Hundreds of people lined up outside Buckingham Palace and on the streets of London Tuesday as a motorcade accompanying the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II made its way toward the royal residence. The royal family was due to receive the coffin at the palace.
A C-17 military aircraft carrying the coffin arrived in London from Edinburgh, Scotland, earlier, accompanied by the queen’s only daughter, Princess Anne, and Anne’s husband, Sir Timothy Laurence. The coffin was draped in the royal standard.
The coffin will remain overnight in the palace’s Bow Room. On Wednesday, the coffin will then be transferred in a public procession led by King Charles III to the 11th-century Westminster Hall, where the queen will lie in state for four days. The hall will be open 23 hours a day for visitors and will be guarded by soldiers from the royal household.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to travel to Westminster to witness history in the making.
Elizabeth died September 8 at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, a place she cherished and where Charles became king. On Tuesday, Charles visited Northern Ireland in his first trip there as monarch. He was accompanied by his wife, Camilla, the queen consort. They attended a service for his late mother. He has been on a tour of the countries that comprise the United Kingdom.
In Edinburgh Monday, the new king, along with his siblings Anne and princes Andrew and Edward, held a silent vigil at St. Giles’ Cathedral, bowing their heads as they stood at the four sides of their mother’s coffin.
Britain’s King Charles III, center, and other members of the royal family hold a vigil at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland, Sept. 12, 2022, as members of the public walk past.
The body was brought to St. Giles’ Cathedral in a solemn procession through the streets of Edinburgh, where thousands of people turned out to pay respects.
After the procession reached the cathedral, members of the royal family along with political leaders attended a service inside for the queen.
“And so, we gather to bid Scotland’s farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate. And whose love for Scotland was legendary,” the Rev. Calum MacLeod said.
Earlier Monday, King Charles spoke to both houses of parliament in London for the first time as the monarch.
His brief address to approximately 1,000 lawmakers and their guests at London’s Westminster Hall came after the lawmakers offered their condolences on the passing of Queen Elizabeth during a ceremony filled with pageantry.
Charles said of his mother who served as monarch for 70 years: “She set an example of selfless duty which, with God’s help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.”
Balmoral
The hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth’s body set off on Sunday from Balmoral Castle, the beginning of her long and final journey.
The convoy, which included royal officials and security personnel, tracked slowly through the majestic Scottish hills, a landscape treasured by the late monarch, where she spent her final peaceful weeks of life. In years past, the queen was frequently seen visiting these remote Scottish villages when she resided at Balmoral Castle.
Residents gathered on the roadside to glimpse her for the last time and to say goodbye.
Some onlookers threw flowers as the hearse passed by; many in the crowd shed tears. Gentle ripples of applause followed as the convoy continued southward.
“We’ve known [her] for all our lives. So, it’s been the one constant thing in the whole of our lives — the queen,” said Stephanie Cook, a resident of the village of Ballater, close to Balmoral.
The queen’s funeral is scheduled for Monday, September 19, at Westminster Abbey. The coffin will then be taken to Windsor for the committal service, where the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was laid to rest in April 2021.
Henry Ridgwell contributed to this report from London. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
