Key moments
This is the end of our live coverage of the Queen’s state funeral. There are comprehensive reports and analysis:
• Go forth upon thy journey: Queen laid to rest with splendour and pageantry
• In pictures: the final farewell
Reunited in royal vault
Queen Elizabeth II has been reunited with her beloved husband, father, mother and sister in a private and intimate ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
After 70 years as sovereign and 96 years at the heart of British society, she finally slipped from public view at 4.50pm as her coffin was lowered via a lift beneath the chapel’s chequered floor. It descended into the large royal vault where Prince Philip was laid to rest in April last year.
• Where will the Queen be buried? A history of the royal vault
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After resting for a brief period following the televised committal service the Queen’s coffin was retrieved with Philip’s from the main vault where 24 other royals including William IV, George IV and George III lie.
In a private ceremony that started at 7.30pm, the couple were moved to the King George VI Memorial Chapel, a small side-chapel on the north side of the main building. Here they will rest together forever in a separate, more intimate burial chamber initially built for the Queen’s parents.
During the burial ceremony, which was being led by the Dean of Windsor, the Right Rev David Conner, King Charles III scattered earth taken from the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore over his mother’s coffin, just as the late Queen did for her father, George VI.
It was the culmination of a day of mourning but, crucially, of celebration, of the life and reign of the Queen.
• The orders of service in full
https://www.thetimes.com/article/queen-funeral-order-of-service-in-full-tskq9xnwx • Who was invited to the Queen’s funeral — and who was not on the guest list
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The morning began with a moving — and often joyful — state funeral at Westminster Abbey, with processions in London and Windsor. Thousands lined the streets in both places, and along the path of the hearse between the two occasions.
The King, the Queen Consort and the rest of the royal family joined hundreds of employees of the late Queen as her soul was committed to God, and her crown, sceptre and orb were removed from the coffin.
The King appeared emotional as those in St George’s Chapel sang the national anthem.
Ten days of national mourning now come to an end.
In his sermon this morning, the Archbishop of Canterbury described the Queen as having touched “a multitude of lives” and being a “joyful” figure for many.
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• The most superb thing I have seen on TV — our writers’ verdicts
• The Queen’s funeral: your hour-by-hour guide
The Most Rev Justin Welby said the outpouring of emotion “arises from her abundant life and loving service, now gone from us”.
He echoed the Queen’s reassuring words from her lockdown address to the nation, when he told the congregation that all who follow her example, and her faith in God, “can with her say, ‘We will meet again”’.
Images from the day
•The Queen’s state funeral in pictures
Queen’s legacy will loom large
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President Biden, President Macron of France as well as European, Asian and middle-eastern royalty attended the Queen’s funeral.
Biden, who shared an image of himself and his wife Jill signing the official book of condolence before arriving at Westminster Abbey, recalled first meeting the Queen during a trip to Britain as a senator. He said: “We first met the Queen in 1982, and will always remember her kindness and hospitality. Her legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world.”
The president has previously reflected that the Queen reminded him of his mother “in terms of the look of her and just the generosity”.
After recently defending the King as Australia’s new head of state, Anthony Albanese, the country’s prime minister and an avowed republican, remembered his late mother’s deep respect for the Queen.
He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “When I was about to be born [during the royal visit in 1963], my mother insisted on the way to the hospital to give birth to me going via the city, George Street, to see all the festival paraphernalia.
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“I think the fact that Queen Elizabeth was such a strong woman was a role model for so many people.”
Reflecting on the future of the monarchy in Canada, its prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said that the Queen’s presence would still be felt in the country “for decades to come”.
He said: “It’s strange, but even as we were there to say goodbye, knowing that she passed number of days before, and yet her presence was still so actively felt. I know that we’re going to still feel her for decades to come.”
After months of friction with Boris Johnson’s government over Brexit, migrants crossing the Channel and other issues, Macron used a farewell video to stress the continuity, symbolised by the Queen, of the historical ties between Paris and London.
With the simple caption Merci Votre Majesté (Thank you, your majesty), the video posted on Twitter showed her five official visits to France and chronicled the attachment that the Queen felt for one of Britain’s closest neighbours throughout her life.
Other notable attendees were Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife, Empress Masako, making their first visit abroad since he succeeded Emperor Akihito in 2019. Traditionally Japanese emperors do not attend funerals due to a cultural belief which considers death to be impure.
King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, and King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden were among foreign royals to attend.
Procession personnel collapse
After hours guarding the funeral procession a number of police officers and military personnel collapsed on duty.
Three military personnel appeared to get into difficulty by Wellington Arch shortly before 2pm. One appeared to collapse to the ground after the royal family had left, while two others were seen being helped away during the transfer of the Queen’s coffin to the state hearse.
At Hyde Park Barracks another member of military personnel stumbled and was taken away by a colleague.
Earlier in the day a police officer on duty near Parliament Square was photographed being carried away on a stretcher by naval personnel after collapsing.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police and a number of outside forces that have sent officers to help have had all leave cancelled and many have been working shifts of 12 hours or longer since the Queen’s death.
Dignitary reflects on ‘solemn and sad beauty’ of funeral service
A dignitary who attended the Queen’s funeral has told how the focus in Westminster Abbey remained fixed on the late monarch even though the room was full of the most important people in the world (Charlie Parker writes).
