Key developments
- Hundreds of troops and military horses rehearsed for days to ensure the event ran smoothly along streets crowded with mourners. The procession included members of the royal family and senior staff, who walked in silence — to the beat of muffled drums — led by King Charles III.
- The royal family gathered for prayers at Buckingham Palace before accompanying the coffin on its journey via gun carriage to Westminster Hall. The queen’s funeral processions involved more than 1,000 years of monarchical tradition and pageantry: Here’s a rundown of the symbolism.
- The line to view the queen was almost three miles long shortly after Westminster Hall was opened to visitors. The queue went across the Thames River, along the South Bank and reached Tower Bridge, though it has since shrunk. In true British fashion, the line is carefully managed, with stewards, wristbands and toilets along the way. The U.K. Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is running a livestream showing the length of the line and its location.
- Police detained and arrested anti-monarchy protesters at royal events in England and Scotland in recent days, alarming lawyers and free-speech activists. Lawmakers have called on authorities to respect the rights of those who think the queen’s death should herald the end of the monarchy.
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Route for
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St. James
Park
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Abbey
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Thames R.
1,000 FT
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Greater London
Detail
LONDON
Route for
Sept. 14 procession
QUEEN’S WALK
THE MALL
WHITEHALL
Horse
Guards
Parade
St. James
Park
Thames R.
Green Park
Wellington
Arch
CONSTITUTION HILL
New
Palace
Yard
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Happening today
All times are local, five hours ahead of Eastern time, unless noted otherwise.
- The queen’s coffin left Buckingham Palace at 2:22 p.m. and arrived at Westminster Hall at 3 p.m. She will lie in state there until Monday’s funeral.
- The Archbishop of Canterbury conducted a service, attended by the king and the rest of the royal family.
- The public will be able to visit 24 hours a day between 5 p.m. Wednesday and 6.30 a.m. on the day of the funeral, the government said.
In other news
- Planned closures across the U.K. on the day of the queen’s funeral are likely to cause significant disruption. The last-minute public holiday means hospitals have rescheduled non-urgent surgeries, funeral parlors delayed burials and organizers of major sports and cultural events have been forced to change their plans.
- A British trade union for civil and public servants criticized a decision to reportedly make staff at King Charles’s former residence redundant as “nothing short of heartless.”
- President Biden spoke with King Charles III “to offer his condolences” on the death of his mother, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. Biden and first lady Jill Biden plan to attend the queen’s upcoming funeral at the invitation of the U.K. government, the White House said earlier.
Your royal questions, answered
- Who will be at the queen’s funeral? The event is expected to attract hundreds of world leaders, including presidents, prime ministers and monarchs. Security arrangements will be complex. Foreign dignitaries have reportedly been asked to take shared buses to the funeral at Westminster Abbey to avoid clogging London’s streets, although an exception may be made for President Biden to arrive in his armored presidential limousine, known as “the Beast.”
- Where will the queen be buried? After Monday’s funeral, the queen’s coffin will move to Windsor Castle, where she spent weekends. There, the coffin will travel in a final procession to St. George’s Chapel, where she will be laid to rest next to her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. Here’s what we know about the funeral.
- How are former colonies mourning the queen? As their leaders paid homage to Elizabeth, residents of former British colonies reflected on darker parts of the queen’s legacy. “Colonialism is history in the West,” said one South African writer. “But in our countries, colonialism is now.” And many Black Americans with roots in countries that were ruled by the British monarch saw complications in the adulation of the queen.
- What kind of monarch will King Charles III be? A king-in-waiting for 73 years, Charles ascends to the throne with a challenge: ensuring the future of the House of Windsor, with the disadvantage that he is less popular than his mother. The new king has said he wants to balance tradition and progress. He also brings a different personal vision of religion to the role.
From our correspondents
As Elizabeth gives way to Charles, realms consider severing ties: The queen’s death is prompting several Commonwealth nations to reevaluate their ties to the crown, Amanda Coletta and Michael E. Miller report.
“Many of those countries, former outposts of the empire, have also been engaged in a public reckoning over the legacies of colonialism, including calls for atonement, reparations and independence,” they write.