Queen Elizabeth II leaves Buckingham Palace for final time

Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time on Wednesday, her coffin borne by a horse-drawn gun carriage and trailed by grieving family members during a journey to the Houses of Parliament, where it will lie in state until the funeral early next week.

With the Royal Standard and crown of state resting on top of the coffin and artillery firing salutes at one-minute intervals, the solemn procession was designed to underscore the queen’s 70 years as head of state as the national mourning process shifts to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the U.K. capital.

Britain’s King Charles and Britain’s William, Prince of Wales march during a procession where the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is transported from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament for her lying in state in London on September 14, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

King Charles III, his sons Princes William and Harry and other members of the royal family walked behind the gun carriage.

Thousands of people who had waited for hours along The Mall outside the palace and other locations to line the route held up phones and cameras, and some wiped away tears, as the solemn procession passed. Applause broke out as it went through Horse Guards Parade.

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.

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

Big Ben tolled, a gun salute boomed from Hyde Park and the martial strains of a military band accompanied the procession.

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The 38-minute procession ends at the historic Westminster Hall at Parliament.