Sir Timothy Le Cocq, the bailiff of Jersey, said that the attendance of presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens was of secondary concern in comparison to the royal family.
“It was about Her Majesty the Queen, the King and the rest of the royal family,” he said. “One knew that there were a lot of people there and a lot of people who are among the most senior in politics in the world. That was interesting but I have to say it wasn’t the important thing. The important thing was the real solemnity and the beauty of the service.”
In his role as the civic head of Jersey, president of the island’s States Assembly and of its Royal Court, he was positioned among the lord lieutenants of the counties.
He said of the moment the casket arrived: “For those of us who were not in the front row, the first thing you see is the crown of state on top of the coffin, before the coffin comes into more of a view where you can see it. There’s a beauty in the moment, but nonetheless it’s a very solemn and sad beauty. People seemed to be in an extremely good mood. They were affectionate towards the Queen, and indeed towards the royal family.”
Perhaps the most moving moment was when a piper played to mark the end of the service, Le Cocq said. “A moment that caused a number of people to dab their eyes was when the lone piper piped at the end, shortly before the coffin came out.”
He remarked that he was struck by the realisation that “as well as a state funeral it was very much a family funeral”.
One of the eight pallbearers carrying the coffin into the abbey was Fletcher Cox, a 19-year-old member of the Grenadier Guards who is from Jersey.
Le Cocq said that the whole island was proud of the young soldier’s achievement.
He said: “It was pleasing to me, it seemed appropriate somehow that a person from Jersey had a key role in bearing the coffin of the Her Majesty the Queen, because of the deep relationship we have with the crown, it just seemed to resonate properly.
“It must be terribly nerve-racking for them to get the step exactly right, and to do things by the inch. But obviously as these things are done they’re done brilliantly.”
Crown leaves Queen for last time
The Dean of Windsor read from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 21, which is the account of the new Heaven and new Earth: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
After this prayers were led by the rector of Sandringham, where the Queen enjoyed Christmas morning services.
After the choir sang The Motet, with words by the 17th century poet John Donne, silence descended. The Queen’s bargemaster and a serjeant at arms removed the crown, sceptre and orb from the coffin and handed them to the dean, who placed them on the altar.
This was the moment when the physical crown left Elizabeth Windsor and now awaits the coronation, at which it will pass to Charles Mountbatten-Windsor.
Barack Obama pays tribute to Queen
Barack Obama was among the world leaders to offer a final tribute to the Queen yesterday after her funeral at Westminster Abbey.
The former US president said that the Queen was Britain’s “beloved” during a touching video tribute in which he compared her to his own grandmother.
In describing his first meeting with the late monarch in 2009, Obama said: “The first time that I met the Queen was visiting London. She reminded me very much of my grandmother, which surprised me. Not just in appearance but also in manner. Very gracious, but also no nonsense. Wry sense of humour. She could not have been more kind or thoughtful to me and Michelle.”
A relaxed Obama also fondly recalled how the Queen invited his wife and the couple’s two daughters back to Buckingham Palace for tea and to ride around the grounds in her golden carriage.
Solemn moments of symbolism in committal service
Christ is Made the Sure Foundation is sung, a hymn that has its roots in a Latin monastic hymn from the sixth century. It was sung earlier this year at the service at St Paul’s celebrating the Platinum Jubilee. It was also sung at the weddings of Princess Margaret to Antony Armstrong-Jones and Prince Charles to Princess Diana.
After this come solemn moments of symbolism.
The King will be handed The Queen’s Company camp colour, a small flag he will place on his mother’s coffin.
The lord chamberlain, a key servant in the Queen’s household, responsible for the organisation of events from state visits to garden parties, will come forward with a long white stick: his wand of office. He will break it in half and place it on the coffin.
And that will be the last act before Elizabeth II disappears from public view.
As her coffin is lowered, the dean reads from Psalm 103. It emphasises God’s mercy and the brevity of life. The dean will then say a prayer bidding the soul farewell from this world.
The garter king of arms, the senior herald, will read the full styles and titles of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the final time. A piper will play a Lament. The Archbishop of Canterbury will say a final blessing before a final rendition of the national anthem is sung.
This concludes the public portion of the day. The family will have a private burial service at 7.30pm. The Queen will be laid to rest in the George VI with her husband and next to her father, mother and sister.
News anchors confuse PM with ‘minor royal’ in on-air blunder
Two prominent Australian news anchors were unable to recognise Liz Truss and instead misidentified the prime minister as a “minor royal” during a live broadcast of the Queen’s funeral.
Truss was the last prime minister to meet the Queen before her death last Thursday. Cameras were then present when she met the King the following day, hours after he returned to Buckingham Palace after being with his family and his late mother at Balmoral.
But Truss’s arrival at the funeral left veteran Channel 9 presenters Peter Overton, 56, and Tracy Grimshaw, 62, scratching their heads.
“Who’s this?” wondered Grimshaw, as the prime minister left her vehicle with her husband, Hugh O’Leary.
Interjecting, Overton then offered: “Hard to identify. Maybe minor royals? Members of the — I can’t identify them at this point.”
