Buckingham Palace unveils plans for Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral

Issued on: 15/09/2022 – 20:36

Presidents, prime ministers and royalty from around the world will gather Monday for the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, who served as Britain’s queen for 70 years. She will be laid to rest at a chapel at Windsor Castle alongside her husband Prince Philip later in the day, bringing an end to 10 days of national mourning. 

The queen’s coffin was returned to London on Wednesday from where she died at Balmoral, Scotland, and has since been lying in state at Westminster Hall, with tens of thousands of people waiting patiently in line before filing past to pay their final respects to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. 

Two minutes of silence will be observed Monday across the United Kingdom at the end of her funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Westminster

• The queen’s lying in state at Westminster Hall will end at 6:30am local time (0530 GMT) on Monday.
• Shortly after 10:35am a bearer party will lift the coffin from the catafalque and carry it to the Royal Navy gun carriage. The carriage was previously used for the funerals of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Winston Churchill and Lord Louis Mountbatten.
• The gun carriage will be drawn by 142 members of the Royal Navy, setting off at 10:44am to pass by Parliament Square along a route that will be lined by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. 
• The procession will be led by Scottish and Irish regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas and the Royal Air Force. The gun carriage will be flanked by detachments of the His Majesty’s Body Guards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard and the Royal Company of Archers – all bodyguards for the British monarch.
• The king and members of the royal family will follow behind the coffin. 
• The procession will arrive at the West Gate of Westminster Abbey at 10:52am.
• Heads of state and overseas government representatives, including foreign royal families and prime ministers of the realm, will gather at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea and travel together to Westminster Abbey. 
• The congregation will be made up of representatives of the realms, the Commonwealth, parliament, her majesty’s patronages, plus the law the emergency services and others. 
• The state funeral will begin at 11am, conducted by the Dean of Westminster. 
• Prime Minister Liz Truss and secretary general of the Commonwealth will read lessons.
• The sermon will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will also give the commendation while the Dean of Westminster will pronounce the blessing.
• The service will end at approximately 11:55am followed by a two-minute silence that will be observed throughout the United Kingdom.
• Reveille, the national anthem and a lament played by the Queen’s Piper will bring the state funeral service to an end at approximately 12:00pm.   

Procession to Wellington Arch 

• The bearer party will return the coffin to the gun carriage, which will be followed by the royal family. 
• At 12:15pm a procession that will include King Charles III, representatives from the Commonwealth, Canadian police, health workers and others will set off for Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner.
• Guns will be fired every minute by the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, in Hyde Park.
• Big Ben will toll throughout the procession, which will arrive at Wellington Arch at 1pm.
• The bearer party will place the coffin in the hearse to travel to Windsor. As the hearse departs, the parade will give a royal salute and the national anthem will be played.
• The royal family will travel to Windsor by car. 

Windsor burial 

• At 3:10pm a procession will set off at Windsor. It will be joined by the king and other members of the royal family at 3:40pm. 
• The route will be lined by the armed forces and guns will be fired every minute. Both the Sebastopol Bell and the Curfew Tower Bell will be tolled. 
• The procession will halt at the bottom of the West Steps of St. George’s Chapel at 3:53pm.
• The committal service will begin at 4pm, conducted by the Dean of Windsor.
• Prior to the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre will be removed from the coffin and placed on the altar. 
• The king will place the Queen’s Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin. 
• Former MI5 spy chief Baron Parker, who is the Lord Chamberlain and the most senior official of the late queen’s royal household, will “break” his Wand of Office and place it on the coffin, symbolising the end of his service to the queen. 
• As the coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, the Dean of Windsor will read a psalm. The Garter King of Arms will pronounce the styles and titles of the queen.
• The Archbishop of Canterbury will pronounce the blessing, followed by the singing of “God Save The King”.
• At 7:30pm a private burial service will be held and attended by the family. The queen will be buried with her husband, Prince Philip, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel.  

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AP)