The body of Queen Elizabeth II will be transferred to the Palace of Westminster in London on Wednesday, where hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pay their respects in the coming days before Monday’s state funeral.
After a night at Buckingham Palace, the coffin will depart at 2:20 p.m. in a King’s Troop Artillery Car, accompanied on foot by King Charles III and other members of the royal family, and will arrive in Westminster at 3:00 p.m. .
The body will be deposited in Westminster Hall. [Westminster Hall]the oldest part of the building that houses the British Parliament, whose origins date back to the 11th century.
The coffin, closed and covered by the royal standard and the Imperial State Crown, sphere and scepter, will be placed on a raised platform, known as a catafalque, and continuously guarded by soldiers of the military regiments at the service of the King.
After being at your post, a short mass will be celebrated with the presence of the King and members of the royal family, and only then will the public be allowed to enter.
Queen Elizabeth II will rest from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. on Monday, September 19, the day of the funeral, and during this period the room will be open 24 hours a day for brief passage by the public. the coffin and express respect for her.
Queues of several kilometers are expected with waiting times that can reach 30 hours, according to the British press.
Over the centuries, Westminster Hall has held banquets, trials, kings have been sworn in and removed, and the hall has hosted speeches by historical figures such as French President Charles de Gaulle and South African Nelson Mandela.
In this space, the British Prime Minister William Gladstone (1898), King Edward VII (1910), George V (1936), George VI (1952) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1965) were veiled.
The last member of the royal family to stand in a burning chamber in Westminster Hall was the Queen Mother in 2002, when some 200,000 people lined up to see the coffin over the course of three days.
The United Kingdom is currently going through a period of national mourning for Elizabeth II, who died at the age of 96 on September 8, after a reign of more than 70 years, the longest in the history of the United Kingdom.
After the death of the monarch, his eldest son, 73 years old, assumed the position of king as Carlos III.
Source: TSF
