Queen Elizabeth II state funeral commences: see full timeline of events set to take place before the burial
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Some 2,000 people attended the Queen’s state funeral that began at 11:00 BST, in what is considered to be one of the biggest gatherings of royalty and politicians hosted in the UK for decades.
According to the BBC, Members of royal families from across Europe attended the funeral. This includes the Kings and Queens of Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have arrived in London for the funeral as well. Other world leaders who were present to pay their respects to Her Majesty The Queen were French President Emmanuel Macron, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with leaders from many other Commonwealth nations. South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived, as has Kenya’s William Ruto.
Russia, Belarus and Syria were the only countries that were excluded.
Many familiar faces from British public life were there including Prime Minister Liz Truss, who the Queen appointed just two days before she died, is heading to the abbey with other government figures, as well as opposition politicians, leaders of the UK’s devolved governments, and numerous other public officials.
The 2,000-strong congregation rose this morning as the procession of the coffin entered Westmister Abbey, the prominent 13th Century church.
King Charles III, his sister Princess Anne, and his brothers, Princes Andrew and Edward were seen following the coffin. Princes William and Harry, and Peter Phillips, who’s the son of Princess Anne and one of the Queen’s other grandsons were also seen behind them.
Other senior male royals also joined including the Queen’s cousin the Duke of Gloucester, her nephew the Earl of Snowdon and Princess Anne’s husband Sir Tim Laurence.
The choir sang, “I am the resurrection and the life” which are the first of five lines of scripture, known as the Sentences, which have been sung at every state funeral since the 18th Century.
For the final two of the Sentences, the choir of the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace joined in, ending with a line from Revelation 14:13: “From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours. Amen.”
The funeral was brought to an end by Reveille, the national anthem and a lament was played by the Queen’s piper.
The rest of the events before the burial are as follows:
12:15: A Procession will take Her Majesty The Queen’s coffin from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch.
13:00: Her Majesty The Queen’s coffin will travel to Windsor by road in the State Hearse.
15:10: The State Hearse will join a Procession to be formed up on Albert Road to travel via the Long Walk to St George’s Chapel for the Committal Service.
16:00: The Committal Service, conducted by Dean of Windsor, will take place at St George’s Chapel.
16:30: The service ends and King Charles departs.
19:30: The Queen will be buried with the Duke of Edinburgh in King George VI’s chapel at Windsor in a private service.
