The date for the Queen’s funeral has been set. What happens between now and then?
Key points
- The Queen’s funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday, September 19 at 11am local time (8pm AEST).
- A complex set of customs and observances will take place over eight days, beginning at Balmoral, Scotland and culminating in London.
- King Charles III and the Queen Consort will meet with leaders in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales during the mourning period.
London: An unprecedented period of mourning in Great Britain to mark the life and death of Queen Elizabeth II will be punctuated by customs, proclamations, millions of well-wishers, and will culminate in a state funeral.
The Queen’s funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday, September 19 at 11am local time (8pm AEST).
Her funeral will be attended by key world figures, including US President Joe Biden, and Commonwealth leaders. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley will attend.
Over the course of the next eight days there is a complex schedule of events and observances. Here is a day-by-day breakdown of everything you can expect to see.
Sunday
The Queen’s body will be moved from Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she died on Thursday aged 96, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
Her oak coffin has been kept in Balmoral’s ballroom, covered with the royal standard for Scotland and a wreath of flowers.
At 10am (7pm AEST), six of the estate’s gamekeepers will carry the coffin to a hearse for the six-hour journey to Edinburgh. The coffin will be accompanied by the Earl of Dalhousie James Ramsay and Reverend Kenneth Mackenzie, the Minister of Crathie Church near Balmoral where the royal family worship.
There will be opportunities for the Scots to view the procession at Ballater, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.
The coffin will remain in the throne room at Holyroodhouse for less than 24 hours.
Also on Sunday, proclamations will be made in the Scottish capital at both the parliament and at Edinburgh Castle to announce the accession of King Charles III.
At Buckingham Palace in London, the King will continue his work as the new monarch, meeting Baroness Patricia Scotland who was recently reinstated as secretary-general of the Commonwealth.
The King will host Commonwealth high commissioners, including Australia’s temporary representative Lynette Wood, and their spouses in the palace’s Bow Room.
Monday
The King and Queen Consort’s day begins in London, where Charles will give his reply to the parliamentary condolences inside the 900-year-old Westminster Hall. Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords will be sitting.
The rest of their day will unfold in Scotland.
The pair will fly to Edinburgh to inspect the Guard of Honour at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and take part in The Ceremony of the Keys.
The King and members of the royal family will then participate in a procession, commencing at 2.35pm (11.35pm AEST), to move the Queen’s coffin to St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.
Charles and Camilla will follow the coffin on foot.
When the coffin arrives at St Giles’, at 2.55pm, the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, will place the crown of Scotland on top.
It will be guarded by Vigils from the Royal Company of Archers, allowing Scots to pay their respects.
The King and Queen Consort will then head back to Holyrood where the new monarch will have an audience with Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish parliament’s presiding officer.
Just like in Westminster, the King will receive a motion of condolence from members of the Scottish Parliament and give his reply.
Finally, at 7.20pm (4.20am Tuesday AEST) they will hold a vigil back at St Giles’ with other members of the royal family. It is not known at this stage who that will include, although the King’s siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward will likely attend, as well as Prince William, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales.
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning, the King and Queen Consort fly to Belfast and travel by car to Hillsborough Castle to view an exhibition on the Queen’s relationship with Northern Ireland.
Just like in Westminster and Holyrood, the King will receive a message of condolence led by the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and give his reply.
There will be a short reception at Hillsborough. After that, they will meet leaders from all the major faiths in Northern Ireland and attend a prayer service at St Anne’s Cathedral.
They will then return to London.
In Edinburgh, just after 5pm (2am Wednesday AEST) the Royal Air Force will fly the Queen’s coffin from Edinburgh Airport to RAF Northolt, just north of Heathrow Airport. Princess Anne, the Queen’s only daughter, will accompany the coffin on the flight. Once the coffin lands in England around 8pm, it will be transported about 23 kilometres by car to Buckingham Palace and placed on trestles in the Bow Room. Various Chaplains to the King, appointed by the Queen, will take turns in keeping watch over the coffin.
Wednesday
The Imperial State Crown will be placed on the coffin along with a wreath of flowers before the procession to Westminister begins. It will be led by the King, starting at 2.22pm, who, like in Edinburgh, will walk behind it.
The coffin will be placed on a gun carriage of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery which will journey from the Queen’s Gardens, down the Mall, up Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, down Whitehall and Parliament Street, through Parliament Square and then entering the parliamentary estate via New Palace Yard.
Big Ben will toll during the procession.
The coffin will be placed in Westminster Hall and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Dean of Westminster David Hoyle will conduct a short service.
Four days of lying-in-state now begins and the public will have the opportunity to visit Westminster Hall to pay their respects. Queues are expected to stretch for several kilometres.
Friday
The King and Queen Consort will visit Wales.
Saturday and Sunday
No events have been listed yet.
Monday
The lying-in-state ends at 10.44am and the coffin will be taken to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, which begins at 11am.
After the funeral, the coffin will be taken once more in procession from the Abbey to Wellington Arch and then to Windsor, where the hearse will travel in procession up the Long Walk.
The Queen will be buried alongside her husband, Prince Philip, in a committal service at the tiny King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London.
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