On Monday, September 19, Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest. The monarch died peacefully at Balmoral, her Scottish Highlands home, on September 8. Buckingham Palace announced the news that day, at around 6.30pm.
Her coffin has since travelled from Balmoral to London, via Edinburgh where she spent time at St Giles' Cathedral, before lying in state at Westminster Hall for fours days for her state funeral, the first to be held since that of Winston Churchill in 1965.
Coverage of the funeral is set to dominate the TV schedule with ITV and the BBC outlining their plans for the day. Huw Edwards, Kirsty Young and David Dimbleby are among the presenters who will anchor the BBC's TV coverage of the Queen’s funeral. Their special programming covering the historic day on September 19 will air from 8am until 5pm on BBC One and iPlayer, with BSL signed coverage on BBC Two.
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The coverage will follow key events including the funeral service at Westminster Abbey, the procession escorting the late monarch through London to Wellington Arch and then on to Windsor Castle, and the committal service at St George’s Chapel. Edwards and Fergal Keane will be reporting from London while Young and Dimbleby will be stationed in Windsor.
A number of reporters will lead coverage from other key areas including Sophie Raworth at Parliament Square, Anita Rani at the Long Walk at Windsor and JJ Chalmers at Wellington Barracks. Scottish broadcaster Allan Little will offer a first-hand account from inside Westminster Abbey while sports radio presenter Eleanor Oldroyd will be inside St George’s Chapel.
Royal correspondent Jonny Dymond will provide analysis and a host of famous faces will also commentate from different points along the procession route including Naga Munchetty, Ken Bruce, Mishal Husain, Emma Barnett, Clive Myrie and Adele Roberts.
BBC World Service English will broadcast the main events of the procession, the funeral and the committal service. For radio audiences, a special programme presented by Martha Kearney will capture the key events in London and Windsor. The programme will be simulcast on BBC Sounds, and the BBC's plethora of radio stations including the channels for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will air coverage at various times throughout the day. The two-minute silence during the funeral service will be observed across all live stations.
There will, however, be other programming on BBC later in the day. at 6.15pm a special episode of The One Show, titled Our Queen Remembered, will air followed by Paddington 2 at 6.50pm in a nod to the Queen's sketch with the Peruvian bear during her Jubilee celebrations.
ITV will also provide coverage of the historic events with Tom Bradby and Julie Etchingham hosting the broadcast. Their programming will start at 9.30am and the broadcasters will be joined by guests and royal experts throughout the day, while other reporters will be staged at key landmarks.
Evening News presenter Mary Nightingale will lead the reporting from Westminster Abbey, while royal editor Chris Ship will be in London and Windsor. Rageh Omaar will be stationed with the armed forces at Wellington Barracks, Nina Hossain will be on the Long Walk in Windsor speaking to people paying their respects, while Charlene White will be with mourners in London.
The coverage will be previewed on Good Morning Britain from 6am and followed by ITV Regional News and an extended Evening News. A documentary chronicling the lead-up to the funeral, titled Queen Elizabeth II: A Nation Remembers, will air at 7.30pm.
There will be a further documentary programme focusing on the day’s events, narrated by ITV News’ James Mates. An extended News at Ten presented by Bradby will follow. All the day’s programming, from 6am to midnight, will be broadcast simultaneously on the main channel and five digital channels and the ITV Hub – the first time the broadcaster has done so.
This comes as ITV and other UK networks continue to adjust their schedules around coverage of the Queen’s death. A continuous livestream of the Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall has been set up by a number of broadcasters including the BBC and ITV. Thousands have tuned in to watch mourners file solemnly past the coffin to pay their respects.
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