Tonight, the Royal Family paid a heartfelt final tribute to the Queen when she was laid to rest with her beloved Prince Philip following a day of public ceremonies that were witnessed by as many as four billion people worldwide.
In a post captioned “In loving memory of Her Majesty The Queen,” the royal family has released a never-before-seen picture of the late monarch hiking through heathlands.
The moving social media post also referenced her son King Charles’s first address to the nation, in which he quoted the renowned play Hamlet by William Shakespeare: “May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.”
It follows a highly symbolic moment in which the Queen’s crown, orb, and sceptre were removed from her coffin, allowing her to enter her grave “as a simple Christian soul.”
As her 70-year reign formally came to an end this evening, Her Majesty returned to Windsor to be interred in the royal crypt in St. George’s Chapel with her husband, father, mother, and sister.
The Royal Family stood as the Queen was slowly lowered at the conclusion of the brief committal ritual as the Dean of Windsor recited, “Go forth on thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.” In addition, he presented the commendation, which is a prayer in which the departed is committed to God’s mercy.
Prior to the Lord Chamberlain snapping his staff of office, the Dean had put the Queen’s crown and other crown jewels on the altar, indicating the end of the Queen’s public service.
The Garter King of Arms then announced the styles and titles of the Queen as all power passed to her son, the King, before the coffin was lowered to the lament of a lone piper as Britain and the world bid the late queen a fond farewell after 70 years of devotion to the nation.
Charles appeared genuinely saddened as the Queen’s oak casket was lowered into the vault on a day when he appeared tearful multiple times as he bid farewell to his “Mama,” the 12th British monarch to be interred at Windsor.
Her Majesty’s long trip to her ultimate resting place – and to be reunited with the Duke of Edinburgh – began on the day of her death in Balmoral, eleven days ago, and concluded with her private interment next to her’strength and support’ Philip. During a private family ceremony, the King scattered earth on his mother’s coffin.
This private event was commemorated by a tweet from The Royal Family’s official Twitter account, which published a black-and-white photo of the Queen with her family and her beloved Prince Philip, who died in April of last year.
This evening, a representative for Buckingham Palace stated, ‘A Private Burial took place in The King George VI Memorial Chapel, conducted by the Dean of Windsor. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were interred at the King George VI Memorial Chapel.
Following the longest-reigning queen inside the historic church were Charles III, her children and grandchildren, including Prince William and Prince Harry. St George’s was where the Queen sat alone during Prince Philip’s burial last year – one of the most affecting images of the epidemic – and where she had liked to worship for so many years when in Windsor.
It occurred on a day when up to 2 million people flocked to central London to view the casket following the state funeral at Westminster Abbey, which was attended by 2,000 royals, heads of state, and 200 members of the general public. The royal hearse was blanketed in flowers as it travelled from Wellington Arch to Windsor this afternoon, after the Queen was carried through Buckingham Palace for the last time.
This morning, the last of the 400,000 people who saw the Queen lying in state paid their respects before she was brought in a gun carriage from Westminster Hall to the church where she was married and crowned, while an estimated 4 billion people across the world watched on television.
Members of the Royal Family gradually exited St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after the Queen’s funeral service.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, along with their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte, left the chapel in a car.
Shortly thereafter, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex departed individually, with Harry puffing up his cheeks.
During the ceremony, the Reverend David Conner, Dean of Windsor, read from Revelation 21:1-7. The same text was recited during the funerals of the Queen’s father, King George VI, in 1952, as well as her grandfather, King George V, in 1936, and grandmother, Queen Mary, in 1953.
The reading concludes with the statement, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” I will give freely to him who thirsts from the source of life’s water.
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”
In a sweet gesture, the late Queen’s corgis Muick and Sandy were waiting for her when the hearse wrapped in flowers arrived.
The King, Princess Royal, Duke of York, Earl of Wessex, Prince of Wales, and Duke of Sussex were among those who greeted the coffin as it arrived at the castle following a procession through Windsor’s crowded Long Walk.
