An early-morning rehearsal for the procession of the Queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall (James Manning/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Operation Unicorn has been adapted so that the Queen’s coffin will be flown to London instead of being transported by the royal train.
It is understood that this is due to the high volume of people who wish to pay their respects as she lies in state at Westminster Hall.
On Monday a procession took the Queen’s coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the nearby St Giles’ Cathedral.
On Tuesday, the Queen’s coffin will fly from Edinburgh Airport on a Royal Air Force aircraft to RAF Northolt.
Full details of the transporation
The coffin is expected to arrive at RAF Northolt about 7pm on Tuesday September 13. Barriers for the general public have been set up.
It is presumed the RAF C17 Globemaster will be used. The coffin will be accompanied by Princess Anne, the Queen’s only daughter.
Once the plane lands, the coffin will be driven to Buckingham Palace to rest in the Bow Room.
From there, a procession on a gun carriage of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery will take the Queen’s coffin to the Palace of Westminster. The procession will travel via Queen’s Gardens, The Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard.
The royal family website says: “After the coffin arrives at Westminster Hall, the Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service assisted by the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, and attended by the King and members of the royal family, after which the lying-in-state will begin.”
The general public will be able to pay their respects at Westminster Hall on Wednesday September 14 after the service in the same way that they did for her father, King George VI, in 1952 and her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, in 2002.
The coffin will remain there until the morning of the state funeral on Monday September 19.
