The gamekeepers who walked with her in life, carry her coffin in death
Britain will down tools as millions around the world watch state funeral
JUST before 10am this morning, six gamekeepers from the Balmoral estate, sturdy men with deep knowledge of the Highland landscape so adored by the Queen, will slowly file into the castle’s ballroom.
Since her death on Thursday afternoon, the Queen has laid at rest there in an oak coffin covered with the royal atandard for Scotland and a wreath of flowers in what one senior palace official last night described as a scene of ‘quiet dignity’.
The gamekeepers, some of whom in earlier years accompanied the Queen on walks over the grouse moors and mountains that surround Balmoral, will gently lift the coffin and carry it through an adjacent dining room to a hearse parked by the entrance portico.
It will be the first highly poignant moment of a three-day journey culminating in the Queen’s coffin being greeted by a guard of honour at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
She will later be moved to Westminster Hall, where she will lie in state for four days, allowing tens of thousands of her loyal subjects to pay their last respects.
Her funeral – which will be at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19 – has been
‘A fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our times’
declared a bank holiday. Schools will close and a government spokesman said ‘extremely large crowds’ are expected in central London, which will be ‘very congested’.
Every detail of the arrangements has been meticulously planned in Operation Unicorn, the mission to return her to London.
In a series of moments of high drama and symbolism, King Charles is expected to walk behind his mother’s coffin three times during processions in Edinburgh and London. The newly proclaimed monarch will also mount a touching vigil as his beloved mother lies at rest in the Scottish capital tomorrow.
Princess Anne will also play a key role. She will accompany her late mother’s coffin on the 55-minute flight from Scotland to London.
The Duke of Norfolk England’s highest-ranking duke, who is tasked with coordinating the Queen’s funeral, last night said those involved with delivering the arrangements will do so ‘with the heaviest hearts’.
‘But also, with the firmest of resolve to ensure a fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of the times; a monarch whom we were truly privileged to have had as the head of state of our country and the realms, and head of the wider Commonwealth,’ the duke, Edward FitzalanHoward, added.
‘While his majesty the King was speaking about his family, I think it applies to us all when he said in his broadcast yesterday that: ‘We owe her the most heartfelt debt.
‘I think we can, in some way, repay that debt by carrying out her last wishes in delivering her majesty the
Queen’s funeral.’ After leaving Balmoral this morning, the hearse carrying the Queen’s coffin will lead a cortege of vehicles on a 170-mile drive to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. Tens of thousands
of mourners are expected to pack the pavements of a string of towns and villages along the route to Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the monarch in Scotland.
As millions around the world watch transfixed, the cortege will
first pass through Ballater, a village just six miles from Balmoral where the Queen was a familiar sight, before slowing for crowds in the royal Deeside villages of Aboyne, Bancory and Peterculter.
Shadowed by a news helicopter
and convoy of police vehicles, it will cross the King George VI bridge in Aberdeen and then swing south along the A90, passing Stonehaven, Dundee, Perth and the naval dockyards at Rosyth, before using the Queensferry Crossing – opened by the Queen five years ago – to cross the Forth. After passing through Edinburgh’s western suburbs, it will skirt the Royal Botanic Gardens and Edinburgh Castle before its dramatic arrival at Holyroodhouse.
Ordinarily, a trip of three-and-ahalf hours, the cortege is expected to take six hours as it regularly slows to walking pace to acknowledge the large numbers expected to pay their respects.
Courtiers are anticipating scenes of public mourning not witnessed since the 20-deep crowds that watched the journey of Princess Diana’s funeral cortege travel to Westminster Abbey in September 1997.
As with that momentous event 25 years ago, officials have been tasked with collecting the flowers that will rain down on the Queen’s cortege.
‘You can bet that every square foot in the streets here will be filled with people getting ready to say goodbye,’ David Cobban, 56, a chartered surveyor, and owner of the Brakely gift room in Ballater, said last night.
Mr Cobban, who chaired the committee for the local Platinum Jubilee events this year, said: ‘Many people in this town had dealings with the Queen, having perhaps worked for her at Balmoral, or having had family members who worked on the estate. Therefore,
‘A huge moment – lots of people feel that loss’
for many people here this is a very personal and poignant moment as she makes her journey through the village for the last time.
‘Watching her pass through Ballater for the last time will be a very, very sad event. But it will be an opportunity to say goodbye that people here will not want to miss.’
Emily Hamilton-Peach, 30, operations manager at the Willowgate Activity Centre near Perth, close to the royal cortege’s route, said: ‘It’s just a huge moment in history. It’s a rare moment where you feel the loss of someone you don’t have personal connection to – but lots of people feel that loss.’
The involvement of the gamekeepers in tomorrow’s event illustrates the deep affection the Queen had for countryside pursuits and for those who accompanied her when walking or riding.
