Queen Elizabeth II lies in state as thousands file past
The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II let Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through 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.
In the UAE, Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, visited the British Consulate in Dubai and offered his condolences over the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
Sheikh Maktoum was received by Simon Penney, UK’S Trade Commissioner for the Middle East and Consul-general to Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
Writing in the consulate’s condolence book for Queen Elizabeth II, Sheikh Maktoum expressed his deepest condolences to His Majesty King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the royal family and the people of the UK.
At the Westminster Hall, the Queen will lie in state for four days until her funeral on Monday, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to file past.
Eight pall bearers carried the oak and leadlined coffin into Westminster Hall, placing it on a raised plaform known as a catafalque.
Shortly ater 5 pm, members of the public were allowed to file past the coffin, in the center of the vast medieval hall. People flowed in two lines in a silent river of humanity.
They moved down steps under the hall’s great stained glass window, then past the coffin at a steady pace. There were parents with children, couples hand in hand, veterans with medals clinking on navy blue blazers, lawmakers and members of the House of Lords.
Some wore black or suits and ties, others jeans and sneakers. They had waited hours for a journey past the coffin that lasted only a few minutes.
Many were in tears as they approached the casket. Some doffed their hats and one curtseyed. One fell to one knee and blew a kiss.
Britons have lost the only monarch that most of them have ever known, a figure familiar to them and millions around the world from banknotes, stamps and annual Christmas televised messages.
King Charles will eventually appear on British stamps and coins.
The military procession from Buckingham
Palace was designed to underscore the Queen’s seven decades as head of state as the national mourning process shited to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the UK capital.
Thousands who had waited for hours along The Mall outside the palace and other locations along the route held up phones and cameras, and some wiped away tears, as the procession passed. Applause broke out as the coffin passed through Horse Guards Parade. Thousands more sat in nearby Hyde Park watching on large screens.
The coffin was draped in the Royal Standard and topped with the Imperial State Crown - encrusted with almost 3,000 diamonds - and a bouquet of flowers and plants, including pine from the Balmoral Estate, where Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96.
Two officers and 32 troops from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in red uniforms and bearskin hats walked on either side of the gun carriage. The 38-minute procession ended at Westminster Hall, where Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a service attended by Charles and other 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 read from the Book of John.
Ater a short service, the captain of The Queen’s Company 1st Batalion Grenadier Guards, assisted by a senior sergeant, laid the royal standard of the regiment on the steps of the catafalque.
UAE Finance Minister offers condolences, calls Queen iconic; King Charles III will eventually appear on British stamps and coins.