Queen Elizabeth II will be buried this Monday, in a private ceremony, in the vault of the royal family at Windsor Castle, where the remains of her parents and her sister are, Buckingham Palace reported.
According to the statement from the official London residence of the sovereign, who died on September 8 at the age of 96, becoming the longest-living monarch in the United Kingdom -70 years and 214 days-, the urn of her husband, Prince Felipe, deceased in 2021, aged 99, she will also be transferred to stay with her, in the royal tomb in Windsor where the remains of her father, George VI, her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and her sister, Princess Margaret, rest.
This private ceremony for King Carlos III and members of the British royal family will take place at 7:30 p.m. (local time and Lisbon) in the King George VI Memorial Chapel (located inside the Capela de São Jorge), after the funeral of State in London. which will take place in Westminster Abbey, next to Parliament, with the presence of numerous heads of state or government and representatives of the royal families.
Some 2,000 people will attend the official religious ceremony, scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and whose guest list has not been disclosed, including the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the President of the United States, Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.
People who received important decorations, politicians and other public personalities were also invited, as well as 200 people distinguished by Elizabeth II for their service to the community: volunteer actions or fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to some details of the state funeral released to the press, at the end of the religious service, at 11:55 a.m., there will be two minutes of silence throughout the country, after which the national anthem, “God Save the King”. will be sung (“God save the King”).
A carriage, used for the funerals of previous monarchs, including Queen Victoria (1819-1901), and pulled by 98 sailors, will transport the casket from the Palace of Westminster, where it remains in a burning chamber from September 14, until Westminster Abbey, 150 meters.
King Charles III and other members of the royal family will walk in the funeral procession, which will be accompanied by bagpipers from Scottish and Irish regiments, as well as a Royal Air Force military band.
Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral, the first since Winston Churchill’s death in 1965, will be the largest security operation ever staged in London, with leaders from around the world and huge crowds expected in the British capital, even more than in the 2012 Olympics. .
Today’s global protection operation will be even larger than that of the Platinum Jubilee weekend, the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the monarch’s reign, which took place in early June this year.
The London police force was reinforced with officers from the 43 police forces of England and Wales, and soldiers from all branches of the Armed Forces and hundreds of workers were mobilized to provide assistance on the streets, in compliance with a plan that had been developing. . for several years, precisely because it was predicted to be an unprecedented event: the largest gathering of world leaders in decades and, moreover, hundreds of thousands of people present to pay a final tribute to the Queen.
At the end of the state funeral, King Charles III and other members of the royal family will once again walk in the procession behind Elizabeth II’s casket to Wellington Arch in central London, from where they will lead to Windsor Castle, which was the sovereign’s residence for the past two years.
In Windsor, a religious ceremony will be held at 4 pm, attended by 800 people, including members of the Queen’s family and staff, in St George’s Chapel.
Source: TSF
