Accompanied by King Charles III and sons, Queen's coffin leaves Buckingham palace

September 14, 2022 19:53

Pic: Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters

King Charles III and his sons, Princes William and Harry, joined a sombre procession as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace in London on Wednesday, on its final journey to be conveyed to Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament complex for lying-in-state until the state funeral at Westminster Abbey nearby on Monday.

At 2.22 pm local time, the coffin placed on a horse-drawn gun carriage of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery began its ceremonial procession of under two kilometres to the Palace of Westminster.

The Queen's heir, Charles, and her grandchildren William and Harry walked side by side behind the coffin, with gun salutes firing from Hyde Park and Big Ben tolling during a sombre journey.

The Queen's other children, Princess Anne and Princes Andrew and Edward, were also among the senior royals in the procession behind the carriage.

Thousands lined the route of the procession, which went past the Mall towards the Palace of Westminster by the river Thames.

The coffin will be received at Westminster Hall by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Reverend Justin Welby, to conduct a short service assisted by the Very Revd Dr David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster.

This ceremony will be joined by other members of the royal family as well before the coffin is placed on a catafalque, or raised platform.

As the lying-in-state stage of the ceremony begins, a continuous vigil will be mounted by officers of the Household Division, the King's Bodyguards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers and the Yeomen of the Guard.

Westminster Hall will then open from 5 pm local time to the many thousands queuing since Monday evening to begin filing past the coffin to pay their respects to the late monarch.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Don't want to politicise but...: Rahul meets Hathras stampede victims' kin

A total of 121 people, mostly women, died in the stampede at self-styled godman Baba Bhole's satsang in Hathras on Tuesday.

Jailed Amritpal Singh, Engineer Rashid take oath as LS MPs

Singh, 31, and Rashid, 56, won the recent Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated.

Inspired by T20 WC win, young India vows more glory

India's emotional and epochal triumph in the just-concluded T20 World Cup found its resonance in Gen-Next stars

New dates for NEET-PG 2024 exam announced

The Union Health Ministry on June 22 postponed the NEET-PG entrance examination, scheduled to be held on June 23, as a "precautionary measure" in the wake of allegations on the integrity of certain competitive exams.

To strengthen Olympic bid, PM Modi seeks athletes' inputs

The upcoming Games will be held from July 26 to August 11 and India would be hoping to better its best ever tally of seven medals, including Chopra's historic javelin throw gold at the Tokyo Games.