Thousands of people waited for hours on Thursday, lining up for nearly five miles, for the chance to spend a few minutes in front of Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin.
A week after the queen died at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, after seventy years on the throne, the center of the commemorations was Westminster, the heart of political power in London.
His coffin will remain in Westminster Hall until Monday, when it will be carried across the street to Westminster Abbey for the funeral.
Buckingham Palace released details of the service, the first state funeral in Britain since the death of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965.
Royalty and heads of state from around the world are expected to be among the 2,000 people who will attend the services.
The guest list for the state funeral ranges from Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Spain’s King Felipe VI to US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the prime ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
On Monday night the queen will be buried in a private family service in Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year.
The queen’s coffin left Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, carried in a horse-drawn carriage and greeted with cannon fire and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-strewn, crowded streets of London, until Westminster Hall.
Associated Press/OnCuba.