“We can’t spot everyone, unfortunately,” Grimshaw added. “They look like they could be, will be local dignitaries. It’s hard to see. We’re looking at the backs of their heads mostly.”
A close-up of Truss walking into Westminster Abbey was then shown for about ten seconds by Channel 9, which is the second highest-rated television network in Australia.
Despite the camera zooming in on Truss’s face, Overton began to suggest that she was a lower ranked royal. He was then informed that she was, in fact, the prime minister.
“I think we are now getting to the pointy end, as they say of the…” he said, before stumbling. “I’m just told that was Liz Truss, the new prime minister, in the distance that we could see, hopping out their cars, thank you very much.”
A wreath from No 10, which was signed by Truss, was stationed close to the door of the chapel. It said: “For a lifetime of devotion and duty we offer our deep and sincere gratitude.’’
What are the orb and sceptre? Symbols of power steeped in history
Atop the Queen’s coffin, alongside the Imperial State Crown, are the orb and sceptre.
All three will be removed from the Queen��s coffin towards the end of the committal service at Windsor (Rhys Blakely writes). But what do the “instruments of state” represent?
The sceptre
The sceptre is held to represent the crown’s power and governance. It has been used since 1661, when it was created for the coronation of King Charles II.
It was redesigned in the early 20th century to incorporate the world’s largest cut white diamond, the Cullinan I, also known as the First Star of Africa. Discovered in South Africa in 1905, the diamond was gifted to Edward VII in 1907.
The sceptre is 3ft long, weighs 2.6lbs and is decorated with 333 diamonds, 31 rubies, 15 emeralds, seven sapphires, six spinels, and one composite amethyst.
The gold clasps holding the Cullinan I diamond can be opened, allowing it to be removed to be worn as a pendant hanging from Cullinan II, another diamond cut from the same original stone, which is set in the Imperial State Crown.
Records of coronations in England as early as the 9th century mention a sceptre.
The orb
The orb — a golden sphere, surmounted by a gem-encrusted cross — is symbolic of the monarch’s power deriving from God.
Like the sceptre, it was created in 1661. It has been used at every coronation since Charles II’s. It is mounted with nine emeralds, 18 rubies, nine sapphires, 365 diamonds, 375 pearls, one amethyst and one glass stone.
It is handed to the sovereign during the investiture rite of the coronation, and is borne later in the left hand when leaving Westminster Abbey.
During the funeral service, the Imperial State Crown, the orb and the sceptre will be lifted from the Queen’s coffin by the Crown Jeweller.
Andrew and Harry not allowed to salute
Prince Andrew and the Duke of Sussex were not permitted to offer a salute to Britain’s war dead as they passed the Cenotaph in London after the Queen’s funeral (Kieran Gair writes).
The King, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex saluted the memorial to Britain and the Commonwealth soldiers killed in the First and Second World Wars.
Harry and Andrew instead bowed their heads as they passed the memorial. Their appearances in civilian clothes meant they were not permitted to offer a salute; that honour and duty is reserved only for those in uniform.
It is the second time in the past week that Harry and Andrew, who are the only living members of the Queen’s immediate family to have served in war, were not allowed to perform the symbolic gesture at the Cenotaph.
On Wednesday the princes were barred from performing the salute while travelling from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall to begin the Queen’s lying in state.
Harry stepped down from royal duties in March 2020 after he and his wife announced they would be moving overseas. In November of that year, he was refused permission for a wreath to be laid at the Cenotaph on his behalf.
Harry retains the rank of captain and served two tours in Afghanistan.
Andrew, who served in the navy, was a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War. He was stripped of his military titles amid the fallout from his friendship with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Identical twins share ‘massive honour’ of playing in military band
Playing in the military band during the funeral procession to Westminster Abbey were identical twin brothers, Sergeant James and Peter Muir, 32, from Kirkcaldy, Fife (Larisa Brown writes).
They have served with the Black Watch, an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, since 2007.
Wearing a kilt and red hackle to the side of one of his drums, Peter, a married father-of-two, took on the temporary role of lead tip, which meant it was his job to keep the band to time with a side drum. The drums have to bang at 75 beats per minute — the pace reserved for funerals — to keep the rest of the procession in time.
“We were practising the whole week so it kind of became second nature and I think we were bang on the money today for the tempos,” he said. He said he had a metronome app on his phone to help prepare for the day.
“It is the send off she deserves,” Peter said.
As the pipe major, James, a father-of-one, played the bagpipes on the procession to the abbey and will also play them during the procession in Windsor as the Queen is taken to her final resting place. “It is a massive honour,” he said.
The twins, who served in Afghanistan together, have played for the Queen on several occasions.
Misbehaving horse upsets military timing
Any small mishap can have a disproportionate impact on such a huge logistical operation (Mark Sellman writes).
If you noticed that the military timing of the procession was a little unmilitary, the reason for the delay was that one of the horses was playing up in its box at the King’s Life Guard, a sentry point at the entrance to Horse Guards Parade.
This is a narrow entry through which the whole procession has to pass. Everyone from the the point of the Commonwealth soldiers had to wait. The delay was only a minute or so but this had a knock-on effect on the timing of the whole funeral.
Queen’s coffin placed in hearse
After the procession finished, the coffin was placed in the state hearse, which will now travel to Windsor. Crowds are gathering along the route to pay their respects.
