Route of Queen’s final journey announced
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Be part of the historic day: Queen’s final trip to Windsor is extended so thousands more can watch her pass by and say goodbye
- Hundreds of thousands of people are expected on the streets of the Queen’s final journey to Windsor
- Palace officials have changed the route avoiding the M4 motorway so more people can say their final goodbyes
- The journey from Westminster Hall to St George’s Chapel, Windsor, is expected to take two hours
- The first part through the city will be in a cannon wagon before transferring the coffin to the royal hearse
- The Queen’s Funeral: All the latest news and coverage about the royal family
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Palace officials yesterday extended the route of the Queen’s final journey so that more people can bid her farewell.
Instead of taking the highway to her resting place in Windsor Castle, she will follow A roads.
Last night the exact course was revealed, allowing tens of thousands of benefactors to pick a spot along the route.
After the service at Westminster Abbey, they can catch a last glimpse of Her Majesty between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM.
First, the Queen’s casket will be carried by an extraordinary procession from the State Gun Carriage through London to Wellington Arch, where it will be transferred to the State Hearse at 1:00 PM. Other members of the Royal Family then travel along the M4 to Windsor, where a second ceremony will take place in St George’s Chapel.
The route of the Queen’s final journey has been announced and her funeral procession will use A-roads instead of highways so as many people as possible can see her coffin
During the Queen’s final journey, she is taken from Westminster Hall to Windsor, where she will be reunited with Prince Phillip
People have queued all night to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Hall. Those unable to attend this vigil will have one last chance to see her coffin as it is taken from Westminster to Windsor
King Charles III stood in silence at the head of his mother’s coffin last night as the audience watched
But if the former monarch had driven on the highway, mourners wishing to say goodbye would not have been able to align the route.
Robert Hardman of the Daily Mail was among those to say earlier this week that the route should be extended after the funeral so more Britons can say goodbye. Now the palace has announced the route. From Wellington Arch it goes along the south side of Hyde Park via South Carriage Drive before turning off Queens Gate and then along Cromwell Road.
The procession will follow the A4 through West London, along Talgarth Road via the Hammersmith Flyover and along the Great West Road.
Just before Heathrow, the hearse switches to the A30 Great South West Road and circles the south side of the airport.
It continues along London Road, still the A30, and Staines Road, before crossing the M25 to Windsor Road (the A308) for the final leg to Windsor along a rural stretch of the River Thames.
The route takes the Queen’s coffin 40 kilometers through London streets and villages in Surrey and Berkshire. Last night a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The route to Windsor has been planned with the public in mind.”
The news confirms suggestions that the Queen’s casket would not travel on the M4, which would have been the fastest route, giving thousands of Britons the chance to pay their last respects as her casket passes.
Traveling west from London to Berkshire on the A roads makes it easier for mourners to queue along the road.