King Charles III places the Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II, held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)British Queen Elizabeth II Funeral Day Live Updates: Britain’s longest-serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral has begun at the Westminster Abbey in London. King Charles and other senior British royals followed Queen Elizabeth’s coffin into Westminster Abbey on Monday, joining world leaders and monarchs to bid farewell to a beloved figure who unified the nation through her 70-year reign. In scenes of inimitable pageantry, pall bearers carried her flag-draped casket along the aisle in the country’s first state funeral since 1965, when Winston Churchill was afforded the honour. The Queen’s coffin was lowered into the royal vault at Windsor Castle.
At 11 am, the official lying-in-state period of the monarch ended after four days in which hundreds of thousands have queued to file past the Queen’s casket at London’s historic Westminster Hall. Aside from King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla and other royals, Prince William and Kate’s 9-year-old son Prince George and 7-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte will attend the state funeral. Their 4-year-old brother Prince Louis is not expected to be in attendance.
President Droupadi Murmu paid her respects to the Queen on behalf of India Saturday, and met with King Charles III. US President Joe Biden and other world leaders have flown into London for the funeral, to which around 500 royals, heads of state and heads of government from around the globe have been invited.
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch died on September 8, 2022, after 70 years on the throne. (AP)
Queen Elizabeth II's coffin has been lowered into the royal vault at St George's Chapel, in Windsor Castle, at the conclusion of her committal service. The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the British royal household, broke a rod known as the “wand of office” as the royal family and hundreds of mourners bid a final farewell to the late monarch.
Andrew Parker, who is the former head of Britain's domestic secret service MI5, broke the white rod and placed it on the queen's coffin. The ritual symbolises the end of his service to the monarch.
Earlier David Conner, the Dean of Windsor, paid tribute to the queen, telling 800 mourners gathered at the chapel about the queen as “someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian faith bore so much fruit.” He said: “In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope.” (AP)
A service for Queen Elizabeth II begans at Windsor Castle hours before she's interred next to late husband Prince Philip. Queen's coffin is lowered into the royal vault at the St George’s Chapel.
A procession carrying Queen Elizabeth II's coffin has entered St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for the late monarch's committal service. Eight hundred guests are attending the service, including prime ministers from Commonwealth countries and many staff who worked with the queen or on her royal estates.
Most of those attending the chapel service did not attend the state funeral held at Westminster Abbey in London earlier Monday.
During the service, the Imperial State Crown and the sovereign's orb and sceptre are removed from the top of the queen's coffin and placed on an altar, separating the queen from her crown for the last time. (AP)
The first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska on Monday said that it was a great honour to be present at the Queen’s funeral “on behalf of all Ukrainians”.
The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II has competed a procession at walking pace through central London and is bound in a hearse for her final resting place at Windsor Castle. After being pulled more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Westminster Abbey on a gun carriage by 142 Royal Navy sailors, the coffin was transferred to a hearse at Wellington Arch, near Buckingham Palace.
Dozens of Buckingham Place staff stood in a neat line in the palace courtyard, and many bowed or curtseyed as the procession passed by. The monarch’s coffin will go by car the 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Windsor Castle, where she will be interred later Monday alongside her husband Prince Philip, who died last year.Dense crowds packed the route through the heart of ceremonial London – and thousands more people are lining the more workaday suburban roads the hearse will take on its journey to Windsor. (AP)
President Droupadi Murmu on Monday met the President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, in an official reception at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. President Hassan is the first woman president of Tanzania.
Ever since Prince Harry landed in the UK recently, there have been lots of speculations about where he stands vis-à-vis his relationship with other members of the royal family.
There have been some strains especially after he stepped down as a senior member of the institution more than two years ago to relocate to the US with his family. His wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, confirmed it in her recent interviews and it seems the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, has only brought to light these tensions, even if the family has refused to openly admit it.
With Harry’s father King Charles III acceding to the throne, there have been many changes within the family, including Harry’s elder brother William and his wife Kate’s promotion to the posts of Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Duke of Sussex’s recent oscillation between whether or not he can wear his military uniform, participate in events where dignitaries and world leaders — who have arrived to pay their tribute to the queen — are in attendance, etc. (Read more)
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The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, concluded on Monday with United Kingdom’s national anthem and the piper’s lament. Led by the Dean of Westminster, Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, the service at Westminster Abbey paid tribute to the Queen’s “remarkable reign and lifetime service”, Buckingham Palace noted.
The service, which was attended by 2,000 guests and was watched by billions across the world, included three hymns which were sung at various times during the funeral. These hymns are – The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended, The Lord’s my Shepherd, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.
