The King and the Queen’s three other children will hold a 15-minute vigil at her coffin on Friday night before her state funeral on Monday, which will end with a two-minute national silence in a ‘fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign’, Buckingham Palace said today.
Charles and the Royal Family has said they ‘wish to send their sincere gratitude for the messages of condolence received from around the world’, adding they have been ‘deeply moved by the global response and affection shown for the Queen as people join them in mourning the loss of Her Majesty’.
The Queen’s state funeral will ‘unite people across the globe and resonate with people of all faiths’, according to The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, the man in charge of the historic occasion
He said that it was ‘both humbling and daunting’ to have the ‘honour and great responsibility’ to run an event that will be watched by billions of people around the globe. He said: ‘The events of recent days are a reminder of the strength of our Constitution, a system of government, which in so many ways is the envy of the world’.
The Duke has laid out his plans and revealed that the King, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex will mount a 15-minute vigil around the Queen’s coffin as it lies in state in the ancient Westminster Hall at 7.30pm on Friday. The siblings did the same thing in Edinburgh earlier this week in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes.
On the morning of the State Funeral, the Lying-in-State will end at 6.30am. as the final members of the public are admitted.
The doors of Westminster Abbey will open at 8am as the congregation of 2,000 VIPs begin to take their seats, three hours before the service begins at 11am.
Her Majesty will be carried on the the gun carriage that conveyed her mother and father to their funerals from Westminster Hall, arriving at 10.52am.
Moving elements of the funeral will include the sounding of the Last Post at 11.55am as the service nears its end, followed by a two-minute national silence which will be observed by the abbey congregation and by millions across the UK.
4billion people globally are expected to tune in globally with the BBC and ITV broadcasting all day.
The Reveille – the traditional bugle call that awakens soldiers at dawn – and then the National Anthem will take place, and finally a Lament played by the Queen’s Piper which will bring the service to a close at noon, when the coffin will be carried from the Abbey.
At 12.15pm the Queen’s children and members of the Royal Family will walk behind her coffin to Wellington Arch when it leaves Westminster Abbey before Her Majesty is taken to Windsor to be laid to rest next to her beloved husband Prince Philip.
Her Majesty’s hearse will arrive at the Long Walk at 3.15pm, where the public will be able to give their final respects.
The procession, which will have been formed up and in position, will walk behind the hearse into the grounds of the castle.
There will be a televised ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor at 4pm on Monday. The King will scatter earth on his mother coffin at 7.30pm at a private family service.
For eternity Her Majesty will be buried next to her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, her father King George VI and mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
Huw Edwards, Kirsty Young and David Dimbleby are among the broadcasters leading BBC coverage of the Queen’s funeral, the corporation has announced.
The special programming will air from 8am until 5pm on Monday September 19 on BBC One and iPlayer, with BSL signed coverage on BBC Two.
Edwards and Fergal Keane will be covering events from London and Young and Dimbleby from Windsor, with other reporters stationed at other key areas throughout the day.
King Charles looks tearful as he marches with Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Anne, Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence yesterday. The family will march behind the coffin again after the state funeral on Monday
After the state funeral, attended by some 2,000 guests, including visiting heads of state and other dignitaries, the late queen’s coffin will be transported through the historic heart of London on a horse-drawn gun carriage before being driven by the state hearse to Windsor.
Other representatives of the Realms and the Commonwealth, the Orders of Chivalry including recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross, Government, Parliament, devolved Parliaments and Assemblies, the Church, and Her Majesty’s Patronages will form the congregation, along with other public representatives.
And almost 200 people who were recognised in The Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year will also join the congregation, including those who made extraordinary contributions to the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and have volunteered in their local communities.
The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, said: ‘The Queen held a unique and timeless position in all our lives. This has been felt more keenly over the past few days as the world comes to terms with her demise.
‘Her Majesty’s passing has left many people across many continents with a profound sense of loss.
‘The respect, admiration and affection in which the Queen was held, make our task both humbling and daunting. An honour and a great responsibility.
‘It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and events of the next few days will unite people across the globe and resonate with people of all faiths, whilst fulfilling Her Majesty and her family’s wishes to pay a fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign.’
