburgh. The couple will be interred together in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, an annex of St. George’s Chapel that also houses the remains of the Queen’s father, her mother the Queen Mother, and her sister Princess Margaret.
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The funeral will bring to an end 11 days of national mourning across the United Kingdom
Queen Elizabeth’s hour-long state funeral, the first in Britain since the death of her first prime minister Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place today at Westminster Abbey in London.
Here are the top points in this big story:
The funeral will bring to an end 11 days of national mourning across the United Kingdom that has seen the personal sorrow of the royal family play out in the glare of intense international attention.
World leaders will join Britain’s royal family, its political elite and members of the military, judiciary and charitable organisations at the state funeral.
The funeral will be shown by around 125 cinemas across Britain, while parks, squares and cathedrals will also set up viewing screens for the huge ceremonial event, the government said on Saturday.
At the funeral, the Queen’s coffin will be carried on the same gun carriage used for her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria’s funeral. The spectacular ceremony at Westminster Abbey – expected to be watched by billions around the globe – will see 142 sailors pulling the gun-carriage bearing her lead-lined coffin.
The route will be lined by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The procession will pass by Parliament Square where members of the navy, army and air force will form a Guard of Honour, accompanied by a band of the Royal Marines.
The procession will be led by Scottish and Irish regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas and the Royal Air Force numbering 200 musicians. The coffin will be followed by King Charles and members of the royal family.
The influx of dignitaries – along with that of hundreds of thousands of mourners from across Britain and around the world – poses an extraordinary challenge for Britain’s police. More than 2,000 officers have been drafted from across the country to help Scotland Yard.
While the leaders of the European Union, France, Japan, India and many other countries will attend, those of Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria and North Korea were not invited.
After the televised service, the Queen’s coffin will be transferred by royal hearse to Windsor Castle, west of London, for a committal service. That will be followed by a family-only burial in which the queen will be laid to rest alongside her late husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister.
Queen Elizabeth reigned for 70 years and 214 days – the first British sovereign to celebrate a platinum jubilee. She died aged 96.
Image Credit: Andrew Matthews/WPA Pool/Shutterstock
A new portrait of Queen Elizabeth‘s has been released one day before her state funeral — and the 96-year-old paid a loving tribute to her late father King George VI. She wore a set of stunning aquamarine and diamond brooches gifted on her 18th birthday in April 1944 by her father in the image, shared by Buckingham Palace on Sunday, Sept. 18. The longest reigning monarch in British history sported her signature smile in the image, which was taken in May 2022 just after her 96th birthday at Windsor Castle. The image was taken to commemorate her Platinum Jubilee.
“Ahead of Her Majesty The Queen’s Funeral, a new photograph has been released,” a caption by the official Royal Family Instagram account read. “It was taken this year to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, as she became the first British Monarch to reach this milestone. Tomorrow, millions will come together to commemorate her remarkable life.”
Queen Elizabeth is seen earlier this year in a yellow ensemble. (Andrew Matthews/WPA Pool/Shutterstock)
The duo of brooches are in an art deco design, and the creation of French luxury jeweler Boucheron. The exquisite pieces include stones cut in round, oval and baguette shapes, reflecting light in a unique way. She was seen wearing the sentimental accessories many times over the years, including for a series of another set of images released in Feb. 2022 to mark her 70 years on the throne. Her father — who was affectionally called Bertie by his family and close friends — passed away at the age of 56 in Feb. 1952.
She wore a powder blue dress in the exquisite photo, complimenting the aquamarine shade in the brooches. The Queen finished her ensemble with two of her favorite pieces of jewelry: a three-strand pearl necklace worn regularly by the royal, as well as a set of pearl earrings.
Both are also highly sentimental to her: the necklace was a gift from her late grandfather King George V to mark his Silver Jubilee in 1935 when she was just nine years old, per The Queen’s Jewels by author Leslie Field. The insightful book also notes she has two styles nearly identical: one she had commissioned from graduated family pearls and another gifted for her 1953 coronation with a diamond clasp from the Emir of Qatar.
Queen Elizabeth also appeared to be wearing her diamond and pearl drop earrings, which she wore for her own Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Both the necklace and earrings have made appearances in recent days as Kate Middleton wore both in tribute to her late grandmother-in-law. The newly named Princess of Wales, 40, was photographed wearing the pieces during a reception for the governors-general of the Commonwealth nations at Buckingham Palace on Saturday, Sept. 17.
Queen Elizabeth passed away at the age of 96 on Thursday, September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland — just two days after she appointed newly elected Prime Minister Liz Truss. The United Kingdom and Commonwealth entered a 10 day period of mourning immediately after, which included vigils held by her children and grandchildren, as well as four days “lying in state” for the public to line up and pay respects. She will be honored with a formal state funeral on Monday, Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey.
A sign directs people to the queue for Westminster Hall on Wednesday.
(Matthew Chattle/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Britain’s capital city expects hundreds of thousands of people to visit Queen Elizabeth II as she lies in state in Westminster Hall ahead her funeral on Monday, the mayor of London Sadiq Khan told CNN, adding that the situation was “unprecedented.”
