The media around the world began to converge on Westminster, where the queen’s coffin must be installed from Wednesday evening until Monday, September 19, funeral day. Dozens of heads of state are expected.
by
With formalization, Saturday September 10, by Buckingham Palace of the date of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II – Monday September 19 at 11 am, in the Westminster Abbey, in London – opened A historical sequence. That of the slow procession of the Queen’s body to her last home – she will be buried alongside her parents, King George VI and the Queen Mother, in the Saint -Georges chapel of Windsor. That, too, of the gradual takeover of Charles III, who became king on the day of his death, September 8.
To give the measure of this chain of considerable events, the British authorities readily cite the funeral of Winston Churchill, the first of the Prime Ministers of Elizabeth II, on January 30, 1965, which were followed, in the streets of London And on television, by tens of millions of people. Or the London Olympic Games in 2012, whose opening ceremony was viewed by 900 million people.
The media around the world began to converge towards the Mall, the alley leading to Buckingham Palace, and the royal communication service is overwhelmed by accreditation requests. Hundreds of thousands of British and tourists will also travel to live these moments of national communion as closely as possible. The London authorities began to complete all the streets of the Westminster district, and to secure the surroundings of the abbey and the parliament, just opposite. The hotels are already taken by storm.
considerable tails
covered with the Royal Standard For Scotland (the Flag of the Crown of Scotland), the Queen’s oak coffin left Balmoral on Sunday, the summer residence in the Aberdeenshire, where she died, for a first Stay in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. He will be transported by plane to London Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, he will be brought to Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Westminster Palace, used from the 12th in the Norman kings as the seat of their administration. Adorned with the Imperial State Crown (that which the Queen wore was leaving the Westminster Abbey on the day of her coronation), the coffin will be installed on a catafalque. The public will be able to come and meditate, at any time of the day and night, from Wednesday evening 5 p.m. until dawn on Monday September 19.
This sequence, called the “Lying in State”, of See you generate considerable tails. Before that of Elizabeth II, the coffins of her father and mother had also been exhibited to the public at Westminster Hall. In 2002, more than 200,000 people were laid out to meditate for a few moments before that of the Queen Mother. The crowd should be even denser on September 19: it is the first time since the 18th century e century that the funeral of a monarch take place in Westminster. Those of Queen Victoria or George VI were held at the Saint-Georges chapel in Windsor.
You have 37.4% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.