Queen’s Elizabeth’s funeral to begin at 11 a.m. on Monday

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – The state funeral for Queen Elizabeth will begin at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) on Monday at Westminster Abbey in London before Britain’s late monarch is taken to be buried at Windsor Castle, a senior palace official said on Thursday.

The Queen  will be laid to rest with her late husband at the King George VI memorial chapel during a private service and burial on Monday evening.

Towards the end of the ceremony the Last Post will sound, followed by a two-minute silence.

The national anthem will be played and there will be a lament at the close of service at around midday.

The coffin will be followed out by the King, the Queen Consort and members of the Royal Family.

Members of the Royal Family will walk in procession from the Abbey to Wellington Arch.

The Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Sussex and the Countess of Wessex will follow by car.

Big Ben will toll throughout this procession.

After the funeral service at Westminster Abbey, events move west to Windsor, where a smaller service will take place at St George’s Chapel, next to Windsor Castle.

The Dean of Windsor will lead the service there, with 800 people expected to attend.

Later on Monday, a private service for the Queen’s close family will be held. After that, the Queen’s coffin will be laid in the Royal Vault, beside her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April 2021.

The state funeral of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will unite people from across the globe, the official in charge of the huge ceremonial event said on Thursday, as mourners from all walks of life queued for hours to file past the late monarch’s coffin.

World leaders will gather on Monday for the funeral for Elizabeth, queen for 70 years whose global stature was almost without equal.

She is currently lying in state in London’s ancient Westminster Hall, where tens of thousands are waiting patiently in line to pay their final respects to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

“These events are taking place against the backdrop of an outpouring of grief, affection, and gratitude for people in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and across the world,” said the Earl Marshal, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, England’s most senior peer who is in charge of state occasions.

“It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and events of the next few days will unite people across the globe,” he told reporters.”

As he spoke, the queue to see the queen’s coffin stretched more than 4 miles (6.5 km) along the south bank of the River Thames, crossing Lambeth Bridge as it neared Westminster Hall.

As King Charles returned to his Highgrove home in the southern English county of Gloucestershire after days of scheduled events, officials expected about 750,000 people to view his mother’s coffin before the lying in state ends at 6.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Monday.

Some had travelled from abroad, dropping off bags at nearby hotels to join those moving slowly through Westminster Hall. Mourners included former Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip, who bowed their heads before the coffin as they filed past with members of the public.