Helen Osgerby, a retired NHS worker, arrived in Runnymede at noon after travelling 25 miles from Basingstoke. “I decided this morning,” she said, surrounded by a score of police officers preparing to line the Windsor Road as it passes by Runnymede. “I’ve been wanting to do something for her. I thought, it’s my last chance. She’s someone who tried to do the right thing and be a good person. In a way she was a lucky person, wasn’t she? What a wonderful life.”
Gary Richardson, a business consultant, came to sit on a picnic blanket at the roadside with his wife, Amanda, and children, George, ten, and Henry, seven. He said that he owed his career to the King; the Prince’s Trust charity funded his training to become a chef. “I think it’s the right thing to do, to try to see her,” he said. “It feels like another grandmother who’s passed away.”
Ten-year-old George has been taking part the mourning period and he stood outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday. “We saw the King last night,” he said. “He was in a car and we were waving.”
Trixie Walker-White, 64, from Egham, arrived at 8.45am to place her camping chair on the verge. She said that the location was apt because it was a short walk from a Royal Air Force memorial that the Queen had dedicated as one of her first acts as monarch in 1953. Walker-White was there when the Queen returned to rededicate the memorial 50 years later.
“She was quite close. I went and saw the Queen Mother lying in state but I didn’t get there this time. So this is a little thing I could do today for her. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. I wanted to see her come past one last time.”
Windsor readies for arrival of Queen’s coffin
Lieutenant Colonel Fred Wells, commanding officer of 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, based at Victoria Barracks in Windsor, will oversee troops lining the Long Walk this afternoon (Neil Johnston writes).
“For those of us who have met her, who feel touched by meeting her . . . For the armed forces we’ve lost our commander-in-chief; for the nation we’ve lost our Queen,” he said. “It’s an incredibly sad day but at the same time for us it’s exciting as well. We are playing a pivotal role in her final send-off and I think for us in Windsor particularly, her very last journey to be playing a part in that is such a privilege.”
In 2001 Wells danced with the Queen at Balmoral. “She was wonderful, she was very friendly and very understanding of the fact I had two left feet. Anyone who gets to meet the Queen is incredibly touched by meeting her. I think she had such a warm personality and was welcoming to everyone.”
Captain Tom Melville, 32, from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, is sector adjutant on the Long Walk up to Windsor Castle. He worked as assistant equerry to the Queen between 2019 and 2021 and had weekly contact with her and many conversations about racing. He said that today was “the greatest honour of my career and clearly a day I will never forget”.
Air Specialist Freddie Stringer, 20, will be a side drummer with the band of the Royal Air Force College in Windsor. His parents have also taken part in the ten days of mourning — his father, Barry, is a beefeater and mother, Justine, is in the Honorable Artillery Company band.
“My family will be watching but they’ve played their own part this week,” he said. He said that today would be the biggest moment of his RAF career. “I don’t think anything can quite compare with the magnitude of this job. Nothing will come close to this.”
Analysis: songs that spoke to the soul of the Queen
After a procession soundtracked by the massed pipes and drums of Scottish and Irish regiments and delivered with ferocious synchronicity, the first sung words we heard in the service were a drink of cool water: “I am the resurrection and the life” — the opening of the Funeral Sentences by William Croft (Neil Fisher writes). The work was sung at the funerals of George Frideric Handel, Diana, the Princess of Wales, and the Queen Mother. No doubt one day it will be sung for Charles III.
As sung with piercing beauty by, first, the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and then joined by the Chapel Royal Choir, the Sentences also set the musical tone. There would be nothing to disturb the mood of Christian devotion, and nothing that felt out of place with centuries of tradition. Yet with two eloquent works by living composers, we also celebrated two modern-day Elizabethans.
Judith Weir — surely shortly to become Dame Judith Weir — who is now Master of the King’s Music, unveiled a new setting of Psalm 42, giving the boy trebles of the combined choirs a moment of transcendent beauty before filling out the work with overlapping, lyrical lines. As with the best of Weir’s music, the work had ancient roots given fresh energy. It was gracefully directed by James O’Donnell and as it wound its way towards that sweetly consonant last chord it felt like a much longer piece than it really was.
Sir James Macmillan’s anthem, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, was both in dialogue with Weir’s work and came from a totally different place. Instead of sweet trebles, it began with a sepulchral bass drone. MacMillan wears his faith proudly, and this muscular work suggested the awesomeness of religion more than it did reverence, with gritty, Tippett-like vocal lines and a florid, almost jolting Alleluia. Then it was back to that bass line.
There were hymns that few might choose for tub-thumping melody, but which we know meant much to the Queen. Hubert Parry’s My soul, there is a country was a warm blanket of Edwardian fervour, while Vaughan Williams’s psalm O taste and see how gracious the Lord is was a spoon of musical sugar — and a look back to the Queen’s coronation when the piece was premiered. Duties on the organ were expertly shared by Matthew Jorysz and Peter Holder, the latter delivering Bach’s mournful Fantasia in C Minor with memorable poise.
Yet it was the solo immediately before the Bach which may well become the iconic moment to look back on. As the congregation stood, Paul Burns, the Queen’s Piper, played Sleep, dearie, sleep. The bagpipe is a raucous instrument but here we heard its soul. And here we came closest in spirit to the remarkable woman it was played for.