As the hearse approached the West Steps of St George’s Chapel, Minute Guns were fired by The King’s Troop to indicate the monarch’s return. The Castle’s Sebastopol bell sounded, which only occurs when a British monarch dies, as the State Hearse completed its journey accompanied by the music of bagpipes.
Tens of thousands of people lined The Long Walk and clapped as the flower-covered hearse carrying the late monarch’s casket slowly made its way to her Berkshire palace, where she spent the most of her final years – including in seclusion with Prince Philip – before her death.
Giving the Bidding, the Dean of Windsor, said: ‘We have come together to commit into the hands of God the soul of his servant Queen Elizabeth.
‘Here, in St George’s Chapel, where she so often worshipped, we are bound to call to mind someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian Faith bore so much fruit. Fruit, in a life of unstinting service to the Nation, the Commonwealth and the wider world, but also (and especially to be remembered in this place) in kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbours.’
The Dean hailed the late Queen’s “calm and dignified presence” in a “rapidly changing and frequently troubled world.”
He said the monarch’s disposition ‘has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope’.
Concluding the Bidding, he said: ‘As, with grateful hearts, we reflect on these and all the many other ways in which her long life has been a blessing to us, we pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal.’
As the Queen’s coffin moved along the Long Walk towards St. George’s Chapel, thousands of people fell silent, held their phones up, and waved flags.
Those in the back of the crowd could only see the parade through their smartphones mounted on selfie sticks.
As the procession passed, young children sat on their parents’ shoulders and clapped.
The congregation consists of the late monarch’s closest relatives, her former household employees, and foreign royal families.
A wreath from Number 10 bearing the signature of Prime Minister Liz Truss is placed at the chapel’s entrance. The wreath reads, “For a lifetime of devotion and service, we extend our deepest thanks.”
Flowers of different kinds adorn the area surrounding the chapel, including red rose bouquets, pink lily arrangements, potted plants, and wreaths from foreign royals.
Inside one of the chapel’s primary entrances is a flower arrangement of white blossoms in full bloom.
The chapel was decorated with lilies, dahlias, roses, and foliage, such as Eucalyptus and other vegetation from Home Park.
With the exception of one, the Queen selected all of the prayers and hymns for the ceremony, which features a strong thread of tradition throughout.
After a discussion between the King and the Dean of Windsor, David Conner, Westminster Abbey, derived from the Alleluias in Purcell’s O God, Thou art my God, was selected as the song.
Earlier, mourners in Windsor were instructed not to throw flowers at the vehicle carrying the Queen’s coffin, but rather to place their bouquets alongside the “grass moat” near Windsor castle. When crushed into the ground, the flowers may frighten horses, cause safety issues, pose a tripping hazard, and be difficult to clean up, according to security experts and event organisers.
In the King George VI Memorial Chapel, Her Majesty will be interred alongside her late husband Prince Philip following the conclusion of the final public portion of her burial. This evening, the King and other members of the royal family will attend a special funeral service.
In a service attended by over 800 people this afternoon, the royal family bid farewell to their beloved matriarch in the gothic chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle. Crowds of mourners went silent as the state hearse carrying the Queen’s coffin entered the Long Walk for the final leg of her journey.
As the sound of the drummers in the procession became louder, the crowds of people of all ages that surrounded the Long Walk fell silent. Children were placed on the shoulders of parents, and camera phones were held aloft as people fought for a sight of the scene.
During the procession, the Queen’s pet corgis Muick and Sandy and one of her all-time favourite horses made a touching appearance at Windsor.
Two pages in red tailcoats led the young pups, one on a red leash and one on a blue leash, into the quadrangle in preparation for the entrance of the Queen’s coffin. Emma, the Queen’s Fell Pony, had greeted the procession by standing on grass between flower memorials to her late owner along the Long Walk.
Much of the ceremony will have a sensation of looking back, repeating what has been before, and maybe a sense of the consistency and stability for which the Queen will be known forever.