The procession will arrive at the west gate of Westminster Abbey at 10.52am when the bearer party will lift the coffin from the gun carriage and carry it into the Abbey for the state funeral service, the Earl Marshal said.
The service will begin at 11am and will be conducted by the Dean of Westminster.
The Prime Minister and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth will read Lessons, while the Archbishop of York, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Free Churches Moderator will say prayers.
The sermon will be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury who will also give the commendation, while the Dean will pronounce the blessing.
At around 11.55am the Last Post will sound, followed by two minutes of silence to be observed in the Abbey and throughout the UK.
Reveille, the national anthem and a lament played by the Queen’s piper will bring the state funeral service to an end at around 12 noon.
The bearer party will then lift the coffin from the catafalque and will move in procession through the Great West Door returning to the State Gun Carriage positioned outside the West Gate.
After the service the Queen’s coffin will be returned to the gun carriage by the bearer party and a procession will travel to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park.
The King and the royal party will take up their same places behind the coffin as when they escorted it to the Abbey, while the Queen Consort and Princess of Wales will travel to the site by car as will the Duchess of Sussex and Countess of Wessex.
The route will be lined by the Armed Forces from Westminster Abbey to the top of Constitution Hill at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates.
The Procession is formed of seven groups, each supported by a service band. Mounties from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will lead, immediately followed by representatives of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, NHS, along with detachments from the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth.
At Wellington Arch the royal family will watch as the Queen’s coffin is transferred to the new state hearse, whose details the Queen approved, before it begins its journey to Windsor Castle.
The Earl Marshal said that at 3.06pm, the state hearse will approach Shaw Farm Gate on Albert Road, Windsor, and join the procession which will be in position.
At 3.10pm the procession will step off via Albert Road, Long Walk, Cambridge Gate, Cambridge Drive, George IV Gate, Quadrangle (South and West sides), Engine Court, Norman Arch, Chapel Hill, Parade Ground and Horseshoe Cloister Arch.
At approximately 3.40 pm the King and other members of the royal family who are walking in the procession join it at the Quadrangle on the North side as it passes into Engine Court.
Members of the Queen’s, the King’s and the Prince of Wales’s households will be positioned at the rear of the coffin.
The Queen Consort with the Princess of Wales, and the Duchess of Sussex with the Countess of Wessex will again follow by car.
Construction workers prepare the platforms in Windsor Castle for the funeral on Monday
A member of the Coldstream Guards stands guard at Windsor Castle, the Queen’s home until she died
Portaloos are delivered and lined up in Windsor Great Park with huge crowds expected next week
The Queen’s coffin will be lowered into the Royal Vault at St George’s Chapel in Windsor (pictured), where she will be buried alongside her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, her beloved parents, and her sister Princess Margaret
At 3.53pm, the procession will halt at the bottom of the West Steps of St George’s Chapel in Horseshoe Cloister.
The bearer party will lift the coffin from the state hearse, from where it will be carried in procession up the West Steps.
At 4pm a committal service conducted by the Dean of Windsor will then begin, and will also be televised around the world.
The Committal Service at St George’s Chapel will be conducted by the Dean of Windsor and feature a congregation of the late monarch’s family and friends and mourners from her household past and present, including her personal staff from across her private estates.
At the end of the final hymn, the King will place the Grenadier Guards’ Queen’s Company Colour – the royal standard of the regiment – on the coffin.
Baron Parker, the Lord Chamberlain and the most senior official in the late Queen’s royal household, will ‘break’ his Wand of Office and place it on the Coffin.
As the coffin is lowered into the royal vault the Garter King of Arms will pronounce the styles and titles of the Queen and the Sovereign’s Piper will play a lament and walk slowly away so the music fades.
In the evening, a private burial service will be conducted by the Dean of Windsor, attended by Charles and members of the royal family. The Queen will be buried together with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George’s Chapel.
The Prime Minister will meet a small proportion of world leaders attending London for the Queen’s funeral.
It is understood those meetings will be held between the country mansion of Chevening House and Downing Street over the weekend.
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said on Thursday that Downing Street could not yet confirm which world leaders Liz Truss will be meeting.
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