Soldiers march with reverse arms as mark of respect
The soldiers in the parade are marching with reverse arms, a mark of respect at a funeral (Jack Blackburn writes). The rifle is turned around under the right arm, with the barrel facing behind the soldier at a 45-degree angle to the ground. The left arm is used to support the barrel behind the back.
It may not sound like much, but holding a rifle in this position for an hour is sizeable test of endurance.
The history of this said to date to ancient Greece, though we only have evidence from the 16th century. Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army performed the movement at the execution of Charles I in 1649, a honour for which they were punished.
John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough who won the great victory at the Battle of Blenheim, was honoured with a unique version of the drill, though it did fall out of practice. At Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901, many soldiers had not been taught it and general confusion abounded. There was no such trouble in 2022.
Analysis: A personal but very public funeral
Not in 262 years has Westminster Abbey seen a royal funeral, but the modern age called for this most antique of stages. The days of private funerals for monarchs are over, as now the nation and the world are let in to share in the grieving (Jack Blackburn writes).
Just as the beginning of the Queen’s reign saw the first televised coronation, its end saw the first completely televised funeral of a British monarch, with sweeping cameras bringing the people straight into this most solemn of moments.
Yet British solemnity also calls for pageantry, heralds and trumpeters. It is a balance between sorrow and celebration. The soaring, beautiful music raised the spirits all the way through to the rousing rendition of God Save the King, which was then cut through by the mournful piper’s Lament echoing off the stones as it faded away into the distance.
This was an unabashedly Christian service, as one would expect for the devout, late Queen.
It offered hope of the resurrection but also reminded all that beneath the Royal Standard lay a woman who once sang those words as a young girl in the darkest times. She served in the great conflict of the Second World War before dedicating all of her long days to her faith and her country.
And now, after these many decades, she is taken to her final rest.
Crowds wait at Windsor
After the procession is finished, the coffin will be placed in the state hearse, which will then travel to Windsor. Crowds are gathering along the route to pay their respects.
Helen Osgerby, a retired NHS worker, arrived in Runnymede at noon after travelling 25 miles from Basingstoke. “I decided this morning,” she said, surrounded by a score of police officers preparing to line the Windsor Road as it passes by Runnymede. “I’ve been wanting to do something for her. I thought, it’s my last chance. She’s someone who tried to do the right thing and be a good person. In a way she was a lucky person, wasn’t she? What a wonderful life.”
Gary Richardson, a business consultant, came to sit on a picnic blanket at the roadside with his wife, Amanda, and children, George, ten, and Henry, seven. He said that he owed his career to the King; the Prince’s Trust charity funded his training to become a chef. “I think it’s the right thing to do, to try to see her,” he said. “It feels like another grandmother who’s passed away.”
George has been taking part the mourning period and he stood outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday. “We saw the King last night,” he said. “He was in a car and we were waving.”
Trixie Walker-White, 64, from Egham, arrived at 8.45am to place her camping chair on the verge. She said that the location was apt because it was a short walk from a Royal Air Force memorial that the Queen had dedicated as one of her first acts as monarch in 1953. Walker-White was there when the Queen returned to rededicate the memorial 50 years later.
“She was quite close. I went and saw the Queen Mother lying in state but I didn’t get there this time. So this is a little thing I could do today for her. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. I wanted to see her come past one last time.”
What does the note in the Queen’s flowers say?
The King offered a final written tribute to the Queen through a card placed on his mother’s coffin alongside the crown and floral display (Kieran Gair writes).
Neatly handwritten, the card signed by Charles was placed atop the Queen’s coffin before the funeral. It said: “In loving and devoted memory. Charles”. It appeared to be written on Palace stationery.
The wreath placed on the coffin included flowers requested by the King. Cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Highgrove House, the flowers and foliage were chosen for their symbolism.
They include rosemary, for remembrance, and myrtle cut from a plant that was grown from a sprig of myrtle in the Queen’s wedding bouquet. Myrtle is an ancient symbol of a happy marriage.
Also included are English oak to symbolise the strength of love, pelargoniums, garden roses, autumnal hydrangea, sedum, dahlias and scabious, all in shades of gold, pink and deep burgundy, with touches of white, to reflect the Royal Standard on which it was placed.
At the King’s request, the wreath was made in a totally sustainable way, in a nest of English moss and oak branches, and without the use of floral foam.
The coffin is surmounted by the Imperial State Crown, the orb and the sceptre and borne by the Bearer Party.
Covid vaccinator nurse in procession
The NHS nurse who delivered the world’s first Covid-19 jab is among those marching in front of the Queen’s coffin as it leaves Westminster Abbey.
May Parsons, 42, vaccinated Maggie Keenan, then 90, in December 2020 at the very beginning of the UK’s vaccine rollout.
She is part of a delegation of representatives from the NHS who are taking part in the two-mile funeral procession to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner.
Parsons moved to Britain in 2003 from the Philippines and works at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, where she managed Covid wards throughout the pandemic.
Parsons said: “She was so lovely, she was so funny. She asked me what I was doing and I told her I was managing the Covid wards in my trust and I was delivering Covid vaccinations.
