The essential
- Public access to the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II ended this morning at 7:30.
- The dignitaries arrived, including Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Olena Zelenska, the Ukrainian first lady. Some were received by King Charles last night.
- The country followed a minute of silence in honor of the Queen last night.
- At 11.35 a.m. (Swiss time), the Queen’s coffin will leave the Palace to be taken to Westminster Abbey by a funeral procession.
- The funeral mass will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., before his coffin begins a procession in London until 2 p.m.
- He will then take the road to Windsor, for a new procession, at 4 p.m., leading to the St. George’s Chapelwhere the funeral service will be held at 5:00 p.m.
- The Queen will be buried at 8:30 p.m. in the chapel of King George VI during a private ceremony, reserved for members of the royal family only.
■ Alex Reeds at the Queen’s funeral begin to take their places in Westminster Abbey
Three hours before the start of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, the doors of Westminister Abbey opened in London to welcome guests. Members of the King’s Guards, who guard the royal residences, entered the building. More than 2,000 people are to take part in the ceremony, including hundreds of heads of state and representatives of royal or princely families. The first guests take their places in Westminster Abbey.
Two soldiers positioned themselves at the entrance. The first guests arrived, dressed in black, at the security checks. One of them was Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi. The religious service must be held at 12:00 (Swiss time).
■ Testimonials: “We are proud to come here, to take part in this historic event”
Hundreds of Britons got up at dawn Monday to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, looking for the best places to see the procession that will carry her coffin pass. Victoria Bones, 42, and Sophie Denham, 26, traveled from Newcastle. They arrived in London on Sunday morning, queued for 12 hours to pay their respects to the Queen at Westminster Hall, went to sleep for a few hours before coming to the funeral.
Sophie’s family recorded the video of the moment the two women were seen walking past the coffin for the BBC. “We are proud to come here, to participate in this historic event.”
Derrick Budden is a Navy veteran who served in the 1980s in the Gulf. “As a soldier, the Queen was our patroness. It was for ‘Queen and Country’.”
Maxine Roberts and her daughter Elin came from Silverstone, two hours away. The bond that the Queen symbolized between generations touches her. “She was born and died the same year as the grandmother,” says Elin, moved.
“This constancy was the great strength of the Queen, continues her mother. The Queen was probably not so popular thirty years ago. She was not perfect, her family had problems, divorces. But she always held on and carried on, rising above the fray.”
■ No “debate” on the place of the monarchy in Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused on Sunday to reopen the constitutional debate on the place of the British monarchy, whose sovereign is automatically the head of state of Canada.
“For me, it’s not a priority. It’s not even something I intend to debate,” he told Radio-Canada on the eve of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. “To make such a profound change in a system that is among the best, the most stable in the world, for me, now, it is not a good idea”, decided Justin Trudeau, evoking “a complex and complicated moment” .
A former British colony that became independent in 1867, Canada is a constitutional monarchy with the sovereign of the United Kingdom as head of state. With the death of Elizabeth II, the debate on the place of the monarchy was revived. According to a poll published Friday, 58% of Canadians want a referendum on whether or not to retain the Crown. This is an increase of five points in one year.
■ At the funeral, a wait that began last night
“He’s the king, he’s the king!” The group of kids rush to the car that passes behind Horse Guards Parade. The policeman on duty smiles and corrects them: “No, the king does not travel in a Hyundai.” It’s nearly eight o’clock on Sunday evening, and for the little troop, aged no more than ten years for the oldest, it’s an adventure. They have come as a family to camp overnight in St James Park, to be in the front row when the funeral procession passes.
Along the Mall, the main avenue leading to Buckingham Palace, and in the park, tents line up by the dozen. Thousands of other people are there, equipped with a simple sleeping bag, sometimes even just a good coat. The night promises to be cool but the next day will be – they all say it – historic.
On Friday, Ellie Stainforth has already queued for 2 p.m. to go and pay homage to the coffin at Westminster Hall, in the Ardent Chapel. “It was so impressive, the silence that reigned in particular.” She is 26 years old and disabuses those who say that young people are not interested in royalty, as she prepares to spend the night on the Mall with her mother, who has come to join her there. “I came for my grandmother, who is now deceased but who adored the Queen”, she specifies. “Elisabeth II was the last link we had with my parents’ generation,” adds her mother, Helen Stainforth.
