World News

Final Goodbye: Queen Elizabeth Laid to Rest in Windsor Castle; Curtains Down on an Era-defining Reign

September 20, 2022
Bharat Times

In the presence of Royal family members at a private ceremony, Britain’s longest-serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II was on Monday laid to rest at St George’s Chapel in her beloved Windsor Castle after a historic state funeral attended by Kings and queens, world leaders, and tearful mourners lining the London streets.

The Queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8 after a year of declining health. She was succeeded by her 73-year-old eldest son, King Charles III, who late Sunday said he and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, had been “deeply touched” by the public’s flood of messages.

King Charles, dressed in ceremonial military uniform, followed the solemn processions in London, alongside his three siblings. They were accompanied by Charles’s eldest son Prince William, William’s estranged brother, Prince Harry, and other senior royals.

Here are some key highlights:

  • Thousands of visitors gathered in London to watch the Queen’s flag-draped coffin topped with the Imperial State crown, her orb and sceptre, as she was carried to a gun carriage from Westminster Hall where it had lain in state since Wednesday.
  • Amid the tune of pipes and drums, the gun carriage, which was used at every state funeral since Queen Victoria’s in 1901, was then drawn by 142 junior enlisted sailors in the Royal Navy to Westminster Abbey.
  • The coffin was then taken on a three-hour journey through the streets of London to Windsor Castle where a Committal Service concluded the public-facing aspect of the funeral before a private burial ceremony. It ended with trumpeters playing “The Last Post”, two minutes of silence in memory of the Queen and UK’s national anthem, “God Save the King”.
  • Symbolising the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the highest-ranking official in the royal household broke his “wand of office” and the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre were placed on the high altar at a committal service at Windsor Castle.
  • The lead-lined oak casket, draped with late Queen’s colours, was then lowered into the Royal Vault at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. As the late Queen’s Committal Service ended, her Piper played a lament.
  • In the presence of Royals, the Queen was buried alongside her father King George VI, her mother Queen Elizabeth and sister Princess Margaret, reuniting in death the family who once called themselves “us four”. The coffin of her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, was also be transferred to lie alongside her.

(with inputs from agencies)

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