Solemn silence ... then tears and finally rousing cheers
millions could miss out on paying their final respects amid warnings people could have to queue for 35 hours to see her coffin.
n More than 33,000 people queued to see the coffin at rest in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, including one woman who visited at least seven times.
n Charles yesterday vowed to follow the Queen’s ‘shining example’ as he charmed Northern Ireland in the first visit by a British King to the country in nearly 80 years.
n Buckingham Palace will block Russia, Belarus and Myanmar from attending the Queen’s funeral – but Australia will get a dozen invitations as part of an anti-republican charm offensive.
n European football’s governing body has banned British football clubs from playing the national anthem before matches in honour of the Queen.
n And dozens of staff working for King Charles were warned they might be made redundant as his household at Clarence House is effectively disbanded. Yesterday applause rang out in the heart of Edinburgh as the Queen left the Scottish capital for the final time.
Tens of thousands of people had paid their last respects at St Giles’, with so many turning out that the queue had to be closed after noon. Carried out of the church to the sound of a lone piper, the hearse carrying the Queen’s coffin then departed for Edinburgh Airport.
As it did, the crowd, who had gathered in huge numbers in the late afternoon sunshine, burst into applause.
Princess Anne, accompanied by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, travelled behind her late mother in a separate car.
A guard of honour by the King’s Bodyguard for Scotland and pipers followed the cortege towards Edinburgh Castle and on to the airport, where Princess Anne could be seen boarding the RAF C-17 Globemaster – more recently used for aid missions in
Ukraine and to help evacuate people from Afghanistan – that would take mother and daughter back to London.
The national anthem rang out as the hulking aircraft taxied down the runway and soared into the sunset.
Rain poured as it finally touched down in north- west London just before 7pm, watched by Prime Minister Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, before being carried off in sombre silence and into the waiting state hearse. On parade was a guard of honour made up of service personnel from the Queen’s Colour Squadron of the RAF, who presented arms when the coffin was first seen. The King’s Colour for the RAF was lowered in salute.
The new state hearse has been specially designed to be used at the Queen’s funeral by the Royal Household and Jaguar Land Rover. Her Majesty was consulted on the plans, as her late husband Prince Philip was when he chose a specially-adapted Land Rover last year. It is finished in royal claret, the same colour as the official Royal and State vehicles kept in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and used by Members of the Royal Family on official duties.
It also features the Queen’s personal Royal Cypher and has been designed to allow members of the public to have a clear view of the coffin as it travels through London and Windsor over the next few days.
Princess Anne gave a deep curtsy while her husband Sir Tim bowed as the coffin slowly passed them to begin the journey to Buckingham Palace, surrounded by police outriders.
It was a moving return to the 300-year-old seat of power that the Queen affectionately knew as the ‘office’.
The bearer party, from the Queen’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, then carried the coffin into the Bow Room and in a poignant moment the sovereign’s piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, played a haunting
lament. The Bow Room is located in the centre of the West Wing of Buckingham Palace, with direct access to its 39-acre garden via a set of double doors.
It named after the window that runs along one side and has been the scene of many an historic family photograph over the years.
The coffin remained there at rest overnight, tenderly watched over by some of her most loyal staff.
Today the carriage procession carrying the coffin will leave Buckingham Palace at 2.22pm, specifically timed in order to arrive at Westminster Hall at 3pm.
Accompanying the coffin on foot will be the King, Andrew, Anne, Edward, William, Harry, Peter Phillips, Sir Tim, the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Snowdon. Camilla, Kate, Sophie and Meghan will travel to the hall by car.
A 20-minute service will be held, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and accompanied by the Dean of Westminster, with the official period of lying in state beginning at 5pm.
The Queen’s closed coffin will rest on a raised platform, which is called a catafalque, inside the Palace of Westminster enabling members of the public to file past and pay their respects. It will be open 24 hours a day until it closes at 6.30am on Monday, September 19.
While all eyes today will be on the Queen’s coffin, the family dynamics of the procession will also prove fascinating – particularly as to whether brothers Princes William and Harry will walk alongside each other.
Working members of the Royal Family will be in uniform, meaning that both Prince Andrew and his nephew Prince Harry will noticeably be in morning dress. In a statement released ahead of today’s procession through the capital, Harry’s press secretary said: ‘Prince Harry... will wear a morning suit throughout the events honouring his grandmother.
‘His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.’