New Delhi: A host of world leaders, royalty, and other dignitaries have descended on London to attend the state funeral of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth to be held on Monday at historic Westminster Hall. The official lying-in-state period will end today after four days at 6.30 am in which hundreds of thousands have queued to file past the casket of the late queen.
The public mourning period for the queen, who passed away at her home in Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8 at the age of 96, will continue across the country for a week after the funeral as per the wish of the Queen’s successor, her son King Charles III.
Around 2,000 in the congregation will include 500 world leaders, including Biden, Emperor Naruhito of Japan, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. President Drupadi Murmu reached London on Saturday to attend the state funeral of the Queen.
The funeral involves the biggest security operation London has ever seen, said mayor Sadiq Khan, according to news agency PTI report.
“It’s been decades since this many world leaders were in one place,” he said, adding, “this is unprecedented… in relation to the various things that we’re juggling.”
“There could be bad people wanting to cause damage to individuals or to some of our world leaders,” Khan said, adding, “so we are working incredibly hard — the police, the security services and many, many others — to make sure this state funeral is as successful as it can be,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.
Time & Place Of Funeral
After laying in rest at Westminster Hall for four days Queen’s coffin will be taken to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral to start at 11 am (3.30 PM IST). The oak coffin, covered in the Royal Standard flag with the Imperial State Crown on top, will be placed on a gun carriage and pulled by naval personnel to Westminster Abbey for her funeral.
The funeral will be led by the Dean of Westminster David Hoyle, and the sermon will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, according to the news agency Reuters. Before the service, Abbey’s Tenor Bell will toll once a minute for 96 minutes – one toll for each year of the queen’s life.
From there, the queen will be moved to Windsor Castle to her final resting place in St George’s Chapel, where she will be buried alongside her beloved parents, sister Princess Margaret and the Duke of Edinburgh.
At the end of the funeral, the Sovereign’s Piper of the Royal Regiment of Scotland will play the traditional lament “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep”. The ceremony will end with the Last Post trumpet salute before the church and the nation falls silent for two minutes.
What Happens After The State Funeral?
Following the funeral, the coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, from where it will travel to Windsor. The state hearse will then take the coffin along the Long Walk to St George’s Chapel in Windsor Chapel, where a committal service will take place will start at 4 pm. It will be conducted by David Conner, the Dean of Windsor, and attended by a congregation of 800 guests.
This will conclude with the crown, orb and sceptre, known as symbols of the monarch’s power and governance being removed from the coffin and placed on the altar.
A televised committal ceremony will take place. A private family service will be held in the late evening where the coffin of Elizabeth and her husband of more than seven decades Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will be buried together at the King George VI Memorial Chapel beside her parents and sister, Princess Margaret, also rest.
Prince Philip’s mortal remains were kept in the Royal Vault in St George’s Chapel, and now he will be moved to lie beside Queen Elizabeth II in the memorial chapel.
How To Watch Funeral Procession
The public in London can witness the funeral procession as it travels from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle, while viewers across the world can watch a live stream of the event on various platforms, including prominent media channels.
Large screens across parks and many cinema chains have been put up to screen the state funeral, the UK government said. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said there will be public viewing areas set up in London and Windsor, where the queen will be laid to rest later, a public holiday across the UK.
The TV viewing arrangements for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II have been announced, according to the news portal of Independent. Tens of millions in Britain and abroad are expected to watch the funeral of the monarch, something which has never been televised before, reported news agency Reuters.
The event will be televised on BBC One and BBC News, and streamed on BBC iPlayer, with coverage starting at 8 am BST. ITV will run live, uninterrupted coverage of the Queen’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey on the day of the funeral. Broadcasting will begin from 6 am BST, with all five channels and ITV Hub being simulcast at the same time.