Queen Elizabeth's coffin will be removed from her home in the Scottish Highlands today and taken on a slow six-hour journey to Edinburgh. In this way, the public will have the opportunity to say goodbye to her sovereign, paying her last tribute as a hall of honor in the streets.
The death of the 96-year-old Queen has provoked tears, sadness and warm tributes, not only from her own family and many subjects in Britain, but also from people around the world, reflecting the importance of her presence. on the world stage for the past 70 years. .
This Sunday at 9 a.m., six rangers will place Elizabeth's oaken coffin, which has been in the ballroom of Balmoral Castle draped with the royal banner of Scotland and topped with a wreath, into a hearse.
Accompanied by the queen's daughter, Princess Anne, the procession will slowly make its way from the remote castle, winding through small towns and villages to Edinburgh, where the coffin will be carried to the throne room of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Tens of thousands of admirers have gathered at royal palaces in the days after Elizabeth's death on Thursday to lay flowers and pay their respects.
"I know how deeply you, the entire nation, and I think I can say the entire world, sympathize with me for the irreparable loss we have all suffered," his son, King Charles, said at the ceremony on Saturday in which he was proclaimed officially the new monarch.
"It is the greatest comfort to me to know of the sympathy expressed by so many to my sister and brothers and that such overwhelming affection and support is extended to our entire family in our loss."
While Elizabeth's death was not entirely unexpected given her age, the fact that her health had deteriorated and the passing of her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, last year, there was still a sense of shock at the News.
"We all thought he was invincible," confessed his grandson, Prince William, heir to the throne. to a well-wisher he greeted at Windsor Castle.
Elizabeth's state funeral will take place at London's Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19, which will be a public holiday in Britain, officials have announced. US President Joe Biden said he would be there, though full details of the event and attendees have yet to be released.
Before that, his coffin will be flown to London and carried in a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where he will be laid to rest for four days.
In 2002, more than 200,000 people queued to pay their respects to Isabel's mother, so forecasts suggest that in this case more than a million citizens might want to visit her.
"It goes without saying that we can expect a large number of people," the prime minister's spokeswoman Liz Truss told reporters.
Truss, whose appointment as prime minister on Tuesday was the queen's last public act, will accompany King Charles when the new head of state and prime minister visit the four-nation UK in the coming days.
Charles, 73, immediately succeeded his mother but was officially proclaimed king on Saturday in a colorful ceremony laden with pageantry dating back centuries after an Accession Council meeting at St James's, a royal palace built for Henry. VIII in the 1530s.
Charles is now the 41st monarch in a line that traces its origins to the Norman King William the Conqueror, who captured the English throne in 1066.
Elizabeth's death has capped a couple of difficult years for the royal family who have experienced the loss of Prince Philip, their patriarch, Prince Andrew, their second son, accused of sexual abuse, and grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, giving up being part of the royal family and moving to live in California.
Harry and Meghan have been estranged from the rest of the family ever since, and Harry and his brother William are said to barely speak to each other. But the death of their grandmother brought them together, as they appeared with their wives outside Windsor Castle to meet the crowd on Saturday.
A royal source described it as an important show of unity at an incredibly difficult time for the family.
