The Queen’s coffin will begin its journey to its final resting place when it travels from Balmoral to Edinburgh. Draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland and with a wreath of flowers on top, it has remained at rest in the Balmoral ballroom so the late monarch’s loyal Balmoral estate workers can say their last goodbyes.
The Queen will buried at Windsor at the King George VI memorial chapel, next to her beloved husband, Prince Philip. And her state funeral will be at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.
However, later today, her oak coffin will be lifted into a 10am by six of the estate’s gamekeepers, who have been tasked with the symbolic gesture, ready for a six-hour journey to Edinburgh. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the “poignant” journey, which will see the Queen’s coffin transported to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, would give the public a chance to come together to “mark our country’s shared loss”.
Well-wishers are expected to gather along the route the cortege will take as it travels from Balmoral to the Scottish capital – which is expected to take about six hours. It will first head to the nearby town of Ballater, where it is expected at approximately 10.12am.
About an hour later it will arrive in Aberdeen, with tributes expected to be paid in the city’s Duthie Park. Travelling south along the A90, it will then arrive in Dundee at about 2pm.
In Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon and other party leaders in Scotland are expected to observe the coffin as it goes past the Scottish Parliament. From there it will be taken into the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where it will remain for the night. Transport bosses said an “unprecedented” amount of preparation and planning had gone into drawing up the route.
In London, Charles will meet Baroness Scotland, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, at Buckingham Palace, and he will later host High Commissioners and their spouses, from countries where he is head of state, at the royal residence’s Bow Room.
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