The Queen is currently resting in the ballroom at Balmoral Castle, where estate staff can pay their last respects, a senior palace official said. His oak coffin was draped with the Royal Standard for Scotland and wreathed with flowers.
On Sunday morning, her coffin will make the six-hour journey to Edinburgh and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the British monarch’s official residence in Scotland.
On Monday, she will travel to St Giles’ Cathedral for a service attended by the King and Queen’s Consort and a congregation from “all walks of Scottish society”, a senior palace official said.
After the service, the coffin will remain there for 24 hours for the Scottish public to pay their respects. Charles and members of the royal family will attend the guard on Monday evening.
Princess Anne will accompany her mother’s body on a flight to London the following day and will be placed on the trestles in the Bow Room at Buckingham Palace overnight, the official said.
An extraordinary silent procession on Wednesday will see the coffin taken from Buckingham Palace on a hearse to Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster, where it will lie in state until the morning of the Queen’s funeral.
In an incredibly poignant moment, members of the royal family will go after their beloved matriarch. During the procession, Big Ben will toll and the Royal Horse Artillery of the Royal Troops will fire minute guns in Hyde Park, the official added.
He will be placed on a raised platform — or catafalque — in the middle of the hall and guarded around the clock by officers of the Household Division, the King’s Bodyguard, or the Company of Royal Archers.
On the morning of September 19, the coffin will travel back to Westminster Abbey for the funeral, with details likely to follow in the coming days. After the service, he went for a long walk and St. George’s Chapel for excellent service.
Funeral arrangements have been in the works for many years. Although the Queen has a say in the plans before her death, they can only be signed off by the sitting monarch. Charles, who was officially proclaimed king on Saturday, performed the duties alongside the Duke of Norfolk, who holds the hereditary role of Earl Marshal, responsible for organizing state events.
Earl Marshall, speaking on behalf of many of the institutions involved in the funeral, said Saturday that “it is with the heaviest of hearts that we carry out our duty in the coming days.”
He continued: “But at the same time, with the firmest determination to ensure a fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our time, a monarch we are privileged to have as head of state of our country and realms, and head of the wider Commonwealth.”
Heads of state and dignitaries from around the world are expected to be invited to the British capital to join members of the Royal Family in celebrating the Queen’s life and tireless service to the nation and the Commonwealth. Although the guest list has not yet been released, US President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday that he plans to attend the funeral.
Other familiar faces on the televised service will be some of the Queen’s 15 former prime ministers and senior lawmakers.