It was an affection shared by both her father and grandfather. Gamekeepers from the Sandringham estate mounted vigils by the coffin of George V after his death in 1936 and by George VI’s coffin in 1952.
After its arrival at 6pm at Holyroodhouse, where the Queen stayed for garden parties and ceremonial events during her visits to Scotland, her coffin will rest overnight in the oak-panelled Throne Room, allowing palace staff to pay their respects.
At 2.35pm tomorrow, the hearse, flanked by soldiers, will leave
Holyroodhouse for a 20-minutejourneyuptheRoyalMiletothe14th-centuryStGiles’Cathedral.
Inascenedrenchedinemotion,theKingandotherseniormembers
oftheroyalfamily,willfollowthehearseonfoot.
Preparationsarealreadybeingmadeforthehugecrowdsexpectedtolinethe1,200-yardroutethroughEdinburgh’sOldTowninwhatwillbeoneofthecity’smostsignificant
momentsofroyalhistoryforalmost
500years.Thelastmonarchtodiein Scotland was James V ofScotlandin1542,whoisburiedinHolyrood Abbey, next to theexistingpalace.
At2.55pmtheQueen’scoffinwillbecarriedintothecathedralwhere44-year-old Alexander DouglasHamilton,the16thDukeofHamilton,willplacetheCrownofScotlandontopofit.
Following a service, the coffinwill rest in the cathedral for 24
hours, allowing members of thepublictofilepast.
At7.20pmtomorrow,inanothermomentofsombreceremonythatwillgriptheworld,theKingandothermembersoftheroyalfamilywillmountavigil–knownastheVigil of the Princes – aroundthecoffin.
‘The lying in state of QueenElizabethIIatStGiles’CathedralinScotlandisaquiteextraordinarymoment of great historicsignificance and underlines,whether intentionally or not, thatwe live in a union of Scotland,England, Wales and NorthernIreland,’historianNeilOliversaidlastnight.
TheceremonyatStGileswillbeafittingendtothelatemonarch’stimeinScotland.
ShevisitedStGilesin1953–hercoronationyear–foraserviceofthanksgivingandwaspresentedwiththehonoursofScotland:the
crown, sword and sceptrethat make up the ScottishCrownjewels.OnTuesdayafternoon,thefinalstageofOperationUnicorn,theplanfortheQueen’sdeathatBalmoral,willplayout.
TheQueen’scoffinwillbedriveninahearsethroughEdinburgh– with huge crowds againexpected to line the streets – toEdinburghAirport.AgroupofRAFpallbearerswillmeetthecoffinandcarryittoawaitingaircraft,understoodtobeanRAFVoyager,that will then fly 327 miles to RAFNortholtinWestLondon.
ThecoffinwillthenbedriventoBuckingham Palace, where it willbe met at the Palace’s grandentrancebyCharlesandCamillla.
AfterprayersitwillthenrestinthemagnificentBowRoomwhereit
willbewatchedoverbyarotaofroyalchaplains.
ThenewlycrownedKingCharleswillvisittheNorthonTuesdayashevisitsthefourcornersoftheUKtoleadthenationinmourning.HewillbeaccompaniedbyBritain’snewprimeminister,LizTruss,ashe attends services in England,Scotland, Northern Ireland andWalesnextweekaheadofhismother’sfuneral.
On Wednesday afternoon thecoffin, draped in the Royal StandardandtoppedwithImperialStateCrown,willbeborneonaguncarriagebytheKing’sTroopRoyalHorse Artillery to WestminsterHallviaTheMall,HorseGuardsandWhitehall.
KingCharleswill,forasecondtime, walk behind the coffin insilence. He is likely to do so for a
third–andfinaltime–duringtheQueen’sstatefuneral.
TensofthousandsofpeoplearethenexpectedtopaytheirrespectsastheQueenliesinstateforthenextfourdays.
TheUK’slongest-servingmonarchwillhavethefirststatefuneralinalmost60yearsatWestminsterAbbeyonMonday,September19.Apalacesourceyesterdayconfirmed
thattheQueenwasconsultedon‘allthefuneralplans’.
Inoneofhisfirstactsasking,Charles yesterday approved an
‘This moment underlines that we live in a Union’ ‘Many tens of thousands will pay their respects’
ordertomakethatdayapublicholidayduringameetingofyesterday’sAccessionCouncilwherehewas formally declared head ofstate.Aswellasschools,mostbusinessesandmanyshopswillclosein
amovethatwillbewarmlywelcomedbyapublicsotheycanmarktheendoftheQueen’sastonishing70-yearreign.
MillionsareexpectedtowatchonTV as the astonishing pomp andceremonythatwillaccompanythefirststatefuneralsinceWinstonChurchill’sin1965unfolds.
Following the state funeral,anotherprocessionwilltakethecoffin along the Mall and pastBuckinghamPalacetoWellingtonArchatHydeParkCorner.Itwillthen be transferred to a hearse,whichwilltakeittoWindsor.