Hundreds of thousands of British are preparing, from Wednesday 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. Paris time), to parade in front of the coffin. They can until the funeral, which will take place on September 19 at the Westminster Abbey.
Le Monde
The coffin of Elizabeth II, supervised by soldiers in a ceremonial outfit, left, Wednesday, September 14, the palace of Buckingham -the official residence of the Queen during her seventy years of reign -to join the Palais de Westminster (Westminster Hall), where he will be exposed for ultimate farewell with the British.
placed on a canon lookum by the Royal Horse Artillery, followed on foot by King Charles III in Uniform and his sister Anne, his brothers Andrew and Edward, as well as The princes William and Harry, the coffin is covered with the royal standard. On it rest the imperial panel crown placed on a velvet cushion and a crown of flowers, including white roses and dahlias and foliage from the royal domains of Balmoral and Windsor.
Escorted by the grenadiers of the guard of the royal house, the funeral convoy is hailed by hedges of honor along the course and accompanied by cannon strokes, drawn at one minute interval from Hyde Park, as well as Big Ben bell.
Several kilometers of queue
Hundreds of thousands of British are preparing from Wednesday 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. Paris time), parading in London in front of the Queen’s coffin, to the funeral of the sovereign, who will take place on September 19 at Westminster Abbey, in the presence of hundreds of dignitaries from around the world and many crowned heads. The global television audience should count hundreds of millions of viewers.
By then, the Westminster Palace will be open to the public twenty-four. The queue is expected to snap over several kilometers. The authorities asked the public to “dress appropriately to pay tribute” to Elizabeth II, who died Thursday at 96, and warned that the wait could last for hours, or even the whole night.
The public can only bring inside only a small bag. No food or drink other than a bottle of water, transparent and empty, will be accepted to safety controls, which will be similar to those of airports. Neither cooler nor folding chairs or sleeping bags, nor animal, with the exception of dogs guiding the visually impaired or hard of hearing.
The King and the Queen Consort will go, for their part, to Wales on Friday, for a new session of condolence of the local authorities, thus completing their tour of the four constitutive nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Ireland from the North and Wales).