Queen's final journey: How mourners will get their chance to pay respects at coffin
The Queen has started the journey to her final resting place.
She was today lying in state in Edinburgh ahead of being brought to London before her state funeral at Westminster Abbey next Monday.
Enormous crowds assembled to watch the procession. The Queen’s coffin was today being taken from Holyroodhouse along the Royal Mile to St Giles’s Cathedral, where the public will be able to pay their respects.
The Queen will be flown to London tomorrow ahead of the Lying in State in Westminster Hall on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of people were today assembled around Buckingham Palace and police from across the West Midlands are expected to travel to the capital to help control crowds ahead of the funeral, which will take place next Monday.
St John Ambulance volunteers in the West Midlands have also been asked to provide first aid cover in London for the funeral.
Proclamations for the new King Charles III were made in towns and cities across the West Midlands and Staffordshire and prayers were said at church services in the region.
It was confirmed today the Queen will lie in state for “four clear days” in Westminster Hall, arriving there on Wednesday afternoon.
On the morning of the funeral, the coffin will be taken in a grand military procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, and afterwards taken by state hearse for a committal service in St George’s Chapel.
The funeral day will be a bank holiday, with schools closing and shops also expecting to be shut while the funeral service is held. Sporting events will be postponed.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, sympathised with those reminded of the death of a loved one as he prepared for the funeral.
He said the death of the Queen would have stirred many emotions among us, adding: “Many people will be navigating their way around the raw and ragged edges of grief today.
“All because of the Queen. But many families as well will have lost loved ones or been reminded of the loss of loved ones this week.
“Their grief may well feel all the more painful during this time of national and international mourning for loss is overwhelming to the person bereaved.”
