The coffin of Elizabeth II arrived on Wednesday, following a moving procession led by her children from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, where it will be on public display until her state funeral on Monday.
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.
Transported on a horse-drawn cannon carriage and flanked by soldiers in ceremonial 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.
>> The images of the procession:
Long queues
The British are expected by the hundreds of thousands to come and meditate closer to their adored monarch, unanimously hailed for her total devotion to the Crown during her reign.
For the occasion, Westminster Hall will be open 24 hours a day, from Wednesday 5:00 p.m. to Monday 6:30 a.m., the day of his funeral at Westminster Abbey. But you will have to be patient, with long queues that could stretch for about fifteen kilometers.
On Wednesday, there were already thousands waiting on the bank opposite Parliament. The first to arrive had spent the night there.
>> The images in the streets of London:
![Britons queued all night to see the Queen's coffin [RTS]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rts.ch/2022/09/14/16/00/13384526.image?w=960&h=540&ssl=1)
The coffin of the Queen, who died in Scotland, arrived in the British capital on Tuesday evening and spent the night at Buckingham Palace, where King Charles III and his family had welcomed him.
>> Read again: Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin has arrived in London
On its way to reach the center of the capital, the hearse was cheered by thousands of people. All the British newspapers published on the front page the photo of the hearse entering Buckingham Palace.
To the sound of Big Ben
From the start of the procession, Big Ben’s largest bell rang every minute and cannon shots were fired in unison from Hyde Park.
Before her long farewell to the London public, the coffin of Elizabeth II has already been exposed for 24 hours in Edinburgh, from Monday evening to Tuesday. Sometimes moved to tears, some 33,000 people waited for hours to go and gather briefly.
Logistic challenge
Full hotels, disrupted transport, crowded pubs… the British capital is feverishly preparing for the funeral of the century, in the presence of hundreds of leaders and crowned heads, a huge security challenge.
To see the coffin, the government warned of “draconian restrictions”, worthy of airports. The press evokes some 750,000 people ready to brave a wait that could be counted in tens of hours.
The exact queue route published by the government stretches along the south bank of the River Thames for 15 kilometers to Southwark Park in the south-east of the capital.
First state funeral since 1965
In 2002, around 200,000 gathered in front of the coffin of Queen Mother Elizabeth, presented to the public for three days before her funeral. The crowd should be even greater for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the first national funeral since 1965 – those of Winston Churchill.
Some countries, notably Russia, Afghanistan, Syria or Burma were not invited.
>> See also the BBC documentary on the coronation of Elizabeth II:
![Elizabeth II story of a coronation [RTS]](https://i3.wp.com/www.rts.ch/2022/09/11/22/15/13370723.image?w=960&h=540&ssl=1)
doe and vajo with agencies