After a long, sorrowful march behind the coffin of their beloved mother and grandmother, the Queen’s family finally handed her over to her nation to pay homage at the lying in state.
Thousands of people had lined the route of the cortege from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall in the bright autumn sunshine.
At 2.22pm, draped with a Royal Standard and adorned with the Imperial State Crown, the coffin was placed on a gun carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery to begin its solemn journey.
