Following a state funeral attended by international leaders and a historic last ceremonial trip, Queen Elizabeth II will be put to rest on Monday. This will be the first state burial to be held in Britain since the passing of her first prime minister, Winston Churchill, in 1965.
The funeral ends 11 days of widespread national mourning in the United Kingdom, during which the royal family’s private grief was exposed to great media scrutiny.
More than 2,000 people crowded Westminster Abbey, which has hosted royal coronations, weddings, and burials throughout its 1,000-year history, including leaders of state like US President Joe Biden and Japan’s secretive Emperor Naruhito.
The funeral was streamed live online and to a sizable television audience, demonstrating the continued curiosity of the lady once dubbed “the last global monarch.”
The exact gun carriage used for the burial of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria was utilised to transport the Queen’s coffin. Massive crowds gathered in almost complete stillness to witness the painstaking transfer of the queen’s flag-draped coffin from Westminster Hall, where it has been lying in state since last Wednesday, to a gun carriage.
King Charles III, the oldest son of the Queen and her successor, and his three siblings followed the sombre procession while clad in ceremonial military garb.
Thousands of people have gathered along the route since early in the morning. The casket will be driven west to Windsor Castle after an hour-long procession that passes Buckingham Palace.
Approximately 6,000 military soldiers have been called up to participate in what the highest ranking military official in the United Kingdom has referred to as “our final duty for Her Majesty the Queen.”
The leaders of Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, and North Korea were not invited, but the heads of India, the European Union, France, Japan, and many other nations were there.
The Queen’s coffin will be transported by royal hearse to Windsor Castle, west of London, for a committal service after the broadcast service. The queen will then be interred with her late husband, Prince Philip, her parents, and her sister in a private family burial.
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