How to visit the Queen’s coffin in London’s Westminster Hall

The Queen will return to London today to lie in state, accompanied by Princess Anne, after thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Her Majesty’s coffin will remain at the cathedral until 5pm following a poignant vigil involving her four children last night.

She will then be taken by hearse through a guard of honour formed by the Royal Company of Archers giving a royal salute to begin to Edinburgh Airport.

Upon arrival, the Queen will be received by the Royal Regiment of Scotland with a royal salute. A bearer party from the Royal Air Force will then be on hand to carry the coffin onto the aircraft.

Princess Anne, who travelled in the cortege from the Queen’s beloved Balmoral to Edinburgh on Sunday, will again accompany her mother on the flight to London.

She will be joined by the Very Reverend Professor David Fergusson, Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland.

The RAF plane is scheduled to depart from the runway in Edinburgh at 6pm, before touching down at RAF Northolt in west London at 6.55pm.

The bearer party will carry the Queen’s coffin from the aircraft to the waiting state hearse to begin the journey by road along the A40 towards Buckingham Palace.

Upon arrival at the palace, where thousands of well-wishers are expected to again line the streets, a further guard of honour will be formed by the King’s Guard as the coffin arrives at the Grand Entrance.

A bearer party from the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, will carry the coffin to the Bow Room, where it will be placed on trestles witnessed by King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla.

A rota of Chaplains to the King, formerly appointed by Queen Elizabeth, will keep watch over her coffin while it rests in the Bow Room.

The King and other royals may mourn within the room, before the coffin is expected to be moved to the Throne Room – where devoted palace staff can pay their respects. 

The Queen will remain at Buckingham Palace overnight and through the morning of Wednesday, before the coffin will be borne by gun carriage of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery to the Palace of Westminster.

The route will take the coffin through the Queen’s Gardens, The Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard.

The King and other senior members of the Royal Family will follow the coffin on foot. They will also be followed by senior staff of both the Queen’s and the King’s Households, and then close personal staff.

The procession will walk in silence, without music.

Meanwhile, guards of honour from all three services will be positioned along the route. 

The King’s Life Guard will give a royal salute as the coffin passes through Horse Guards Arch.

Throughout the procession, minute guns will be fired at Hyde Park by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and Big Ben will toll.

At 3pm, the coffin is expected to arrive at the North Door of Westminster Hall, before it will be carried to the catafalque inside by the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards bearer company.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will conduct a short service, before Westminster Hall will be opened to the public to begin the start of four-and-a-half days of the Queen lying in state.

A round-the-clock vigil will be mounted around the catafalque by officers of the Household Division, the King’s Body Guards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, the King’s Body Guard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers and The King’s Body Guard the Yeomen of the Guard.

It comes amid concern that London could become ‘full’ over the coming days as up to one million people flock to see the Queen’s coffin – with queues expected to last up to 30 hours.

Whitehall chiefs in charge of logistics for the historic five-night vigil have estimated mourner numbers could be close to the one million who turned up to view Pope John Paul II when he lay in state in Rome in 2005.

Hotel chains have also seen a major uptake in reservations ahead of the lying in state and funeral, with Travelodge revealing there had been a ‘surge in London bookings from all corners of the UK’ to its 78 hotels in the capital.

Scotland Yard is already closing roads around Westminster and Transport for London has said services will be ‘very busy’ with passengers urged ‘to allow plenty of extra time for their journeys and to avoid driving where possible’.

But the queuing has already begun, with the first person arriving to queue for the Queen’s lying in state on Monday evening – more than 48 hours before the line opens.

Security staff, stewards and police officers have been stationed along the route., with portable toilets, barriers and flooring have also been set up in Victoria Tower Gardens.

It comes after King Charles III , Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward each stood on one of the four corners of the oak coffin with their heads bowed in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes last night.

The Duke of York kept his eyes closed for a period of time during the 10-minute vigil, while the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex had their eyes fixed towards the floor. The King – his eyes moistening – kept his hands joined and also looked towards the floor as members of the public filed past.

The King and his family stood alongside four suited members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were standing guard dressed in long-feathered hats and armed with arrows and quivers.

Members of the public – who have been filing past the coffin in their thousands throughout the afternoon – were briefly held back to allow the royals to take their place. However, they continued to file past once the vigil began, offering them an extraordinary perspective on the historic moment.

A number of members of the public bowed as they passed the King, with others walking solemnly by with heads down. Charles wore the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan and white heather in his lappelle from Balmoral, while Anne and Edward appeared in military uniform.

D+4 – Tuesday September 13

The King and Queen Consort are to fly to Northern Ireland on Tuesday to visit Hillsborough Castle, where they will view an exhibition about the late Queen’s long association with the province.

