Queen Elizabeth II
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who ruled for more than 70 years, the United Kingdom and the entire world, has been thrown into mourning and at least 10 days of solemn ceremony had been carefully orchestrated and detailed in her honour.
Not many people alive anywhere in the world will have witnessed anything like the carefully orchestrated and detailed plan, including gun salutes, bells pealing across the land and millions gathering to pay tribute for the revered Queen. A national mourning has been proclaimed in Britain which will last until after the Queen’s funeral.
Code-named London Bridge, the plan for the queen’s death, which has been years in the making, will stage-manage an otherwise uncertain few weeks for the nation, from the succession to a new king to a period of national mourning, the queen’s funeral and the eventual coronation of her eldest son, King Charles III, 73, according to advance briefings with Buckingham Palace officials.
Friday (9th September)
The queen's coffin will be moved to the ballroom at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, covered in the royal standard of Scotland and a wreath of flowers that is changed daily. The many staff members at Balmoral and its vast estate will be able to pay their respects.
From the moment of Elizabeth’s death in Balmoral Castle, Charles officially proclaimed the monarch of the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as the head of state of Commonwealth countries.
Saturday (10th Sept.)
The coffin will be carried from the Balmoral ballroom by a party of bearers consisting of the Balmoral estate head keep and six other keepers. The queen's official bagpipe player, the Piper to the Sovereign, will walk ahead of the coffin as it leaves by hearse.
The queen’s body will then be moved to Holyrood, her residence in Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, where a military guard of honor will meet it.
In London, members of the Privy Council, a committee of senior current and former politicians and judges who advise the monarch, will hear the new king say an oath and give a speech. For the first time, the meeting — a constitutional formality known as the Accession Council — will be televised.
Also in attendance will be the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior clergyman in the Church of England, which the new king now heads.
Sunday (11th Sept.)
King Charles III and the Queen Consort will go to Holyrood, where he will be met with a 21-gun salute.
Members of the royal family, including Elizabeth's children and grandchildren, will join a procession from Holyrood to Edinburgh's St. Giles’ Cathedral, with the guns of Edinburgh Castle firing every minute throughout.
A service will be held at the cathedral, where the queen's coffin will rest for 24 hours, allowing members of the public to file past and pay their respects.
Towns and cities across the U.K. will make their own proclamations to the new king, with fanfares at Cardiff Castle, Wales; Mercat Cross, a ceremonial monument on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh; and Hillsborough Castle in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Monday (12th Sept.)
The queen’s coffin will leave St. Giles’ Cathedral by car before it is moved to London.
The new king and his wife, Camilla, will receive messages of condolence in Westminster Hall, between the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London.
Tuesday (13th Sept.)
As the coffin arrives at London's St. Pancras Station, it will be greeted by senior royals, the prime minister and other dignitaries before it is transferred to Buckingham Palace by car.
The thousands, if not millions, of people expected to line up to pay their respects to the late Queen when her body is taken to Westminster Hall will be invited to wait in line in Victoria Tower Gardens, a small green space next to the Houses of Parliament alongside the River Thames.
Wednesday (14th Sept.)
Elizabeth’s body will be taken from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster in a gun carriage procession, a symbolic and momentous moment. The coffin will be draped in the royal standard, on which the Imperial State Crown will be placed on a velvet cushion, followed by the new king. Princes William and Harry, alongside Elizabeth’s other children and members of the royal family, will follow on foot.
Big Ben, the colossal bell in the Elizabeth Tower in the Houses of Parliament (the name of the tower and the bell are commonly confused), will toll at one-minute intervals for the duration of the procession, along with gun salutes in Hyde Park.
The coffin will be taken to Westminster Hall, where, after a short service, Elizabeth will lie in state under armed guard for the next five days. A continuous vigil will begin by the Yeoman of the Guard and other military personnel.
Thursday (15th Sept.)
On this day, world leaders begin to arrive to pay their respects at Westminster Hall. Meanwhile, the new king meets members of the royal family at Buckingham Palace.
Friday (16th Sept.)
The new king meets the prime minister at noon for his first official weekly audience, a constitutional custom in which the head of the political executive informs the head of state about parliamentary business, as dramatized in “The Crown” and many other TV and film scenes.
Saturday (17th Sept.)
Not until 10 days after her death will Elizabeth be given her official send-off at Westminster Abbey, with members of her family, British establishment figures and heads of state from around the world in attendance.
During the morning, Westminster Abbey will fill up with British and foreign dignitaries, including all surviving former British prime ministers.
The final well-wishers will be admitted to Westminster Hall to pay their respects at 6:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. ET) before the coffin makes its short journey with the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Scepter all on it.
At 11 a.m. (6 a.m. ET) exactly, the pallbearers will stop at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and Big Ben will strike just once to mark a national two-minute silence.
The Last Post, Reveille and the national anthem will end the hour-long funeral service before a procession that could be as long as 1.5 miles then carries the coffin past Buckingham Palace to Wellington Arch and on to Elizabeth’s final resting place at Windsor.
Courtesy of;
Patrick Smith
A London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.
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