On Monday night, the coffin of Elizabeth II will complete its eleven-day odyssey and the late sovereign will finally be able to rest in peace with her husband, the late Philip Duke of Edinburgh, and 25 of her ancestors. Previously, her remains will also have spent the day in good company, in the midst of the 500 foreign leaders invited to the funeral to be held at Westminster Abbey in London.
From Parliament to the site of the ceremony, then the last 23 miles to Windsor Castle from London: BFMTV.com takes stock of the funeral procession route on Monday.
to the ship
First it will be necessary to move away the tearful subjects. At 6.30 local time -7.30 French time- the funeral vigil will end in Westminster Hall, seat of the British Parliament, where Elizabeth II’s coffin is lent for the moment to the gaze of passers-by.
Then, at 8am (times are now given according to London time), the gates of the Palace of Westminster will open again, after Big Ben has sounded. The procession from the coffin to the nearby abbey will start at 10:44 am and will arrive safely eight minutes later, the journey is only a few hundred meters long.
Arrived at the place, the coffin will enter through the west door, will go up the nave before being installed on a platform provided for this purpose. As soon as the ceremony is over, it will be time for the remains to hit the road one last time.
From the cannon to the hearse
The coffin will be placed for this purpose in a green cannon carriage, the program specifies, the same equipment that transported the last three sovereigns who died on the throne, which excludes the queen’s uncle, Edward VIII, that is, his father george. VI, his grandfather George V and Edward VII, son of Queen Victoria. It will be pulled by means of ropes by 142 sailors. It is at 12:15 p.m., always according to local time, that the march will begin.
The procession will head to Wellington’s Arch, near Hyde Park, and should arrive around 1 pm There, the coffin will change from its barrel to a more classic hearse. The vehicle is expected to arrive at Windsor Castle, which was Elizabeth II’s favorite residence with her Scottish mansion of Balmoral, two hours later, shortly after 3 p.m.
The next few minutes will be spent on the main path leading to the castle, nicknamed “The long way”. It is upon his arrival in Windsor that King Charles III and his family will gather around the coffin again.
End of course
Then, the final mass can be celebrated, in the chapel of San Jorge, at approximately 4:00 p.m. We note that this last service will not be more intimate than the previous one, with 800 people being invited.
On the other hand, it is in the strictest family sphere that Queen Elizabeth II will be buried in an annex to the chapel, among her family, at 7:30 p.m. The epitaph should be the simplest in the world: “Isabel II, 1926-2022”.
Source: BFM TV
