More details of the Queen's funeral, to be held at 11am on Monday, September 19, have been released. Two thousand people including world leaders and foreign royals will gather inside Westminster Abbey in London on Monday for the final farewell to the nation’s longest reigning monarch.
Some 800 people, including members of the Queen’s Household and Windsor estate staff, will attend the committal service afterwards at 4pm in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Further details of the ceremony and the next five days were released by Buckingham Palace.
Lying in state at Westminster Hall will continue until 6.30am on Monday - the day of the funeral. At 8am the doors of Westminster Abbey will open for the congregation to begin taking their seats.
Heads of state and overseas government representatives, including foreign royal families, governors general and Realm prime ministers, will gather at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and “travel under collective arrangements” to the Abbey, the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk said.
He added that other representatives of the Realms and the Commonwealth, the Orders of Chivalry including recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross, Government, Parliament, devolved Parliaments and Assemblies, the Church, and Her Majesty’s Patronages will form the congregation, along with further representatives from law, emergency services, public servants and professions, and public representatives.
Members of the British royal family who are not processing from Westminster Hall will have arrived at the abbey and been escorted to their seats in the South Lantern.
Strict protocol has been issued to those invited, with around 500 heads of state, royals and other political luminaries likely to attend the funeral at Westminster Abbey.
It is expected the overall numbers will surpass the 2,000 that were present for Princess Diana's funeral and the 3,500 that accepted invites for Winston Churchill's final farewell.
The Queen's coffin will then be taken to Westminster Abbey by procession, similar that seen yesterday when King Charles led male royals on foot from Buckingham Palace.
The coffin will be taken in a grand military procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey.
The King will once again lead his family in marching behind the Queen’s coffin when it is moved, at 10.44am on Monday, from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s funeral service.
He will walk with the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex and behind the quartet will be the Queen’s grandsons Peter Phillips, Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales.
They will be followed by the late monarch’s son-in-law Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin, and her nephew the Earl of Snowdon.
The Queen’s coffin will be carried during the procession on a 123-year-old gun carriage towed by 98 Royal Navy sailors in a tradition dating back to the funeral of Queen Victoria.
The Procession will be led by a massed Pipes & Drums of Scottish and Irish Regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas, and the Royal Air Force – numbering 200 musicians.
The military will line the streets and also join the procession.
The procession will arrive at the west gate of Westminster Abbey at 10.52am when the bearer party will lift the coffin from the gun carriage and carry it into the Abbey for the state funeral service, the Earl Marshal said.
The service will begin at 11am and will be conducted by the Dean of Westminster.
The Prime Minister and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth will read Lessons, while the Archbishop of York, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Free Churches Moderator will say prayers.
The sermon will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury who will also give the commendation, while the Dean will pronounce the blessing.
At around 11.55am the Last Post will sound, followed by two minutes of silence to be observed in the Abbey and throughout the UK.
Reveille, the national anthem and a lament played by the Queen’s piper will bring the state funeral service to an end at around 12 noon.
The bearer party will then lift the coffin from the catafalque and will move in procession through the Great West Door returning to the State Gun Carriage positioned outside the West Gate.
The coffin will be followed by the King and the Queen Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales and members of the royal family who will walk in the procession to Wellington Arch.
The Queen’s coffin will be returned to the gun carriage by the bearer party and a procession will travel to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park.
The King and the royal party will take up their same places behind the coffin as when they escorted it to the Abbey, while the Queen Consort and Princess of Wales will travel to the site by car as will the Duchess of Sussex and Countess of Wessex.
The route will be lined by the Armed Forces from Westminster Abbey to the top of Constitution Hill at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates.
The Procession is formed of seven groups, each supported by a service band. Mounties from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will lead, immediately followed by representatives of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, NHS, along with detachments from the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth.
At Wellington Arch the royal family will watch as the Queen’s coffin is transferred to the new state hearse, whose details the Queen approved, before it begins its journey to Windsor Castle.
The Queen’s committal service will take place at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle at 4pm on Monday. The Queen will be buried with the Duke of Edinburgh in King George VI’s chapel in Windsor Castle in a private service at 7.30pm on Monday.
But the burial service conducted by the Dean of Windsor and attended by the King and royals will remain entirely private, as a “deeply personal family occasion”.
Most shops and businesses will be closed throughout the day's events, with 4.1billion people expected to watch around the world.
The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, who is in overall charge of the ceremonial arrangements including the Queen’s funeral, said: “The events of recent days are a reminder of the strength of our Constitution, a system of government, which in so many ways is the envy of the world.
“The Queen held a unique and timeless position in all our lives. This has been felt more keenly over the past few days as the world comes to terms with her demise.
“Her Majesty’s passing has left many people across many continents with a profound sense of loss.
“The respect, admiration and affection in which the Queen was held, make our task both humbling and daunting. An honour and a great responsibility.
“It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and events of the next few days will unite people across the globe and resonate with people of all faiths, whilst fulfilling Her Majesty and her family’s wishes to pay a fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign.”
The King, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex will mount a 15-minute vigil around the Queen’s coffin as it lies in state at 7.30pm on Friday.
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