04:14 GMT. The Emperor of Japan and his wife will attend the funeral of Elizabeth II.
Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his wife Masako will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, making their first overseas trip since assuming the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019, the Japanese government has announced.
Their presence, mentioned since Saturday September 10 by the Japanese media, was officially confirmed by the government spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno.
He said the imperial couple would be present at the state funeral scheduled for September 19 in London, but said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other government officials would not attend.
The Japanese imperial couple have made few public appearances during the pandemic.
7:54 p.m. UT. Under emotional cheers, the remains of Queen Elizabeth II arrive in Buckingham for one last night.
Under the cheers and applause of her loyal subjects, the remains of Queen Elizabeth II passed through the gates of her London palace in Buckingham to spend one last night there, before five days of public tribute in Westminster.
She was welcomed there by her son Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla, who had returned from a brief official visit to Northern Ireland, and other members of the royal family. His return to the capital is preparing for his funeral, which will take place on Monday at Westminster Abbey.
Outside the palace, a huge crowd greeted the arrival of the woman who reigned over the country for 70 years, with cheers and loud applause, lighting up the stage with their mobile phones despite the capricious weather.
The Queen’s coffin, covered with the yellow, red and blue royal standard of the United Kingdom and a wreath of white flowers, was unloaded, by the famous grenadiers, from the hearse which had transported it from the airport of the Royal Air Force, where he had landed an hour earlier.
On his way, hundreds of motorists got out of their cars to make him a guard of honor, not hesitating to cross the central reservation following having stopped their vehicle on the part in the opposite direction of the highway.
“I just want to see the coffin”explained before the arrival of the coffin Joseph Afrane, a 59-year-old Briton who had been camping in front of Buckingham since Sunday.
The remains of Elizabeth II will spend her last night at the palace, where she so often resided, in the Bow Room, a circular room with marble columns framing each of the windows. Palace staff can bid him farewell in private.
On Wednesday September 14, the coffin of the Queen who died on Thursday at 96 will leave its official home in the British capital on a gun carriage, crossing central London to reach the Palace of Westminster in a grand procession, where it will be displayed. for five days at Westminster Hall.