“Then [the Queen] quipped with: ‘Are you still alive?’. Obviously imagine how run ragged we were during the pandemic.
“She was so full of life and humorous. Her sense of humour was top notch. I was so nervous but she made me feel at home and at ease. She was telling us not to look so glum in the photos. In between the shots she said: ‘Don’t look so miserable!’
“There are more than a million people in the NHS to represent so it’s an honour and a privilege to represent the wonderful people of the NHS at the funeral.”
The NHS is one of seven organisations represented in the ceremonial procession, marching to the rhythm of artillery guns fired every 60 seconds and the chimes of Big Ben.
It is being led by horses from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, followed by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British armed forces.
Tears and applause as service ends
As the national anthem came to an end, a wave of applause rippled down The Mall. Members of the crowd wiped tears from their eyes (Kat Lay and David Brown write).
The entire service has been listened to in almost unbroken respectful silence.
One of the few interruptions came when a gaggle of noisy geese on St James’s Park lake threatened to drown out the Archbishop of Canterbury as his sermon was broadcast to the crowd outside Buckingham Palace.
And at 11.30am Guardsmen wearing bearskins arrived at The Mall and stood to attention along the route of the coffin procession. They are standing facing the road, while police officers stationed between them face the watching crowd. The shouted military orders and sharp footsteps as they moved into position provided a contrast to the choral music coming over the loudspeakers.
Members of the Queen’s household have now lined up along the pavement directly in front of Buckingham Palace to pay their last respects, including two chefs wearing black armbands. They are standing with hands clasped in a single row, waiting.
Procession to pass landmarks of Queen’s reign
London is bidding a final farewell to its Queen of 70 years with a procession in which the Commonwealth is also paying tribute to its late head (Jack Blackburn writes).
Mounties from Canada lead the way, ahead of representative detachments from New Zealand, Australia and Canada. There are then the George Cross representatives from Malta, the Royal Ulster Constabulary — the former police force of Northern Ireland — and the NHS.
The royal family is following on foot and in cars.
Representatives from all the armed services are out in great numbers and variety, as are chaplains of different denominations from the services.
Her Majesty’s route takes her past the venues that so dominated her reign.
It includes Parliament, which she opened on more than 60 occasions. In Parliament Square, a tri-service party stands in honour of the late monarch as the coffin turns round to the Cenotaph, where until the last years of her reign she paid tribute to the Glorious Dead.
On then to Horse Guards, where she delighted annually in the Trooping the Colour, and then The Mall, where the presence of her family is strong.
Statues of her father and mother look down upon the procession. It will go past Clarence House where, as a princess, she made a beloved family home. Then, at the end, it reaches Buckingham Palace, her official residence, from whose balcony she witnessed days of great celebration in her reign.
Beyond there, she is taken up Constitution Hill to Wellington Arch. Here she is placed in the state hearse and taken to Windsor, leaving her capital, never to return.
Archbishop of Canterbury: We will meet again
Here is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s sermon for the state funeral of the Queen in full:
The pattern for many leaders is to be exalted in life and forgotten after death. The pattern for all who serve God — famous or obscure, respected or ignored — is that death is the door to glory.
Her late Majesty famously declared in a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and Commonwealth.
Rarely has such a promise been so well kept! Few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen.
Jesus — who, in our reading, does not tell his disciples how to follow but who — said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Her late Majesty’s example was not set through her position or her ambition but through whom she followed. I know His Majesty shares the same faith and hope in Jesus Christ as his mother; the same sense of service and duty.
In 1953 the Queen began her coronation with silent prayer, just there at the High Altar. Her allegiance to God was given before any person gave allegiance to her. Her service to so many people in this nation, the Commonwealth and the world had its foundation in her following Christ — God himself — who said that he “came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are forgotten.
The grief of this day — felt not only by the late Queen’s family but all round the nation, Commonwealth and world — arises from her abundant life and loving service, now gone from us.
She was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.
We pray especially for all her family, grieving as every family at a funeral — including so many families round the world who have themselves lost someone recently — but, in this family’s case, doing so in the brightest spotlight.
May God heal their sorrow, may the gap left in their lives be marked with memories of joy and life.
Her late Majesty’s broadcast during Covid lockdown ended with, “We will meet again” — words of hope from a song of Vera Lynn. Christian hope means certain expectation of something not yet seen.
Christ rose from the dead and offers life to all, abundant life now and life with God in eternity. As the Christmas carol says, “Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in”.
We will all face the merciful judgment of God: we can all share the Queen’s hope, which in life and death inspired her servant leadership.
Service in life, hope in death. All who follow the Queen’s example, and inspiration of trust and faith in God, can with her say: “We will meet again.”
Music brings service to a poignant end
The conclusion of the service is extremely moving. The Last Post leads the nation into two minutes’ silence, and calls to mind the many Remembrance Day ceremonies Her Majesty attended at the Cenotaph (Jack Blackburn writes).
It was also last heard in this context only last year, at the funeral of Prince Philip.
The silence is broken by Reveille and then comes the familiar anthem with the unfamiliar words. God Save the King echoes through the hallowed halls of Westminster Abbey for the first time in more than 70 years. God Save the Queen is unlikely to be used again in this century.
