WINDSOR, England, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Queen Elizabeth‘s coffin was lowered into a vault at Windsor Castle, her ultimate resting place, on Monday after a day of inimitable pageantry that drew world leaders to her funeral and big crowds to the streets to say farewell to a revered monarch.
Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers lined the route her hearse took from London, throwing flowers, cheering and clapping because it handed from town to the English countryside that she so cherished a lot.
Many extra had crammed into the capital to witness the procession and funeral, in a shifting tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch who received international respect throughout 70 years on the throne.
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Inside the majestic Westminster Abbey the place the funeral was held, some 500 presidents, prime ministers, foreign royal family members and dignitaries, together with Joe Biden of the United States, have been among the many 2,000 congregation.
Later the eye switched to St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, the place some 800 friends attended a committal service ahead of her burial.
It concluded with the crown, orb and sceptre – symbols of the monarch’s energy and governance – being faraway from the coffin and positioned on the altar.
The Lord Chamberlain, essentially the most senior official within the royal family, then broke his ‘Wand of Office’, signifying the top of his service to the sovereign, and positioned it on the casket earlier than it slowly descended into the royal vault.
As the congregation sang the nationwide anthem, King Charles gave the impression to be preventing again tears.
Later within the night, in a private household service, the coffin of Elizabeth and her husband of greater than seven a long time, Prince Philip, who died final yr aged 99, shall be buried collectively in the identical chapel the place her dad and mom and sister, Princess Margaret, additionally relaxation.
It was in the identical huge constructing that the queen was photographed mourning Philip alone throughout the pandemic lockdown, reinforcing the sense of a monarch in synch together with her folks throughout a testing time.
‘ABUNDANT LIFE’
At the funeral, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, instructed these current that the grief felt by so many throughout Britain and the wider world mirrored the late monarch’s “abundant life and loving service”.
“Her late majesty famously declared on a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and Commonwealth,” he mentioned.
“Rarely has such a promise been so well kept. Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen.”
Music that performed on the queen’s wedding ceremony in 1947 and her coronation six years later once more rang out. The coffin entered to traces of scripture set to a rating used at each state funeral for the reason that early 18th century.
After the funeral, her flag-draped casket was pulled by sailors by way of London’s streets on a gun carriage in a single of the most important navy processions seen in Britain, involving 1000’s of members of the armed forces wearing ceremonial finery.
They walked in step to funeral music from marching bands, whereas within the background town’s well-known Big Ben tolled every minute. King Charles and different senior royals adopted on foot.
The casket was taken from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch and transferred to a hearse to journey to Windsor, the place extra huge crowds waited patiently.
Among those that got here from round Britain and past, folks climbed lampposts and stood on limitations and ladders to catch a glimpse of the royal procession.
WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Pall bearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the Imperial State Crown resting on prime into St. George’s Chapel on September 19, 2022 in Windsor, England. The committal service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, came about following the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. A private burial in The King George VI Memorial Chapel adopted. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III. Jeff J Mitchell/Pool through REUTERS
Some wore sensible black fits and clothes. Others have been wearing hoodies, leggings and tracksuits. A lady with dyed inexperienced hair stood subsequent to a person in morning swimsuit as they waited for the London procession to start.
Millions extra watched on tv at dwelling on a public vacation declared for the event, the primary time the funeral of a British monarch has been televised.
“I’ve been coming to Windsor for 50 years now,” mentioned Baldev Bhakar, 72, a jeweller from the close by city of Slough, talking exterior Windsor Castle.
“I saw her many times over the years; it felt like she was our neighbour and she was just a lovely woman; a beautiful queen. It was good to say one last goodbye to our neighbour.”
‘INVINCIBLE’
Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle, her summer season dwelling within the Scottish highlands.
Her well being had been in decline, and for months the monarch who had carried out tons of of official engagements nicely into her 90s had withdrawn from public life.
However, according to her sense of responsibility she was photographed simply two days earlier than she died, wanting frail however smiling and holding a strolling stick as she appointed Liz Truss as her fifteenth and ultimate prime minister.
Such was her longevity and her inextricable hyperlink with Britain that even her circle of relatives discovered her passing a shock.
“We all thought she was invincible,” Prince William instructed well-wishers.
The fortieth sovereign in a line that traces its lineage again to 1066, Elizabeth got here to the throne in 1952 and have become Britain’s first post-imperial monarch.
She oversaw her nation making an attempt to carve out a brand new place on the earth, and he or she was instrumental within the emergence of the Commonwealth of Nations, now a grouping comprising 56 nations.
When she succeeded her father George VI, Winston Churchill was her first prime minister and Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union. She met main figures from politics to leisure and sport together with Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Pele and Roger Federer.
Despite being seemingly 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, she dominated rooms together with her presence and have become a towering international determine, praised in dying from Paris and Washington to Moscow and Beijing. National mourning was noticed in Brazil, Jordan and Cuba, nations with which she had little direct hyperlink.
“People of loving service are rare in any walk of life,” Welby mentioned throughout the funeral. “Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.”
The tenor bell of the Abbey – the location of coronations, weddings and burials of English after which British kings and queens for nearly 1,000 years – tolled 96 instances.
Among the hymns chosen for the service have been “The Lord’s my Shepherd”, sung on the wedding ceremony of the queen and her husband Philip within the Abbey in 1947. In the royal group following the casket into the Abbey was the queen’s great-grandson and future king, Prince George, aged 9.
In addition to dignitaries, the congregation included these awarded Britain’s highest navy and civilian medals for gallantry, representatives from charities supported by the queen and those that made “extraordinary contributions” to coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards the top of the service, the church and far of the nation fell silent for 2 minutes. Trumpets rang out earlier than the congregation sang “God Save the King”. Outside, crowds joined in and broke into applause when the anthem was over.
The queen’s piper introduced the service to an finish with a lament referred to as “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep” that pale to silence.
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Reporting by Michael Holden and Kate Holton in London and Alistair Smout in Windsor; extra reporting by by William James, Kylie MacLellan, Estelle Shirbon, Humza Jilani, Andrew MacAskill, Paul Sandle, Muvija M, Sachin Ravikumar, Farouq Suleiman, Angus MacSwan, Richa Naidu, Peter Hobson, Julia Payne, Natalie Grover, Lindsay Dunsmuir, Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Janet Lawrence
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