The King will then meet Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and party leaders, and receive a message of condolence led by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

After a short reception at Hillsborough, the King and Queen Consort will travel to St Anne’s Cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection. 

Before the event, King Charles will meet leaders from all the major faiths in Northern Ireland.

The royal couple will return to London later in the day, as the Queen’s coffin flies into the capital.

At 5pm on Tuesday, the Queen’s coffin will be taken by hearse to Edinburgh airport, where it will be met by a Guard of Honour from the Royal Regiment of Scotland. 

The Royal Air Force bearer party will then carry it on to a waiting RAF aircraft, where it will be flown to London at 6pm. 

She will be accompanied by Princess Anne and arrive at RAF Northolt in West London shortly before 7pm.

The coffin will then be driven to Buckingham Palace where it will be met by a Guard of Honour.

There it will rest in the Bow Room, under the watch of a rota of chaplains.

A rehearsal for the procession of the coffin from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster is also expected to take place.

Details about the route for the lying-in-state queue will be provided late on Tuesday September 13. 

It is not yet known where other members of the royal family will be on Tuesday. 

D+5 – Wednesday September 14     

The Queen’s lying in state is expected to begin in Westminster Hall – Operation Marquee – following a ceremonial procession through London that will begin at 2.22pm.

The King will walk behind the gun carriage carrying his mother’s coffin to Westminster Hall, in the Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, marking the second time he has walked behind her in three days. 

The coffin, adorned with the Imperial State Crown, be transported on a gun carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace. 

The King, members of the royal family and senior staff of the late Queen and King’s households will walk slowly behind in a dignified silence without music in a route that will take 38 minutes.

On arrival, the coffin will be placed on a raised bier where the Queen will lie in state for four full days.

The Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service following the coffin’s arrival.

Hundreds of thousands of people will file past the coffin on its catafalque and pay their respects, just as they did for the Queen Mother’s lying in state in 2002.

Those wishing to pay their respects will be able to file solemnly past the Queen’s coffin 24 hours a day from 5pm on Wednesday September 14 until 6.30am on the day of the funeral – Monday September 19.

Well-wishers have been told to expect ‘very little opportunity to sit down as the queue will be continuously moving’. 

Visitors will only be allowed to bring one small bag with them, smaller than 40cm x 30cm x 20cm, and have been told to dress for the weather and bring refreshments.

People are not allowed to film, take pictures or use their phones inside the Palace of Westminster. 

Large crowds are expected to attend, with delays on public transport and road closures anticipated.

Details of the route for the lying-in-state queue will be published at 10pm tomorrow, with full guidance on the gov.uk website.

Security staff manning the queue route to Westminster Hall said today that crowds are expected to swell ahead of Wednesday afternoon.

Security staff and stewards in high-vis vests from firms such as Headline Security and Wise Security have already been stationed at regular points along the expected route.

It stretches from Parliament’s tourist entrance at Cromwell Green down Millbank, past the Lords and Victoria Tower Gardens, across Lambeth Bridge and loops back north on the other side of the river past the Covid Memorial Wall.

Metropolitan Police officers as well as Welsh police officers are also manning the expected route, parts of which are already lined with barriers.

Portaloos and crowd control infrastructure such as barriers and temporary flooring have been set up inside Victoria Tower Gardens, which is likely to be the pinnacle of the queue before it leads into Cornwall Gardens.

A marquee and armed police can be seen at the entrance to Cornwall Gardens with several police and emergency service vehicles parked across the road.

Security staff by Victoria Tower Gardens said the queue is likely to snake for miles, all the way along the southside of the River Thames to Tower Bridge.

And the Army may be drawn in to help, with 1,500 personnel available to help staff the queues. 

People will also be given wristbands so that they can temporarily leave the queue for toilet breaks.

‘There will be toilet facilities, there will be first aid available, there will be the ability for people obviously to go and use toilets and return to queues and things like that,’ the No 10 spokesman said. 

Commuters may want to ‘change their working patterns accordingly’ as London will be ‘extremely busy’ for the Queen’s lying in state, No 10 said.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘At this point we can’t be more specific on numbers. We do expect it to be extremely busy.

‘I think for the Queen Mother it was around 200,000 people [who attended], we expect [it] to be far more than that for this lying in state. But at this point, but we can’t be more specific into exact numbers.’

On whether commuters should work from home this week if they normally travel into the capital from outside London, he said some people ‘may wish to change their working patterns accordingly’, but acknowledged ‘not everyone will have that ability’.

Asked if there will be any facilities for people who physically cannot queue for 30 hours, he said: ‘Obviously we want everyone to be able to attend regardless of whether they have disabilities. Our focus is on ensuring they have the information needed to make the decision about what’s right for them.’

