LONDON — Palace officials announced Saturday that the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II would take place on September 19 at Westminster Abbey in London after the public is given an opportunity to pay their last respects to the monarch.
Elizabeth, the nation’s longest-reigning sovereign, died Thursday at her summer retreat in the Scottish Highlands.
Details on the 96-year-old queen’s funeral would be released later, but organizers on Saturday described the ceremony as a “fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our times.”
Palace officials said there would be opportunities to see the late sovereign’s oak coffin as it journeys from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to Edinburgh and London, where her body will lie for four days starting Wednesday.
Earlier Saturday, two days after his mother’s death elevated him to the throne, King Charles III was officially proclaimed Britain’s monarch in a pomp-filled ceremony steeped in ancient tradition and political symbolism — and, for the first time, broadcast live online and on air.
Charles, who spent seven decades as heir apparent, automatically became king when his mother died Thursday. But the accession ceremony was a key constitutional and ceremonial step in introducing the new monarch to the country, a relic of a time before mass communications.
A Union flag flies at half-mast at the top of Westminster Abbey, on September 9, 2022, a day after Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96. (Ben Stansall/AFP)
Scores of senior British politicians past and present, including new British Prime Minister Liz Truss and five of her predecessors, gathered in the ornate state apartments at St James’s Palace for the meeting of the Accession Council.
They met without Charles, officially confirming his title, King Charles III. The king then joined them, vowing to follow his mother’s “inspiring example” as he took on the duties of a monarch.
The new king formally approved a series of orders — including one declaring the day of his mother’s funeral a public holiday.
It was the first time the accession ceremony since 1952, when Queen Elizabeth II took the throne.
Britain’s King Charles III before Privy Council members in the Throne Room during the Accession Council at St James’s Palace, London, September 10, 2022, where he is formally proclaimed monarch. (Victoria Jones/Pool Photo via AP)
Charles was accompanied at the ceremony by his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort, and his eldest son, Prince William. William is now heir to the throne and is now known by the title that Charles long-held, Prince of Wales.
Prince William and Prince Harry, and their wives Kate and Meghan on Saturday set aside their reported differences, reuniting to inspect floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.
Television pictures showed the two couples — once dubbed “the fab four” until an apparent falling-out — looking at the flowers together before separating to talk to crowds gathered on either side of the road outside the gates of the castle, west of London.
Prince William and Catherine, along with Prince Harry and Meghan, view tributes in their first public appearance together since the passing of the Queen https://t.co/GekH9l8Gwu pic.twitter.com/lx1RXgfX1f
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) September 10, 2022
Britain is holding a period of mourning for the queen, with days of carefully choreographed ceremonies marking the death of the only monarch most people have ever known.
For many Britons, her passing, though long expected, is a destabilizing experience. It comes at a time when many Britons are facing an energy crisis, the soaring cost of living, the uncertainties of the war in Ukraine and the fallout from Brexit.
The country has also just seen a change of leader. Truss was appointed by the queen on Tuesday, just two days before the monarch died.
Normal parliamentary business has been suspended during a period of mourning for the queen. The House of Commons was holding a rare Saturday session so lawmakers could pay tribute to the late monarch.
