The public will be able to pay their final respects to The Queen as her coffin will lie in state in Scotland and London. The former monarch’s coffin is set to be in Edinburgh for 24 hours in St Giles’ Cathedral once it arrives.
It is expected that members of the public will be allowed into the church to file past the coffin when it resides there in a few days’ time. Members of the royal family will be expected in the coming days to hold a poignant vigil around the Queen’s coffin in St Giles.
The Queen’s coffin will be guarded 24/7 and the same will happen once it has been transported to London and placed in Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster in London. Lying in state is usually reserved for sovereigns, current or past queen consorts, and sometimes former prime ministers.
In the days leading up to the funeral, members of the public will file slowly past to pay their respects in sombre silence. For a royal lying in state, the coffin is draped in a royal flag, usually a personal standard, and rests on a catafalque – a raised platform covered with a purple cloth, flanked by a military guard around the clock.
A priceless crown and other regalia are traditionally placed on top of a sovereign’s coffin. The last person to lie in state in the UK was the Queen Mother in 2002.
The tradition of lying in state stretches back to the 17th century when Stuart sovereigns lay in state for a number of days. Edward VII set the modern tradition of royal lying in state in Westminster Hall. He lay in state in 1910, as did King George V in 1936 and King George VI in 1952. George VI – the Queen’s father – was the last sovereign before Elizabeth II to die.
On top of his coffin, from the Crown Jewels, lay the Imperial State Crown, the Orb, and Sceptre. More than 300,000 people queued day and night in bitter, frosty conditions to say their final goodbyes to the king.
Queen Victoria requested that she should not lie in state. When she died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight in 1901, a semi-private lying in state was arranged for three days to allow Victoria’s servants and friends to pay their respects.
Two prime ministers – William Gladstone in 1898 and Sir Winston Churchill in 1965 – also lay in state at Westminster Hall, attracting hundreds of thousands of people. Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, insisted she did not want to lie in state, saying that it would not be “appropriate”.
The fifth day after the Queen’s death is designated D-Day+5 in official Government plans and is when the coffin will be transported to London in Operation Unicorn. A procession will begin at Buckingham Palace and move through London for the public to watch until it arrives at Westminster for a service in Westminster Hall where the coffin will lie in state.
It is thought the coffin will be accessible to the public in London for three days leading up to the funeral where they will be able to walk past the coffin and pay their respects in silence. Public access will be available 23 hours per day over the three days and on the 10th day after her death, there will be a state funeral at Westminster Abbey for the Queen.