Senior royals are also expected to pay their own moving tribute, standing guard at some stage around the coffin — the tradition known as the Vigil of the Princes.

This could include the Queen’s children and grandchildren, although details have not been confirmed. 

The management of the queues outside is Operation Feather. During the Covid-19 crisis, plans included the possibility of the introduction of timed ticketing for those wanting to attend.

D+6 – Thursday September 15

Lying in state continues and a rehearsal is likely to take place for the state funeral procession.

It is not yet known where members of the royal family will be on Thursday. 

D+7 – Friday September 16 

On Friday, King Charles will continue his tour of the UK, travelling to Wales to receive a motion of condolence at the Welsh Parliament, and attend a service at Llandaff Cathedral, in Cardiff.

Lying in state continues at Westminster Hall.

It is not yet known where members of the royal family will be on Friday. 

D+8 – Saturday September 17

The lying in state continues and heads of state will begin to arrive for the funeral.

Foreign heads of state and their spouses have been banned from using private jets and helicopters to get to the Queen’s funeral – and told to take the coaches instead.

Whitehall has issued strict guidance for dignitaries arriving in the UK to pay their respects to the monarch when she is laid to rest at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.

Leaked documents obtained by the Politico news website reveal the world’s political elite will be banned from using their own cars to get to the abbey, and instead will be asked to park in west London and take a coach.

The UK’s foreign office has also asked attendees to refrain from using private jets, and has limited spaces at the funeral to two per nation. 

Elements of the plan have been met with incredulity in some quarters, with one foreign ambassador complaining: ‘Can you imagine Joe Biden on the bus?’

Organisers blamed ‘tight security and road restrictions’, and said Heathrow is ‘not available for private flight arrangements’. Helicopter transfers from airports are banned ‘due to the number of flights operating at this time’.

D+9 – Sunday September 18 

Heads of state will continue arriving for the funeral. An evening reception will be held for funeral guests, including prime ministers, heads of state and other dignitaries from across the world.

This may also include members of the royal family, although details have not been confirmed. 

At 8pm, people will be invited to come together to ‘mourn and reflect on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II’ during a minute’s silence.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed that there will be a one-minute silence the night before the state funeral.

‘The public are invited to come together and observe a national moment of reflection to mourn and reflect on the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II,’ they said.

‘The silence can be marked privately at home on your own or with friends and neighbours, out on your doorstep or street with neighbours, or at any locally arranged community events and vigils.

‘We encourage local community groups, clubs and other organisations to mark this moment of reflection. And if you are overseas, people are encouraged to mark the silence at their local time.

‘The shared national moment of reflection is an opportunity for everyone across the UK to mark the death of Her Majesty and we will set out details of where the Prime Minister will mark it closer to that time.’

The King will also hold an audience with the Prime Minister on Sunday. 

D+10 – Monday September 19

On Monday, there will be a national bank holiday to allow as many people as possible to watch the Queen’s funeral.

Lying in state will continue until 6.30am, after which well-wishers will no longer be able to pay their respects to the Queen in Westminster Hall, with the funeral beginning in less than five hours.

The Queen’s state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey in central London at 11am.

The coffin will be taken in a grand military procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral. 

The original plans are for the Queen’s coffin to process on a gun carriage to the abbey, pulled by naval ratings — sailors — using ropes rather than horses.

Senior members of the family will follow behind – just like they did for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh.

It is not clear yet who will be involved in this, but it may include King Charles, the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York.

It could also include the Queen’s grandchildren; William, the Prince of Wales; Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex; Princess Beatrice and Eugenie, the Duke of York’s daughters; Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, the Princess Royal’s children; and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn; Prince Edward’s children.

Kate, the Princess of Wales and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will also be in attendance at the funeral. The Princess of Wales may play a more significant role in proceedings as spouse to the heir apparent, William, the Prince of Wales. 

The military will line the streets and also join the procession.

Heads of state, prime ministers and presidents, European royals and key figures from public life will be invited to gather in the abbey, which can hold a congregation of 2,000.

The service will be televised, and a national two minutes’ silence is expected to be held at midday.

After the service, the coffin will be taken in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch and then travel to Windsor.

Once there, the hearse will travel in procession to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle via the Long Walk, after which a televised committal service will take place in St George’s Chapel.

Later in the evening, there will be a private interment service with senior members of the royal family.

The Queen’s final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex to the main chapel – where her mother and father were buried, along with the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret.

Philip’s coffin will move from the Royal Vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queen’s.

Hour-by-hour guide to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II: World will watch as King Charles III and senior royals walk behind late monarch’s oak coffin carried on gun carriage from Parliament to Westminster Abbey for historic service

ByJack Wright For Mailonline

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II‘s state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday, September 19.