The triumphalism of the anthem gives way to a mournful piper’s lament, Sleep, Dearie, Sleep. When the piper Paul Burns plays his last note, Bach’s Fantasia in C minor signals the start of the procession.
The Queen was married in this church, she was crowned there and now she departs it for the final time.
Britain grinds to a halt for funeral
Millions of people around Britain are at home in front of the TV watching the moving scenes at Westminster Abbey (Ben Clatworthy writes).
Cardiff was like a ghost town in the lead-up to the funeral; the few people watching the service in pubs in the city centre were mostly tourists. Wales is the only nation in the United Kingdom where not a single council is hosting a public screening of the service allowing people to gather.
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The muffled bells of the medieval St John the Baptist church in Cardiff city centre drifted across the empty streets as a tour guide spoke to a German coach group outside the castle walls.
In Manchester the heavens opened before the funeral. The rain did not stop people gathering in Exchange Square to watch the ceremony on large screens.
Liz Leather, 64, said: “I was disappointed that I couldn’t get to London but it just wasn’t practical. It’s quite fitting that it’s raining here. I think it captures the mood of the nation.”
Rogers Govender, dean of Manchester, was expecting about 1,000 people at the gothic Manchester cathedral. “A cathedral is a place of gathering, and at times like this a place to open up to the community,” he said. “On a rainy day, we can let people pay their respects in a prayerful place, a place where people were praying just this morning, a place where the Queen has visited and Prince Edward visited only last week.”
At Gatwick airport, hundreds of passengers fell silent to watch the start of the funeral on big screens erected in the terminals.
In Edinburgh, a big screen has been set up in Holyrood royal park, a sward of green in the shadow of the craggy summit of Arthur’s seat. It is just behind the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, where she would stay en route to her annual holiday at Balmoral.
She came every July, hosting a garden party each year for thousands of guests and meeting civic dignitaries, politicians and member of royal orders, such as the Order of the Thistle.
All faiths are represented in congregation
The prayers show Her Majesty’s commitment to a multi-denominational society. She was supreme governor of the Church of England and defender of the faith, a title given to Henry VIII by the Pope in the years before the break with Rome, but Elizabeth II was keen that her country be a place welcoming to all religions and cultures (Jack Blackburn writes).
Representatives from all faiths are present in the congregation, while the prayers are conducted by priests from many Christian denominations.
Perhaps most notably, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, is taking part in a clear signal of the rapprochement between the established Protestant church and Roman Catholicism after centuries of repression and persecution.
The prayers conclude with the Lord’s Prayer, and then follows Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, an uplifting final hymn.
Truss gives reading
The prime minister, on her 14th day in the job, delivered the gospel reading. In John 14, Jesus prepares his disciples for his death, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Jack Blackburn writes).
In this passage, he tells them that he goes to prepare a place for them in “his Father’s house”, meaning the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a promise not just of his resurrection but also of his second coming.
“I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” Jesus tells the disciples.
There then came the hymn The Lord is My Shepherd, taken from Psalm 23. The tune being used is Crimond, a 19th century composition attributed to Jessie Seymour Irvine.
It was one of the Queen’s favourite hymns and was used by the BBC as part of celebrations for her 90th birthday.
Religious significance of the service
The funeral service is the most delicate piece of liturgy. It balances grief and hope, the immense sadness of death with the promise of resurrection through Jesus Christ (Jack Blackburn writes).
The opening sentences capture this with brutality and comfort. The Book of Job dwells on the body in the grave, the First Letter to Timothy reminds us that we brought nothing into this world and that we will carry nothing out, but both point to God’s promise, encapsulated in Jesus’s words from the Gospel of John: “I am the resurrection and the life.”
The joint choirs of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal sang from the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Revelation as the procession into the began. The first piece of music was written by Henry Purcell, the organist at the abbey in the late 17th century.
The other piece is by William Croft, whose funeral sentences have been sung at every state funeral since the 18th century, and at the funerals of Diana, the Princess of Wales, the Queen Mother, Prince Philip and Margaret Thatcher.
The procession begins
With the Queen’s coffin having been borne on to the state gun carriage, the procession from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey begins (Jack Blackburn writes).
One hundred and forty-two Royal Navy ratings will draw the carriage. Ratings are junior sailors below the rank of warrant and commission officer.
The tradition of their drawing the carriage dates to Queen Victoria’s funeral. Her coffin was due to be drawn by horses but the bar securing the carriage to the horses broke. The naval guard of honour took charge, and they have been used to draw the gun carriage at state funerals ever since.
Members of the royal family, including the Queen’s children and Prince William and Prince Harry, will walk behind the coffin.
The coffin will be accompanied by the pall bearers, all former equerries to the Queen and a series of King’s body guards, made up of the Gentlemen at Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard and the Royal Company of Archers (the Scottish body guard).
Ahead of them will be members of the Queen’s household and the College of Arms, as well as the massed pipes and drums and mounted Metropolitan Police.
The bearer party comes from the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. The Queen’s connection with the Grenadier Guards was long and treasured; her father made her a colonel of the Grenadier Guards 80 years ago.
Queen will be reunited with family in her final resting place
Her Majesty will be buried with her family today. Not only will Prince Philip’s body be moved to be with his wife’s, but the Queen will also be buried alongside her father, mother and sister in St George’s Chapel (Jack Blackburn writes).
