Rain and tears: public pays tribute
LONDON/BELFAST: King Charles III and members of the Royal Family received the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace yesterday, after tens of thousands of people lined the streets in heavy rain to mark its arrival in the British capital.
On a dark night, the welllit hearse travelled slowly from a nearby airport through London, with crowds along the route, some in the road, others throwing flowers, and others running from nearby streets to catch a glimpse of the cortege.
As it entered the grounds of the London palace, the police outriders who had led the way stopped to bow their heads.
Charles, who became king on the death of his mother last week, had gathered with his three siblings, sons William and Harry, and other senior members of the Royal Family to receive the coffin, a palace spokesman said.
The Queen died peacefully last week at Balmoral Castle, in the Scottish Highlands, at the age of 96, plunging the nation into 10 days of mourning.
Princess Anne travelled with the coffin, first from Balmoral to Edinburgh, where it was greeted by tens of thousands of mourners, and then to London.
‘‘It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys,’’ the princess said in a statement. ‘‘Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.’’
In Edinburgh, bearers from the Royal Air Force carried the casket on to a transporter plane. A kilted honour guard from the Royal Regiment of Scotland stood with fixed bayonets as a regimental band played the national anthem as the plane began to taxi. With that, Scotland bade farewell to the queen.
At 1.22am today NZT, the coffin was to be taken on a gun carriage as part of a grand military procession to Westminster Hall, where a period of lying in state will begin until the funeral on Monday.
Members of the public will be allowed to walk past the coffin for 24 hours a day until the morning of the funeral, which will be attended by dozens of world leaders.
The hundreds of thousands of mourners may have to queue along the southern bank of the River Thames for up to 7.5km.
Upon joining the queue, mourners will be given a wristband allowing them to briefly leave the queue to use a toilet or get food and drink.
As part of the highly choreographed days of mourning, King Charles is travelling to the four parts of the United Kingdom.
Thousands of wellwishers greeted him in Northern Ireland yesterday, with handshakes, smiles and warm words as he walked along lines of people crowding the streets outside Hillsborough Castle, the monarch’s official residence in the province.
The visit was laden with political significance given Britain’s record in Ireland and the years of violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.
A new poll showed Charles had enjoyed a surge in support since he became king.
Now 63% think he will be a good king, a rise of 24 percentage points since March, while 15% believe he will do a bad job, compared with 31% six months ago, the YouGov poll found.
Representatives from four Pacific nations have accepted an invitation from Australia for transport to the Queen’s funeral.
Officials from the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and Samoa have accepted the offer to travel from Australia to London. — Reuters/AAP