The state funeral for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will take place a week from Monday at Westminster Abbey, and she will lie in state in Westminster Hall from Wednesday, Buckingham Palace has announced.
Britain’s longest-serving monarch died peacefully Thursday at her Scottish country estate in Balmoral.
The Queen currently rests in the ballroom at Balmoral Castle, where estate staff can pay their last respects, a senior palace official said. Her oak coffin has been draped with the Royal Standard for Scotland, and a wreath of flowers is laid on top.
Sunday morning, her coffin will embark on a six-hour journey to Edinburgh and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.
On Monday, it will process to St Giles’s Cathedral for a service attended by the King and Queen Consort, and a congregation made up “from all areas of Scottish society,” the senior palace official said.
After the service, the coffin will rest there for 24 hours to allow the Scottish public to pay their respects. Charles and members of the royal family will take part in the guard — or vigil — Monday evening.
Princess Anne will accompany her mother’s body the following day as it is flown back to London, and placed on trestles in the Bow Room at Buckingham Palace overnight, the official said.