The second hymn – The Lord’s my Shepherd – held a special place in the late monarch’s life and was one of her favourites. In 2016, it was featured in a list of her 10 favourite pieces of music. In addition to it, did you know that this hymn was also a poignant nod to Queen’s husband Prince Philip? (Read more)
At the end of a state funeral watched by millions of people the world over, Queen Elizabeth was being brought home to her beloved Windsor Castle to be buried in a small chapel in a private ceremony after her state funeral. Originally built by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest in 1066, Windsor Castle has been rebuilt and remodelled over the centuries but is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world.
Just outside London, it was the queen's main weekend retreat and in the later years of her reign her preferred home. A huge fire there in 1992 caused much damage, capping what the queen called her "Annus Horribilis" (Horrible Year), which saw a strong of scandals hit the royal family.
Windsor Castle is the resting place of more than a dozen English and British kings and queens. Most are buried in St. George's Chapel, including Henry VIII, who died in 1547, and Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649. The queen will be buried at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, which is next to the quire of the main St George's Chapel. She commissioned the memorial chapel in 1962 and named it for her father. (Reuters)
A hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth II's coffin sets off from London's Wellington Arch on its way to Windsor Castle. (AP)
The tens of thousands gathered in central London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth fell silent and bowed their heads on Monday to follow her funeral service in Westminster Abbey and watch the procession of her coffin afterwards through the city.
Some watching in Hyde Park dabbed their eyes and others sobbed during the service, while later children were hoisted in the air or put on parents' shoulders to see her coffin pass. There was also applause among the crowd for a grand state funeral of pageantry and rousing music that captured how many felt for the queen, who died on Sept. 8 aged 96. She had been on the throne for 70 years, meaning most Britons have known no other monarch. (Reuters)
Queen Elizabeth II is getting a funeral fitting for a monarch who reigned for 70 years, and even became the longest-serving one in the history of the British royal family, after she took over from her father, George VI, in 1953.
Details of the queen’s coffin — which will lie in state in London later this week before her funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 19 — have emerged, and according to reports, the box — made with English oak and lead — had been crafted more than three decades ago.
The royal casket will reportedly rest on a raised platform — called a ‘catafalque’ — inside Westminster Hall, before it is lowered to the ground next week. Queen Elizabeth will be laid to rest beside her husband Prince Philip — who died last year at the age of 99 — at the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle. (Read more)
King Charles, his sons William and Harry and other senior royals joined a solemn procession behind Queen Elizabeth's coffin through the silent streets of London on Monday, following a state funeral of matchless pageantry at Westminster Abbey. Hundreds of thousands of people crammed into central London to witness a ceremony attended by leaders and royalty from across the globe, a fitting end for Britain's longest-serving monarch who won widespread respect during 70 years on the throne.
Her flag-draped casket was pulled on a gun carriage the short distance from Westminster Hall to the Abbey by 142 sailors with arms linked. A bell tolled and bagpipes skirled.
Pin-drop silence fell over London's Hyde Park nearby as thousands of people, who for hours had picnicked and chatted, went quiet the second the queen's coffin appeared on screens erected for the occasion. Shortly before, hundreds of armed personnel in full ceremonial dress had marched in a historic display of kilts, bearskin hats, scarlet tunics and brass bands. (Reuters)
All state ceremonies, from the memorial service to lying-in state, since the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8 have followed strict Royal protocols. Her funeral on Monday will be no exception with every detail meticulously planned, down to the dress code.
The funeral for the late queen, who died aged 96 at her Balmoral estate in Scotland, will be held at Westminster Abbey in London.
Members of the royal family will all be in attendance, including the queen’s four children, her eight grandchildren and their spouses, along with several UK prime ministers including the current and past ones. What the royal family wears to the funeral will be dictated largely by tradition. (Read more)
On the eve of her funeral, on Monday, The Royal Family released an unseen portrait of Queen Elizabeth in which she can be seen smiling at the camera. The photograph was reportedly taken in May, ahead of Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, at her Windsor Castle Home. It is said to have been taken by photographer Ranald Mackechnie, who also captured her Jubilee portrait.
“Ahead of Her Majesty The Queen’s Funeral, a new photograph has been released,” The Royal Family wrote, adding that “it was taken this year to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, as she became the first British Monarch to reach this milestone.” (Read more)
Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral service on Monday ended with United Kingdom's national anthem and piper’s lament. The queen's coffin has left Wesminster Abbey to start a procession from central London to Windsor Castle.