Prior to the final song, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb, and the Sceptre will be taken from the coffin by the Crown Jeweller and delivered to the Dean, who will put them on the altar with the assistance of the Bargemaster and Serjeants-at-Arms.
The movement of the crown from the coffin to the altar is emotional, since in 1953 the crown was removed from Westminster Abbey’s altar and put on the Queen’s head, signalling the beginning of her 70-year reign.
The King will lay The Queen’s Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the conclusion of the last hymn.
The Lord Chamberlain will simultaneously “break” his Wand of Office and set it on the coffin.
This is done to achieve symmetry with the three eliminated Instruments of State.
The coffin, which will be put on a purple-velvet-draped catafalque, will be carefully lowered into the royal crypt while the Dean of Windsor exclaims, “Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul.”
The Sovereign’s Piper will play A Salute to the Royal Fendersmith from the doorway between the Chapel and the Dean’s Cloister as he walks slowly towards the Deanery in the Cloister, causing the music inside the Chapel to gradually diminish.
During the ceremony, the King will occupy the seat held by the Queen when she visited the chapel, which is located closest to the altar.
Several compositions that were previously performed during the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh and other important royal ceremonies will be performed throughout the ceremony.
As the mourners wait for the ceremony to begin, the organ piece Schmucke Dich, O Liebe Seele (BWV 654) by JS Bach will be performed with a number of others.
Another piece will be Rhosymedre by Vaughan Williams, a royal family favourite that was played during the wedding of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Charles, and at Philip’s death.
Nimrod by Sir Edward Elgar was performed during the 1953 coronation of the Queen and will also be performed prior to the start of the committal.
Lord Sentamu, the former archbishop of York, allegedly helped create the initial order of ceremony for the state burial of Queen Elizabeth.
The minister informed BBC News that the Queen knew the psalms by memory, and that Psalm 121, which was also chanted at the Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002, would be recited during her burial.
The ceremony will conclude with Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 546), which was also performed at the conclusion of Philip’s burial.
The Rector of Sandringham, the Minister of Crathie Kirk, the Chaplain of Windsor Great Park, and the Dean of Windsor will offer prayers.
The Choir of St George’s Chapel, consisting of 11 men, one women, and 13 boys, will sing throughout the service under the direction of James Vivian, director of music, while Luke Bond, assistant director of music, will play the organ.
The majority of the service’s music was created by Sir William Harris, who was the organist at St. George’s Chapel from 1933 until 1961, through the majority of the Queen’s youth.
It is thought that Sir William trained the young Princess Elizabeth to play the piano, since she often visited the organ loft to see him play.
Crowds flung flowers and applauded today as the Queen’s coffin was brought to Windsor Castle to be reunited with her beloved Prince Philip and her parents in the historic splendour of St George’s Chapel.
In astonishing and poignant scenes, an estimated 2 million mourners lined the streets to bid goodbye to Britain’s longest reigning queen, Elizabeth II, as her hearse travelled from West London to Berkshire under showers of flowers.
The state funeral for King Charles’s mother at Westminster Abbey concluded with two minutes of silence, the Last Post, and the national hymn. This afternoon, the monarch seemed distraught as he saluted as the hearse carrying his mother exited Wellington Arch.
On a day of grandeur and heartbreaking symbolism, Charles, his siblings, and his children, along with the enormous throng that flooded The Mall, Whitehall, and Parliament Square to bid goodbye to the adored queen as her coffin was brought from the Abbey on a gun carriage, wore expressions of anguish.
Members of the Royal Family, including the King, marched behind the throng while others, including the Princess of Wales, her children George and Charlotte, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, went by in cars.
The moving events followed an exceptional and dramatic state funeral attended by 2,000 VIPs, royals, prime ministers, and several hundred ordinary Britons selected by the Queen, who passed away 11 days before. The Archbishop of Canterbury said that the Queen had touched “many lives” and been a “joyful” figure for many.
She was the head of state, but she was also a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and the wreath on her casket had a message from the King. The message said: ‘In loving and devoted memory.’
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