The hearse bearing Queen Elizabeth’s coffin has arrived at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland where it will remain overnight, following the journey by road from Balmoral.
Queen Elizabeth’s coffin began a six-hour journey from her home in the Scottish Highlands to Edinburgh on Sunday as crowds lined the roads in silence, paying tribute to the British monarch who reigned for 70 years.
At 10am, the queen’s oak coffin, which had been in the ballroom of Balmoral Castle since she died on Thursday, aged 96, was placed in a hearse by six gamekeepers.
Shortly afterwards, the hearse emerged from the gates of Balmoral to head towards the Scottish capital. The coffin was draped in the royal standard of Scotland and with a wreath on top made up of flowers from the Balmoral estate, including sweet peas — one of the queen’s favourites.
The slow cortege is the first of a series of events leading up to the state funeral at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19th.
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Tens of thousands have gathered at royal palaces in the days since the queen’s death to leave flowers and to pay their respects.
“I know how deeply you, the entire nation — and I think I may say the whole world — sympathise with me in the irreparable loss we have all suffered,” her son King Charles said at a ceremony on Saturday.
The queen came to the throne following the death of her father King George VI on February 6th, 1952, when she was just 25 years old. Her coronation took place a year later.
Charles became king immediately after his mother’s death but was officially proclaimed the new British monarch at the ceremony on Saturday.
While the queen’s death was not totally unexpected given her age, the fact her health had been deteriorating and the passing of her husband of 73 years Prince Philip last year, there was still a sense of shock at the news.
“We all thought she was invincible,” her grandson Prince William, now the heir to the throne, told a wellwisher on Saturday as he met crowds at Windsor castle.
The day of Elizabeth’s funeral will be a public holiday in Britain, officials announced. US president Joe Biden said he would be there, although full details of the event and the attendees have not yet been released.
Before that, her coffin will be flown to London and there will be a sombre procession when it is later moved from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall where it will lie in state for four days.
In 2002 more than 200,000 people queued to pay their respects to the queen’s mother while her coffin lay in state and aides have previously said there is an expectation that millions may want to visit.
“It goes without saying that we can expect large numbers of people,” a spokesperson for British prime minister Liz Truss told reporters.
Ms Truss, whose appointment as prime minister on Tuesday was the queen’s last public act, will join the king as both the new head of state and prime minister tour the UK in the next few days. — Reuters/PA