Details of the days of official events leading up to the funeral of the Queen, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, have been revealed.
A state funeral for Elizabeth II will be held at Westminster Abbey in London on September 19.
Before that, there is a carefully choreographed series of events.
Here’s what will happen, with times in British Summer Time (BST), with relevant AEST conversions.
The Queen’s coffin has been at Edinburgh’s St Giles Cathedral for 24 hours, allowing Scottish people to pay their respects.
On Tuesday, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, will accompany it to Edinburgh Airport and then to RAF Northolt in London.
The flight is expected to land in London about 7pm (4am AEST), and the coffin will be taken to Buckingham Palace.
The King and Queen Consort will observe the coffin’s arrival before it is placed in the Bow Room at Buckingham Palace.
Earlier in the day, they will visit the capital of Northern Ireland, Belfast, to meet Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and other leaders.
After a meeting with religious leaders, Charles and Camilla will attend a prayer service at St Anne’s Cathedral, before returning to London.
Also on Tuesday, there is expected to be a rehearsal for the coffin’s procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster.
The Queen’s coffin will be transported to Westminster Hall, where it will lie in state for four days.
Lying in state is a formal occasion in which a coffin goes on public view before a funeral ceremony.
The late monarch’s lying in state opens to the public at 5pm on Wednesday. It will remain open 24 hours a day until 6.30am Monday, September 19 – the day of the Queen’s funeral.
Shortly after 2pm (11pm AEST) on Wednesday, the Queen’s coffin will be taken in a gun-carriage procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster.
The public will be able to watch the procession as it passes through central London – along Queen’s Gardens, The Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard.
The King and members of the royal family will walk in silence behind, in a journey that will take 38 minutes.
Once in Westminster Hall, the coffin will rest on a raised platform. Each corner will be guarded 24 hours a day by soldiers from units that serve the Royal Household.
The King is expected to observe the royal tradition known as the Vigil of the Princes, standing guard over his mother’s coffin. He is likely to be joined by his brothers Prince Andrew and Edward and – potentially – Princess Anne.
The last member of the royal family to lie in state was the Queen Mother in 2002. More than 200,000 people queued to view her coffin over three days.
Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip did not lie in state, in accordance with his wishes. His death also came at the height of the pandemic, when mass gatherings were prohibited.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service for members of the royal family before the hall is opened to the public.
Up to a million people are expected to view the Queen’s coffin – with authorities expecting queues to stretch for up to eight kilometres.
This is the first full day that the Queen’s body will lie in state.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners are expected to pay their respects in the 11th-century building, the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster and the heart of the British government.
The Dean of Westminster has told the BBC the Queen’s funeral will be a “living tradition in action”.
The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle said it would be “an opportunity for us to give thanks for an extraordinary life … and an opportunity, if you like, for us to give the grief somewhere to go”.
In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley will leave for the state funeral.
The Queen’s coffin will lie in state for a second full day.
The King and Queen Consort will travel to Wales, marking the final of his visits to all four British nations as their new sovereign.
The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, has overall responsibility for the funeral. He said all those involved would “carry out our duty over the coming days with the heaviest of hearts”.
“But also, with the firmest of resolve to ensure a fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our times; a monarch whom we were truly privileged to have had as the head of state of our country and the realms, and head of the wider Commonwealth,” he said.
“While His Majesty the King was speaking about his family, I think it applies to us all when he said in his broadcast yesterday that ‘we owe her the most heartfelt debt’.
‘‘I think we can, in some way, repay that debt by carrying out her last wishes in delivering Her Majesty the Queen’s funeral.”
The Queen’s coffin will lie in state for a third full day in Westminster Hall. It is expected that heads of state will begin to arrive for Monday’s funeral.
The Queen’s coffin will lie in state for a fourth full day in Westminster Hall.
The Queen’s lying in state will end.
Her coffin will be taken in a procession to Westminster Abbey for her state funeral, which is expected to start about 10.50am (7.50pm AEST).
The Abbey is the historic church where Britain’s kings and queens are crowned.
It is where the Queen’s coronation was held in 1953, and where she married Prince Philip in 1947.
But its choice as a venue for the funeral is a break from tradition. For more than 300 years, British monarchs have had their funerals at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
But Elizabeth reportedly chose Westminster Abbey as a more appropriate location, because it is bigger and more public.
Leaders from around the world, including US President Joe Biden, are expected to be among 2000 people in attendance.
Other guests will include members of the royal family, senior British politicians and heads of state, as well as representatives of charities the Queen supported.
Following the funeral, the coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch.
From there, it will travel to Windsor Castle.
The state hearse will take the coffin along the Long Walk to St George’s Chapel, where there will be a committal service.
The Queen’s final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annexe to the main chapel. Her mother and father are buried there, as are the ashes of her sister Princess Margaret.
Prince Philip’s coffin, which has been in the Royal Vault beneath the chapel since his death last year, will join the Queen’s coffin.
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