This Queen, who was born when talkies were in their infancy and the British Empire still existed, had fifteen prime ministers and a longevity that only Louis XIV, in France, still beats. This constancy, this permanent point of reference, comes up regularly in the discussions.
As often since the beginning of the ten very special days following the death of the Queen, new friendships are formed during these endless waits. Trevor Boulden, 69, has been chatting with the two women for a few hours. The homage to Elisabeth II goes without saying for him: “it’s true, she was born privileged, but what counts is what she did with her privileges. She used it to do her duty above all else and to serve her people.”
■ The last visitors pay homage to the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II
■ A highly codified procession
The procession that will take Queen Elizabeth’s coffin to Westminster Abbey for her state funeral, then to Windsor for her burial, is in line with the tradition of the British monarchy.
Sailors from the Royal Navy will pull with ropes the hitch mounted on a gun carriage carrying the coffin of the deceased, while others, 142 in total, will follow to act as a brake on the hitch. Eight soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Queen’s Company Grenadiers Guards will have the daunting task of carrying the Queen’s coffin from Westminster Hall to the gun carriage and then into Westminster Abbey a once the procession is over.
If the members of the royal family, led by the new king Charles III, will follow the coffin, the team will be preceded in particular by members of the royal house of Queen Elisabeth II, such as the director of the Royal Collection, the “Comptroller from the office of the Lord Chamberlain, one of the departments of the royal household, or even the private secretary of the queen.
In front of them, will advance the orchestras of bagpipes and drums of Scottish and Irish regiments, a brigade of Gurkhas, soldiers of Nepalese origin but members of the British army, or 200 musicians of the Royal Air Force.
6000 soldiers, sailors or pilots of the British army will take part in the procession or will be deployed throughout the passage of the procession, indicated Sunday on the BBC the admiral Tony Radakin, chief of staff of the armies. Several times on the route of the coffin, they will perform a royal salute, for example when passing in front of the Queen Victoria Memorial.
■ The detailed funeral program
7h30: the coffin display ends at Westminster Hall, which closes to the public, for its transfer to nearby Westminster Abbey.
10h: opening of the doors to Westminster Abbey.
10h35: the coffin is carried from the catafalque, the imposing platform where it rested, to the gun carriage which will wait outside the north door of Westminster Hall.
11h44: the Royal Navy gun carriage sets out for a short procession to Westminster Abbey, hauled by 142 sailors.
11:52 a.m.: the coffin arrives at the West Door of Westminster Abbey, followed on foot by the Queen’s eldest son and heir apparent, King Charles III and the other members of the Royal Family. The coffin is carried from the gun carriage inside the building.
12h: the state funeral begins, conducted by the Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The sermon will be delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Anglican Church of which the British sovereign is the formal head.
12:55 p.m. (approximately): the bugle sounds, followed by two minutes of silence across the UK.
1 p.m. (approximately): the ceremony ends with the national anthem and a musical lamentation.
13h15: the coffin is pulled from the gun carriage towards Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, near Buckingham Palace, followed by the Royal Family and a procession, to the sound of Big Ben and cannon shots.
14h (environ): the coffin arrives at Wellington Arch, then placed in the royal hearse to take the direction of Windsor.
16h10: the hearse arrives at Windsor and enters “the Long Walk”, an impressive rectilinear path of more than 4 kilometers which leads to Windsor Castle.
16h40 (environ): The King and senior members of the Royal Family join the procession on foot from the Quadrangle, Windsor Castle’s Great Court, before the procession stops at the Chapel at 3:53 p.m.
17h: the funeral ceremony begins at the chapel of Saint-Georges in the presence of members of the royal family and the 15 Prime Ministers of the kingdoms who exercised with the British sovereign as head of state. About 45 minutes later, the coffin descends into the royal crypt.
20h30: A private burial ceremony is held at the King George VI Memorial at St. George’s Chapel. The Queen rests alongside her husband Prince Philip.
