Here's What Time The Queen's Funeral Starts
A million people are expected to be in London to see the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom's longest-reigning monarch, as it lies in state for four days before the funeral. The line has been capped at five miles long, according to The Washington Post. Even soccer superstar David Beckham waited over 12 hours to pay his respects, per CBS News.
Over 2,000 will be at the queen's state funeral at Westminster Abbey, including a number of world leaders: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will be there as well as the prime ministers of Canada, New Zealand, and Australia along with presidents from around the world, per Town & Country. And the security for the queen's funeral is like nothing London has ever seen before. Of the approximately 500 foreign dignitaries invited, there will not be representatives from Russia, Myanmar, and Belarus, according to Reuters.
The guest list is pared down to 800 for the private burial service at the King George VI memorial chapel in Windsor Castle's St. George's Chapel; Prince Philip's coffin will be moved from the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel to be next to Queen Elizabeth's after she's buried, according to Insider.
The funeral and the events surrounding it have been planned down to the last detail, and that includes the timing on the day itself. Here's what to expect, and all times are listed in British Summer Time (BST).
Westminster Hall will stop visitors at 6:30 a.m.
The website for the British Royal Family has released a schedule of the day's events. For those thousands upon thousands of people who are standing in line to walk past the queen's coffin and pay their respects as she lies in state at Westminster Hall, where The King's Body Guards have been standing vigil around the clock for four days, the cut off time is 6:30 a.m. At 9 a.m., the bells of the Elizabeth Tower — aka Big Ben — will chime, but the hammer will be muffled with leather, according to Conde Nast Traveller.
The queen's coffin will be taken to Westminster Abbey on the State Gun Carriage
At 10:44 a.m., the coffin will be moved approximately 500 feet from Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey. It will be on the Royal Navy's State Gun Carriage, and following in the procession will be King Charles III, royal family members, and members of the King's household.
The State Gun Carriage has been featured in every state funeral since 1901; it's pulled by 90 sailors with 40 in the back acting as the brake, according to the BBC. The carriage is pulled by people as compared to horses because the horses pulling the coffin of Queen Victoria spooked and the coffin nearly fell.
Queen Elizabeth's coffin will arrive at Westminster Abbey at 10:52 a.m.
The procession will arrive at Westminster Abbey's West Gate at 10:52 a.m. Queen Elizabeth's coffin will then be taken into the Abbey by the Bearer Party. It takes eight people, compared to the usual six, to carry the coffin because it is lined with lead, according to USA Today. It was made with English oak over 30 years ago — likely from trees on the Sandringham Estate. Queen Elizabeth I was also reportedly buried in a lead-lined coffin, according to Westminster Abbey.
The state funeral will start at 11 a.m. in Westminster Abbey
The state funeral service will start at 11 a.m., and it will last just under an hour. Dean of Westminster, Dr. David Hoyle, will be leading the service. He also led the memorial service for Prince Philip, according to Town & Country. Prayers will be said by four additional church leaders and the Prime Minister Liz Truss and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland will read Lessons. The Archbishop of Canterbury will then deliver the sermon, and the service will end with a blessing by the Dean of Westminster.
Of the funeral, Dr. Hoyle said, "This is an opportunity for us to give thanks for an extraordinary life and an extraordinary achievement, this is an opportunity for us to pray for our new King and for his family in their grief, and this is an opportunity, if you like, for us to give the grief somewhere to go," according to BBC.
The United Kingdom will observe 2 minutes of silence
At around 11:55 a.m., as the service is coming to a close, the Last Post will be played and there will then be two minutes of silence in Westminster Abbey and across the United Kingdom.
The Last Post is the bugle call that has become associated with memorials and funerals; it originally started as the call played in the 1790s and early 1800s to signal an army camp was closed up for the night, per BBC. By the 1850s, it was being used at military funerals, and it's played for allies and enemies alike as "a symbol to the democracy of death."
The queen's coffin will be taken from Westminster Abbey to Hyde Park Corner
The service will end at approximately noon with the National Anthem, which now, of course, will be sung as "God Save the King" for the first time in 70 years. From there, the Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will be moved back onto the State Gun Carriage, and it will be taken the 1.5 miles to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner — set to arrive at 1 p.m. During the procession, Big Ben will toll and there will be a gun salute in Hyde Park, fired by The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. The coffin will be followed again by King Charles III and royal family members, and the procession will also include members of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth.
The queen's coffin will then be transferred from the State Gun Carriage to the State Hearse at Wellington Arch to head to Windsor. There will be a Royal Salute as the hearse departs and the National Anthem will play again. The Royal Salute is traditionally the firing of 21 cannon rounds with 10 seconds in between with 20 extra at Royal Parks, like Hyde Park (via The Drive). A 96 round Royal Salute happened on Friday, September 9, the day after the queen died, for each year of her life, according to NDTV.
The final procession of the queen's coffin will be along Windsor's Long Walk
Following the State Hearse to Windsor will be King Charles III and the royal family. In Windsor at a little bit past 3 p.m., there will be a procession of the State Hearse to St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle along the Long Walk, according to the BBC. Lining the three-mile route will be members of the military, and the King and members of the royal family will join the procession around 3:40 p.m., per People.
They will walk behind the coffin starting at the Quadrangle in Windsor Castle, per BBC. Others, including Camilla, Queen Consort, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, will follow by car, per the Independent.
The Imperial State Crown will be removed from the coffin at Windsor
At 4 p.m., there will be a committal service in St. George's Chapel, which is where Prince Philip's funeral was, according to the BBC. Included in the service's guest list, along with the royal family, are past and present members of The Queen's Household. The Dean of Windsor will lead the service, and the Choir of St. George's Chapel will sing.
The Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre from the top of Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will be taken off, and as the final hymn ends, King Charles II will lay the Queen's flag of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin. The Lord Chamberlain, the senior most official in the royal household, will also ceremonially break his white staff and place it on the coffin, which signals the end of his duty to the queen, per the Independent.
Queen Elizabeth will be laid to rest next to her husband
As Queen Elizabeth is lowered into the Royal Vault around 4:45 p.m., upon a personal request from the queen, the sovereign's bagpiper will play, per BBC. There will be a blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the singing of the National Anthem will end the service.
Queen Elizabeth will be buried next to her husband Prince Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at 7:30 p.m. in a private family service. The marble slab will be engraved simply with "ELIZABETH II 1926-2002," according to the BBC.