The Queen has left Scotland for the final time as her coffin travels by plane to Buckingham Palace.
The Princess Royal accompanied the late monarch as she was moved from St Giles’ cathedral to Edinburgh airport by road.
Princess Anne will now travel with the Queen’s coffin as it is taken by Royal Air Force aircraft to RAF Northolt.
It is expected to arrive at the military airport at around 7pm and it will then be taken to Buckingham Palace in a hearse. King Charles and the Queen Consort will be waiting to receive them and the coffin will then rest in the Bow Room.
A guard of honour, made up of three officers and 96 soldiers from the King’s Guard, will be in the Buckingham Palace quadrangle as the coffin arrives.
The King’s piper will also play a lament as the coffin is carried from the hearse to the Bow room of the Palace.
The trip to London is the second stage of a long journey that started on Sunday at Balmoral castle.
The Queen’s cortege travelled over 100 miles from the Highlands of Scotland to Edinburgh, with hundreds of thousands of mourners greeting it in the villages, towns and cities that it passed through.
From Monday, the coffin has been lying in rest at St Giles’ cathedral in Edinburgh and thousands of well-wishers have queued for hours for a glimse of the casket.
Aunt Joanne, mother Jayne and daughter Lilia Mairs had travelled from County Durham to see the coffin. Joanne Mairs told The Independent: “We left Darlington at ten past 7 and got here at around half past 9.”
It had taken them two hours to get through the queue. “It was only a last minute thing,” Jayne said, explaining that they had planned the trip late on Monday night.
“It’s an amazing experience. It’s once in a lifetime,” she added. “It’s very quiet inside and there is just something different about being here in person,” said Joanne.
One couple, Rachel Wong and Steve Tsang, had driven six hours from Loughborough to see the casket at St Giles’ cathedral. Ms Wong, who was holding her toy poodle Rufus, said she had queued five hours to get inside.
“It was very respectful and solemn inside. Everyone came together to pay our respects,” she said.
“She was the Queen of Great Britain but also the commonwealth and I am from Singapore and my husband is from Hong Kong. She was a woman of strength and an inspiration”.
Andrew Bell, 78, and his wife Deborah, 68, happened to be in Scotland on holiday from Toronto, Canada. “We’re very lucky to be able to be here and represent a bit of Canada. She’s our Queen too,” Mr Bell said.
“All our friends have been keeping up with it from home.”
Starting its journey to the airport at around 4:15pm, the Queen’s coffin was lifted out of the cathedral by kilt-wearing pallbearers and into a hearse.
As the convoy made its way down the Royal Mile the sound of bagpipes filled the air, and a guard of honour by the King’s Bodyguard for Scotland followed behind.
More to follow...
