Schools to close for day of Queen's funeral as date is confirmed by Royal Family

At this morning's proclamation of King Charles III it was confirmed that the day of the state funeral would be a bank holiday, before Buckingham Palace announced the date this evening.

A Department of Education statement said: "Monday 19th September will be a Bank Holiday to mark Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral.

"Schools and colleges will be closed for the Bank Holiday."

In announcing the bank holiday on September 19, the government said the bank holiday will "allow individuals, businesses and other organisations to pay their respects to Her Majesty and commemorate Her reign, while marking the final day of the period of national mourning".

The statement continued: "This bank holiday will operate in the same way as other bank holidays, and there is no statutory entitlement to time off. Employers may include bank holidays as part of a worker’s leave entitlement."

Further details of the Queen's funeral were confirmed on Saturday as the carefully choreographed London Bridge plans were made public. These include a four-day lying in state at Westminster Hall from Wednesday, September 14.

The Queen’s oak coffin – which is lying in the Ballroom at Balmoral Castle – will be taken by road to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on Sunday September 11, on a slow six-hour journey by hearse, to allow mourners gathered in the towns and villages to pay their respects.

On Monday, the coffin will be taken from Holyroodhouse in procession to St Giles’s Cathedral where it will lie at rest until Tuesday September 13, before being taken by air by RAF plane to London.

The Queen will lie in state “four clear days” in Westminster Hall, arriving there on Wednesday September 14 until 6.30am on the morning of her funeral, a senior palace official said.

Thousands of people will be able to file past to see the late monarch’s coffin – and further details of how the public can attend will be announced in the coming days.