Queen Elizabeth II has left her home. After 70 years of reign, her coffin left Buckingham Palace on Wednesday to be presented to the British, the last step before the grandiose funeral of the ultra-popular sovereign. In a solemn procession to the millimeter, the oak coffin transported on a gun carriage, and on which the imperial crown had been placed, left the palace at 3:22 p.m. French time.
The procession began by descending the famous Mall, the prestigious artery that connects the palace to Trafalgar Square in central London, before reaching Westminster Hall, the oldest chamber in the British Parliament where the closed coffin of Elizabeth II will be exhibited at the public for final farewells from 6 p.m. until Monday 7:30 a.m. French time. To the sound of funeral marches by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Chopin played by a military band, tens of thousands of people, often in tears, watched the procession pass for about forty minutes.
A procession of more than forty minutes
Carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage and flanked by soldiers in full dress, the coffin was draped with the royal standard, on which rested the Imperial Crown, made in 1937 and adorned with 2,868 diamonds. He was followed on foot by King Charles III, his brothers Andrew and Edward and his sister Anne. Followed, side by side, princes William and Harry, the two sons of Charles with difficult relationships, who appear together for the second time together since the death of Elizabeth II last Thursday, at the age of 96.
From the start of the procession, Big Ben’s largest bell rang every minute and cannon shots were fired in unison from Hyde Park. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to bid farewell to the popular sovereign whose reign of 70 years and seven months is of record longevity for a British sovereign. The Queen’s coffin arrived in the British capital on Tuesday evening and spent the night at Buckingham Palace, where King Charles III and his family had welcomed her.