It will be the first funeral service at the Abbey – which was the background to much of the Queen’s astonishing life, from her marriage to her beloved Duke of Edinburgh to the Coronation – for a British monarch since that of King George II in 1760. 

The funerals of kings and queens have been at St George’s Chapel in Windsor since the reign of George III.

However, in a break with convention, Her Majesty – who died at Balmoral on Thursday aged 96 following many months of concern over her health – decided her funeral should be in the much bigger setting of Westminster Abbey.

Scotland Yard has now been tasked with organising the most significant security arrangement in British history for the funeral. 

After a night at the Palace of Holyroodhouse tonight, the Queen will lie in state for 24 hours at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. Her coffin will be flown to London on Tuesday, acccompanied by the Princess Royal, before being driven to Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s lying in state is expected to begin in Westminster Hall in London on Wednesday afternoon. 

Then on Monday, the coffin will be moved from the Houses of Parliament that morning on the state gun carriage and transported to the neighbouring Abbey. King Charles III and other senior members of the Royal Family, as well as the military, will follow the coffin while hundreds of thousands of mourners line the streets to pay their final respects to the late monarch.

Around 2,000 guests including Prime Minister Liz Truss and US President Joe Biden will then attend the hour-long televised service in the Abbey, which is expected to be one of the most watched live events in history – before the coffin is solemnly carried to Wellington Arch at 1pm via Whitehall, The Mall and past Buckingham Palace. 

The coffin will then be carried to Windsor, before the Queen is buried at St George’s Chapel next to her husband Prince Philip. 

6am-8.30am: Last vigil at Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall 

At dawn on the last day of national mourning, the King’s bodyguards will begin their final vigil at the Queen’s oak coffin in the Houses of Parliament. It will then close at 8.30am in preparation for the procession.

9am: Big Ben will strike

Big Ben will strike clearly, before the bell’s hammer is covered with a thick leather pad to muffle its strikes for the rest of the day, out of respect and deference to the late monarch.

10.30am: Queen’s coffin is carried from House of Parliament to Westminster Abbey

The Queen’s coffin will be moved onto the state gun carriage which will be outside the north door of Westminster Hall.

From there, it will be pulled by naval ratings using ropes instead of horses from the Hall to Westminster Abbey.

Enormous crowds of mourners are expected to line the streets in Westminster as King Charles and senior members of the Royal Family follow the coffin as they did at the funeral for Princess Diana and for Prince Philip. The military will also join the procession. 

11am: The Queen’s coffin is carried to the High Altar

Around 2,000 guests including members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Liz Truss, former British premiers, foreign dignitaries including US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and possibly Japanese Emperor Naruhito, and other VIPs, will fill the Abbey and watch as the Queen’s coffin is moved down the nave to the High Altar, before the nation falls silent.

11am-12pm: The state funeral at the Abbey

The state funeral will be led by the Dean of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

It is being televised and is expected to be beamed to millions around the world – and could well be one of the most watched live events in human history. 

Royal experts believe that the choice of the Abbey could be both because it is so big – it has a capacity of 2,000 though can hold as many as 8,000 – and more live TV broadcasts have already been held there.

It is also believed that it could be a better place for large crowds to gather to pay their respects, since it is in Central London.

And the Abbey was the setting for many of the most important events of the Queen’s life – from her Coronation to her wedding to Prince Philip. The Princess Royal and the Duke of York, and the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret, were also married there.

Other royal funerals have been held at the Abbey, including Princess Diana’s in 1997 and the Queen Mother’s in 2002. The funeral of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Philip’s uncle, was also held there in 1979.

12pm: The Last Post 

At the end of the service, the Last Post and Reveille will be played.

12pm-1pm: Queen’s coffin is carried to Wellington Arch via The Mall

The Queen’s coffin will then be placed back on the state gun carriage, before the royal funeral procession will solemnly move through Parliament Square, Whitehall, Constitution Hill and The Mall, past Buckingham Palace, to arrive at Wellington Arch at 1pm.

1pm-4pm: The coffin is transported to Windsor

Then the coffin will be transported to Windsor, where the Queen spent much of the last years of her life, to her final resting place at St George’s Chapel via the Long Walk.

4pm: Queen will be buried at St George’s Chapel by her husband Prince Philip

The committal service conducted by the Dean of Windsor will then begin, and will also be televised around the world.

Before the last hymn, the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb will be removed from the Queen’s coffin by the crown jeweller. 

Then at the end of the service, a lament will be played by a lone piper as the coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, where she will be buried alongside her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, her beloved parents, and her sister Margaret.

7pm: King Charles will attend private family burial service at chapel

King Charles and his closest family will return to the chapel for a private family burial service, where – as the late Queen did for her father – the monarch will scatter earth upon the coffin.