Queen's coffin leaves Buckingham Palace to lie in state

3 hours ago

Duration4:04

Massive crowds converged on London to see the Queen's coffin move in a horse-drawn carriage to the Houses of Parliament to lie in state.

Queen Elizabeth left Buckingham Palace for the last time on Wednesday, her coffin carried on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall. There, Britain's longest-serving monarch will lie in state for the world to mourn.

Her son, King Charles, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow.

The Queen will lie in state for four days until her funeral Monday, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to file past. Eight pallbearers carried the oak and lead-lined coffin into Westminster Hall, placing it on a raised platform known as a catafalque.

King Charles, front, and his son, Prince William, Prince of Wales, walk behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth, adorned with a Royal Standard and the Imperial State Crown and pulled by a gun carriage of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, in London, on Wednesday. (Daniel Leal/Reuters)

Shortly after 5 p.m. local time, members of the public were allowed to file past the coffin, in the centre of the vast medieval hall. People flowed in two lines in a silent river of humanity.

They moved down steps under the hall's great stained-glass window, then past the coffin at a steady pace. There were parents with children, couples hand in hand, veterans with medals clinking on navy blue blazers, lawmakers and members of the House of Lords.

Some wore black or suits and ties, others jeans and sneakers. They had waited hours for a journey past the coffin that lasted only a few minutes.

Many were in tears as they approached the casket. Some doffed their hats and one curtseyed. One fell to one knee and blew a kiss.

The military procession from Buckingham Palace was designed to underscore the Queen's seven decades as head of state as the national mourning process shifted to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the U.K. capital.

The coffin of Queen Elizabeth arrived on Wednesday at Westminster Hall in London from Buckingham Palace for her lying in state after a nearly 40-minute procession. (Phil Noble/Reuters)

Thousands of people who had waited for hours along The Mall outside the palace and other locations along the route held up phones and cameras, and some wiped away tears, as the procession passed. Applause broke out as it went through Horse Guards Parade. Thousands more sat in nearby Hyde Park watching on large screens.

The coffin was draped in the Royal Standard and topped with the Imperial State Crown — adorned with almost 3,000 diamonds — and a bouquet of flowers and plants including pine from the Balmoral Estate, where Elizabeth died last week at the age of 96.

Two officers and 32 troops from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in red uniforms and bearskin hats walked on either side of the gun carriage.

The 38-minute procession ended at Westminster Hall, where Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a short service attended by Charles and other royals.

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you," Welby said, reading from the Book of John

Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry pay their respects in the Palace of Westminster after the procession for the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

After a short service, the captain of The Queen's Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, assisted by a senior sergeant, laid the Royal Standard of the regiment on the steps of the catafalque.

Four officers from the Household Cavalry — two from the Life Guards and two from the Blues Royals — began the first vigil around the coffin, taking their places at the corner and bowing their heads.

Thousands had queued up along the banks of the River Thames, waiting to enter the hall and pay their respects..