TIL Desk/World/London/ The coffin of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is Lying-in-State at Westminster Hall after its final journey from Buckingham Palace in London on Wednesday. King Charles III and his sons, Princes William and Harry, joined a sombre procession as the coffin of the late monarch left her official London residence to be conveyed to the historic hall in the Houses of Parliament complex to lie in state until the state funeral at Westminster Abbey nearby on Monday.
Members of the public began filing past at 5pm local time and will have until 6.30am on the day of the funeral, by which time several thousands are expected to have queued for hours to pay their respects to the Queen. At 2.22 pm local time on Wednesday, the coffin placed on a horse-drawn gun carriage of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery began its ceremonial procession of under two kilometres to the Palace of Westminster.
The Queen’s heir, Charles, and her grandchildren William and Harry walked side by side behind the coffin, with gun salutes firing from Hyde Park and Big Ben tolling during a sombre journey. The Queen’s other children, Princess Anne and Princes Andrew and Edward, were also among the senior royals in the procession behind the carriage. Thousands lined the route of the procession, which went past the Mall towards the Palace of Westminster by the river Thames.
