Queen Elizabeth II has begun the journey to her final resting place at Windsor after a momentous state funeral at Westminster Abbey, attended by world leaders and British citizens mourning the country’s longest-serving monarch.
Crowds thronged the route of the Queen’s coffin as it made its way from the abbey through the heart of ceremonial London to Wellington Arch, before being taken west to St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle for a ceremony of committal, starting at 4pm.
Later at 7.30pm the Queen will be laid to rest with her late husband Prince Philip at a private ceremony in the King George VI memorial chapel, named after her father, which is part of St George’s Chapel.
At Windsor, crowds formed along the Long Walk as her coffin was driven to its final destination in the state hearse. Royal burials at Windsor continue an association between the Berkshire town and royalty dating back to the 11th century, when William the Conqueror founded the castle.
The state funeral at Westminster Abbey, the first held in Britain since Winston Churchill’s death in 1965, came at the end of 10 days of national mourning in Britain, a period that saw the country come together to mark a dislocating moment in its history but also one of unity and continuity.
The Queen’s coffin was on Monday morning brought on a gun carriage to the abbey from the cavernous silence of Westminster Hall, where she had laid in rest for four full days; her lying-in-state ended at 6.30am on Monday.
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world had joined “the queue” — a line stretching for five miles along the banks of the river Thames — to pay tribute to the Queen, who reigned for 70 years. People in the queue spoke of a rare sense of duty and camaraderie.
Before the funeral King Charles said he was “deeply touched” by the support he had received from across the world. At the ceremony itself, his eyes were fixed firmly on his mother’s coffin as the congregation sang the national anthem, “God Save the King”.
The state funeral, whose order of service and hymns were agreed in consultation with the late Queen, saw an extraordinary cast of world leaders drawn to London to remember a woman whose reign spanned Britain’s postwar era.
US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Emperor Naruhito — making his first trip outside his country since ascending the throne in 2019 — joined European royalty in the abbey, where the late Queen was married and crowned.
Around 200 key workers and volunteers, recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June, were also among the 2,000 invited to attend. The leaders of Russia, Afghanistan, Syria and Venezuela were among those left off the guest list.
The 10 days of carefully choreographed mourning were intended to provide ample space for grief, but also to mark the role of the British royal family as a source of continuity in national life. Westminster Abbey has been the venue for royal coronations since William the Conqueror in 1066.
The Queen’s great-grandchildren, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, joined the King and other members of the royal family as the coffin processed through the abbey. The event was expected to have been watched by one of the world’s biggest ever live broadcast audiences.
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, noted in his sermon that “those who serve” would be remembered longer than “those who cling to power and privilege”, a remark that might have resonated with some of the politicians gathered in the abbey.
He also recalled the late monarch’s national broadcast during the pandemic: “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.’” He said the late monarch had enjoyed “an abundant life”.
Those attending the state funeral in person began arriving long before it started at 11am, with many of the world leaders arriving on buses as a major security operation swung into action. Around 10,000 police officers were on duty at the event, along with 1,500 soldiers.
There has been debate this week in the media about whether Britain’s sombre and united response to the Queen’s death, along with the spectacular ceremony, is a reminder of the country’s greatness or a distraction from its many problems.
But while this week many world leaders will assemble for the general assembly of the UN in New York, on Monday the gothic church of Westminster Abbey was briefly the focal point of global power as the world remembered the late Queen.
Some of the mourners wiped away tears during the funeral service, which began with the hymn chosen by the Queen herself: “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord is Ended”.
The ceremonial heart of the service at St George’s Chapel will come when the Queen’s Bargemaster and a Serjeant of Arms will remove the instruments of state — the crown, orb and sceptre used in the coronation — from the top of the coffin.
The moment represents the completion of a circle started when George VI died, the instruments were removed from his coffin and subsequently presented to the late Queen at her coronation in 1953.
Shortly afterwards the Lord Chamberlain, an official personally appointed by the sovereign, will break his wand of office and place it on the coffin.
The dean will read Psalm 103 while the coffin is lowered into the royal vault. A further, private burial service for the immediate royal family will follow in the evening, as the Queen is laid to rest.