[Source: BBC]
The funeral service to remember Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has begun at Westminster Abbey.
Among the guests are world leaders including US President Joe Biden, Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while six former British prime ministers are also present and hundreds of other foreign dignitaries.
Some 2,000 mourners are bidding farewell to the Queen at the state funeral, including 500 dignitaries – with presidents, prime ministers and foreign royalty among the guests.
[Source: Reuters]
There are also members of many European royal families, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark, as well as the Emperor and Empress of Japan.
Former prime ministers Theresa May, Tony Blair, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, John Major and Boris Johnson are at the historic abbey.
The Dean of Westminster, who is leading the service, expressed gratitude for the Queen’s “life-long sense of duty”.
King Charles III led a sombre procession behind his mother’s coffin from Westminster Hall to the abbey.
[Source: BBC]
The Dean, the Very Rev David Hoyle, began the service by speaking of the Queen’s “life-long selfless service”.
“With gratitude we remember her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth. With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people,” he said.
The service will be filled with traditional church music and readings from the Bible.
Towards the end, the Last Post will be played before there will be a two-minute national silence.
The Queen’s coffin was conveyed – in the first of three processions throughout the day – through Parliament Square, a distance of about 820ft (250m).
[Source: PA Media]
The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex walked side-by-side behind their father, the King. The King walked alongside his siblings, the Queen’s four children.
The procession from the abbey saw the State Gun Carriage carry the coffin, drawn by 142 sailors. A guard of honour stood in the square made up of all three military services.
As they walked to the abbey the royals were accompanied by the Massed Pipes and Drums of Scottish and Irish Regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas, and the Royal Air Force and the tolling of the abbey bell.