“We expect to see over the course of the next few days hundreds of thousands of people personally pay their respects to her majesty the Queen, but also we expect to see prime ministers, presidents, members of the royal family, and others from across the globe,” he continued.
“The really reassuring thing is our King, King Charles III, had the best possible mentor, and the best possible apprenticeship and that’s why I’m so confident he will be a wonderful king,” he added.
As world leaders and their teams arrive in London for the Queen’s funeral, Khan said the city has never before seen such crowd and this presence.
“In just a couple of days, we will have almost 300 world leaders and their teams and entourages coming to London. I don’t think our city’s ever seen the sort of presence we’re going to see over the next few days,” Khan told Sky News.
The number of mourners far exceeds the scale of other events, such as the London Olympics and other Royal events, he said, suggesting that the crowds for the Queen’s passing are larger than all those events combined.
“If you think about the London marathon, the carnival, previous royal weddings, the Olympics – it’s all that, in one,” Khan said.
“This is a massive operation and we’re working really hard together to make sure that we can do her, we can do King Charles, we can do the Royal Family, our city, our nation, and the Commonwealth, what it deserves,” the London mayor added.
On Monday, Anne, 72, dressed in the ceremonial uniform of a Navy admiral, walked alongside Charles. File
London:
Queen Elizabeth II’s steely only daughter Princess Anne rarely lets her emotions show but the grief has been etched on her face since her mother’s death.
With her elder brother King Charles III called to London, it was left to the queen’s second child to accompany the cortege through Scotland from Balmoral on Sunday.
Dressed in mourning black, she curtseyed as eight kilted soldiers carried the heavy lead-lined casket into the monarch’s official Scottish residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh.
Her sister-in-law Sophie, who is married to her younger brother Prince Edward, was seen placing a comforting hand on her back afterwards.
On Monday, Anne, 72, dressed in the ceremonial uniform of a Royal Navy admiral, walked alongside Charles, Edward and their brother Andrew as the coffin was borne from Holyroodhouse to St Giles’ Cathedral.
She will also accompany the queen’s coffin on the flight back to London from Edinburgh on Tuesday.
Anne’s role may now change depending on whether Charles pursues a slimmed-down monarchy. But he may find his closest sibling a rock of support as he adjusts to his new role.
Learning the hard way
Anne has earned a reputation as the hardest-working royal, squeezing in a career as an Olympic horse rider alongside a lifetime of public engagements.
Cast much in the same plain-speaking mould as her late father Prince Philip, Anne is reported to have once described herself as “not everyone’s idea of a fairy-tale princess”.
“You learn the hard way,” she said. “There isn’t a school for royalty.”
She never sought to please the press, saying she did not “do stunts” and once told photographers to “naff off”.
Anne has carved her own path through the old-world royalty of her parents and embraced more modern ways for her own children.
She has also won respect for her work to support hundreds of charities and organisations.
In 1974, she was the target of a kidnap attempt when her car was ambushed. Two police officers, her chauffeur and a passer-by were shot and wounded.
An account released by the National Archives said assailant Ian Ball pointed his gun at Anne and said: “I want you to come with me for a day or two, because I want 2 million pounds.
“Will you get out of the car?”
The princess replied curtly: “Not bloody likely — and I haven’t got 2 million pounds.”
Anne stuck to a mixture of classic chic and casual, keeping her voluminous, up-do hairstyle throughout her adult life.
She adopted a business-like demeanour that sometimes meant she came across as frosty, and resulted in her sharp, dry sense of humour often being mistaken.
Gifted horse rider
Born on August 15, 1950, Anne was taught at Buckingham Palace before beginning boarding school in 1963.
She inherited her mother’s passion for horses and the young princess became a skilled equestrian.
Anne won the 1971 European Eventing Championship and the British public voted her that year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
“I certainly saw it as a way of proving that you had something that was not dependent on your family and it was down to you to succeed or fail,” she said of her horse riding career.
She married equestrian Mark Phillips in 1972. The wedding was an international event watched by an estimated 500 million people.
Anne represented Britain at the Montreal 1976 Olympics, returning without a medal after a particularly nasty fall — memorable for TV viewers, though not for her.
Concussed, she remounted her horse but had no recollection of competing at all.
She became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1988 and was on the organising committee for the London 2012 Games.
Anne and her army officer first husband had two children — sports events managing director Peter and equestrian Zara.
Breaking with tradition, the couple decided Phillips should not accept a title so their children would be free to determine their own lives.
Zara, who married former England rugby captain Mike Tindall, would follow her parents to the Olympics, winning silver in the team eventing at London 2012.
Divorce and remarriage
Anne was granted the title of Princess Royal, traditionally given to the monarch’s eldest daughter, in 1987.
Two years later, she split from Phillips and the couple divorced in 1992.
Nine months later, Anne married naval commander Timothy Laurence, a former equerry to Queen Elizabeth.
They wed in Scotland as the Church of England did not permit the remarriage of divorcees.
Anne supports more than 300 charities, organisations and military regiments, including an association with Save the Children that has lasted more than 50 years.
She regularly tops the charts for conducting the most royal engagements, and writes her own speeches.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
