UPDATES WITH ARRIVAL OF QUEEN’S COFFIN TO WINDSOR CASTLE; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal and Busra Nur Cakmak
LONDON / ANKARA (AA) – Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin arrived at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle on Monday for committal service after a state funeral in Westminster Abbey, London.
The queen’s coffin arrived at Windsor in a state hearse and greeted by public who wanted to bid a final farewell to the late monarch.
Elizabeth’s children, King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward; her grandchildren, Prince William, Prince Harry and Peter Phillips; and her nephew David Armstrong-Jones also followed the hearse in foot.
Her beloved corgis Sandy and Muick, and pony Emma was also brought to Windsor for the procession.
Elizabeth will be laid to rest next to her husband Prince Phillip at 7.30 p.m. (1830GMT) with a private service which will be attended by King Charles III and other family members at the King George VI Memorial Chapel.
London is hosting the biggest funeral ceremony globally in decades as the queen is being laid to rest on Monday, 10 days after her death at the age of 96.
A short procession brought the coffin from the Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster to the Westminster Abbey, where the service was held after the arrival of Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla.
The service was attended by around 100 heads of state, including US President Joe Biden, more than 20 royals, and many representatives from some 200 countries.
A two-minute silence was observed in the abbey and throughout the UK at the end of the sermon by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
Following the service, a huge procession took the coffin from the abbey to the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner via Parliament Square, White Hall, Horse Guard Road, The Mall, and Green Park.
The funeral events have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to central London and they are being broadcast live on television and big screens installed in Hyde Park.
Unprecedented security measures have been enforced in and around the parliament building, Westminster Abbey, the procession routes, and across other roads leading to central London.
Elizabeth, the longest-serving monarch of the UK, died on Sept. 8 at her Balmoral estate in Scotland.