King Charles III has led the royal family in a poignant display of respect for the late Queen – walking behind the monarch’s coffin with his siblings. Expressionless and looking straight ahead, Charles was joined by the Princess Royal, Earl of Wessex and Duke of York as they followed the hearse carrying the Queen’s oak coffin.
It travelled from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the sovereign’s official Edinburgh home, to St Giles' Cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving for the life of the late monarch will be held before the public pay their respects. Following in a car was the Queen Consort and the Countess of Wessex, but the new Prince of Wales and his brother Harry did not take part in the procession.
Earlier, during an event at Westminster Hall in London, where both Houses of Parliament gathered to express their condolences to the new monarch, the King promised “faithfully to follow” the example of his mother. The new King quoted Shakespeare when he responded to the formal expression of condolence from MPs and peers, spoke movingly about the tributes to his mother and described the “weight of history” as he stood inside the historic hall.
