Queen's Coffin Will Travel to Edinburgh For Public Mourning Ceremonies

Submitted by edg on Sat, 10 Sep '22 5.24pm
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Elizabeth II greets NASA GSFC_employees, May_8, 2007
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NASA

Following the formal proclamation of King Charles III earlier today, surrounded by a who's who of recent British PMs, arrangements have been announced for the Queen's state funeral and the events in this seven days of mourning. 

People will have a chance to pay their last respects to Britain's longest reigning monarch when the Queen's coffin travels by hearse to the Palace of Holyroodhouse tomorrow.

The Queen's coffin currently rests in the ballroom at Balmoral Castle, where she spent her last hours surrounded by family members.

Her coffin will travel by road to Edinburgh tomorrow, leaving Balmoral at 10am and travelling on the A93 to Aberdeen, along the A92 and the A90 to Dundee and Perth, and then will take the M90 to Edinburgh. The journey to Edinburgh is expected to take six hours. There will be public viewing opportunities along the way.

A number of roads in Edinburgh, in particular the Old Town, will be closed "to safely accommodate the thousands of people expected to line the city’s streets" during this time. The annual Edinburgh Riding of the Marches event, in which 280 horses were due to be ridden up the Royal Mile tomorrow, has been cancelled.

Royal vigil in Edinburgh 

The Queen's coffin will rest in the throne room at the Palace of Holyroodhouse until the afternoon of Monday 12th September.

On the afternoon of Monday 12th September, a procession will be formed on the forecourt at Holyroodhouse, to convey the coffin up the Royal Mile to St Giles' Cathedral at 2.35pm.

King Charles and the Royal family will take part in the procession and attend a service in St Giles’ to receive the coffin.

The Queen's coffin will then lie at rest for 24 hours in St Giles' Cathedral, guarded by vigils from the Royal Company of Archers, the monarch's bodyguard in Scotland, to allow people to pay their respects.

On Tuesday 13th September, the coffin will then be taken to Edinburgh airport, where it be flown at 6pm by the Royal Air Force to RAF Northolt.

The coffin will be accompanied on the journey by Princess Anne, the Princess Royal.

State funeral in London

The state funeral for the Queen will take place at Westminster Abbey on Monday 19th September at 11am.

Prior to the state funeral, The Queen will lie-in-state in Westminster Hall for four days, during which time members of the public will be able to file past to pay their respects.

The procession will travel via Queen’s Gardens, The Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard.

After the coffin arrives at Westminster Hall, the Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service assisted by the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, and attended by the King and Royal family, after which the lying-in-state will begin.

While the Queen lies in state, members of the public will have the opportunity to visit Westminster Hall to pay their respects.

On the morning of Monday 19th September, the lying-in-state will end and the coffin will be taken in procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, where the state funeral service will take place at 11am.

Following the state funeral, the coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. From there it will travel to Windsor Castle for a committal service in St George's Chapel.