Both Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother died 20 years ago, in the year of the Golden Jubilee. While her mother’s death at 101 was not unexpected, Princess Margaret was only 71 when she died. In the preceding years she had suffered a number of strokes.
According with her wishes, a funeral was held at St George’s Chapel before she was cremated. Her wish was to be buried next to her beloved father — her mother had not yet died — but there was not sufficient room in the chapel. The cremation made this possible and she was moved there seven weeks later when her mother died.
Read the full story here.
Myrtle: a flower for royal weddings and funerals
Funeral flowers in Westminster Abbey featured myrtle — which was used in the Queen’s wedding bouquet, as is stipulated by royal tradition.
Myrtle, a delicate white flower that grows at Osborne, the former royal residence on the Isle of Wight, has been the flower of choice for royal brides since the 1850s, including for Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947.
The white and green displays of blooms include asiatic lilies, gladioli, alstroemeria, eustoma and foliage of English oak, weeping birch and the sprigs of myrtle.
The first known use of myrtle in a royal bouquet was at the wedding of Victoria and Albert’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria.
Since then, flowers grown from the same plant have featured in the bouquets of Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, the Princess of Wales, the new Princess of Wales and, most recently, the Duchess of Sussex.
Around the coffin will stand the four tall yellow candles which usually rest around the grave of the unknown warrior at the entrance to the church.
The catafalque where the Queen’s coffin will rest has been covered with a dusky blue fabric reserved solely for state funerals with a subtle pattern of flowers and birds.
Organ music echoed around as guests chatted to one another, holding pristine orders of service printed with the royal coat of arms on the front.
As the bulk of the congregation filled the seats, there was a buzz of chatter and excitement in advance of the solemn occasion. An hour or so before the start of the service Westminster Abbey’s falconer carried his harris falcon, Rufus, through one of the side rooms. The 15-year-old hooded bird has been patrolling the church since Thursday to control the number of pigeons for fear they could disrupt the occasion.
Wayne Davis, a falconer from Corby Northamptonshire, said: “It’s surreal. I’ve never witnessed anything like this. I’ve been involved in the Olympics, Wimbledon . . . but this is different. We’ve been proactive. I’ve been up in the roof controlling the pigeons. He usually has bells on but they’re too noisy so I’ve had to take them off today.”
Mourners travel thousands of miles
Few in the crowds had longer journeys than Bruce Smith, who flew in from Brisbane in Australia (write Kat Lay, Eleanor Hayward and Emma Yeomans).
Smith, 50, decided last week to book a flight to London to be here for the funeral, and his 38-hour journey ended yesterday.
He said: “The flights ended up costing £4,000 and I had to go by America because all other routes were booked up. But I was never going to miss it. It’s a historic day, possibly the most historical day of our times. There are no other world leaders who can hold their head up high and say they always do what is right and good. We will never see anyone else like her.”
Maeva and Olivier Karbowiak had brought their 13-month-old son Pablo from Paris.
Yesterday they queued for nine hours and eight minutes to see the Queen lying in state.
“I think it is something very historic — it will be in the history books,” said Maeva.
She said she wanted Pablo to be able to say he was there.
“We have tried to take a lot of videos and photos to help him remember.”
The lying in state had been impressive and emotional, she said, even though “she wasn’t our queen”.
A steady stream of mourners passed through London’s railway stations this morning on their way to join the funeral crowds.
Dave and Elaine Ogdenhad travelled down from Manchester yesterday and stayed with friends in Luton last night.
Elaine, 67, said: “It means a lot to be here. We’ve always been royalists anyway, but really I’m here because my mum would have wanted me to come.
“We’ll never see the likes of the Queen again, ever. Charles will do an amazing job, but he’ll never be the Queen.
“She’s just so very very special to everybody.”
After travelling down to Luton yesterday, the couple arrived in St Pancras and are now heading to Marble Arch to join the crowds at Hyde Park.
“We’ve only just got off the train and we’ll make our way down now,” she said. “It’s a day to remember.”
Public viewing areas are full
All public viewing areas for the Queen’s funeral procession are full, London’s City Hall said. The pavement opposite Buckingham Palace, where crowds have come to see the Queen since her appearance as a young princess on VE Day, was packed by 8.50am (David Brown writes).
Some had been in the same spot to see the Queen make her final appearance on the palace balcony at her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June. They returned to witness her final journey.
Rachel Stone and her family had seen the monarch’s coffin arrive at the palace for the final time on Tuesday, having travelled from St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.
“It’s a moment in history,” she said. “It is something for the children to remember and to tell their children about.”
Stone had travelled from Margate, Kent, with her children Isla, eight, and Rosie, five; her sister Abbie Harrison, 30, and her son, Franklin, nine and her mother Sarah Harrison, 65.
Franklin commented: “I am happy that we have come to London but sad we won’t see the Queen again.”
The hardiest members of the public camped overnight along The Mall to secure places at the front to witness the coffin make its way towards the palace from Westminster Abbey.
The state gun carriage carrying the coffin will pass around the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace before heading up Constitution Hill towards Wellington Arch.
Public announcements urged spectators not to wave large flags to avoid obscuring the view of those behind.
