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After 10 days of official mourning, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II takes place today in London.
The Queen’s state ended this morning, ending a queue that lasted for days and stretched up to 5 miles (8 km), snaking along the Thames. The last people to pay their respects left Westminster Hall just before 6.30am. At 8am, Westminster Abbey will be opened to the congregation attending the funeral. Then, at 10.30am, the coffin will be carried on the hearse from Westminster Hall.
Here is the full schedule of today’s events:
The day of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. The sun rises at Buckingham Palace. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
Updated at 07.16 BST
Summary
Here’s the view from Whitehall this morning, from Archie Bland, newsletter editor of the Guardian’s first edition.
Updated at 07:00 BST
The Queen’s lie to the state is now over. The last people queuing to see his coffin passed through early this morning. At 6.29am, Black Rod, a senior officer of the House of Lords, bowed once before the coffin and walked to the end of Westminster Hall.
Black Rod walks through Westminster Hall to pay his respects on the final day of Queen Elizabeth II’s lying in state coffin. Photo: Yui Mok/PA
The government announced that the queue had closed at 10.30pm yesterday. An estimated 300,000 people queued to pay their respects, with an estimated waiting time of 17 hours.
Later this morning, the Queen’s coffin will be carried in the state funeral gun carriage from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, towed by 142 Royal Navy sailors.
Updated at 07.01 BST
Carol Ann Duffy, the former poet laureate, who was appointed by the Queen in 2009, has written a poem titled Daughter, shared exclusively here, to mark the monarch’s death:
Archie Bland
Further up Whitehall, Christina Burrows sits against a bollard. He met the Queen once in his thirties, at a charity event in 1992, but “I’ve always seen her as a beacon,” he says. “During lockdown, when she said, ‘We’ll see each other again,’ it was wonderful. It gave me so much hope. So I wanted to be there for her like she was for us.” She sighs and puts her hands to her cheeks. “I don’t know how I’ll feel when she passes,” he says. “Oh God, I can’t believe it. There will never be another day like this in our lives.”
Food confiscated from people waiting in line for the Queen to be in state is being donated to charity, PA Media reports:
People are not allowed to take food or drink inside the Palace of Westminster and these items will be confiscated.
Charity the Felix Project said it hopes to collect more than 2 tons of food, mostly snacks, including chips, chocolate and cookies, and also accepts unwanted blankets.
With people waiting up to 24 hours to complete the five-mile walk from Southwark Park to Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the Queen, they will be coming with plenty of food to keep them going.
When they arrive at Victoria Tower Gardens, the food is confiscated before it is allowed into the parliamentary estate and instead of being thrown away, all non-perishable and unopened packages are kept.
The Felix Project will distribute the items to the thousands of community groups it works with throughout the capital.
The charity’s chief executive, Charlotte Hill, said: “We are honored to be here to play a small part in this heartwarming event and to know that an extra layer of good is being done here.
Updated at 06.53 BST
Transport for London commissioner Andy Byford said today will be “probably one of the busiest days” the service has ever faced:
It’s hard to say exactly how many additional people [will travel]but we are preparing for potentially a million people in the footprint of the royal palaces and Hyde Park…
Yesterday, figures from Trainline showed that demand for services in London for today was 56% above the level recorded on the same day last week. Train companies including LNER and East Midlands Railway have warned that services into London will be very busy.
Updated at 06.53 BST
Archie Bland
Robert Madeley and Christopher Clowes arrived at 4am from “just as far as Regents Park” and Leicestershire, and are dressed in morning clothes with a box of flapjacks – “it’s what I would have wanted”, says Clowes.
Perhaps confused by their outfits, the police have already taken them to a restricted area before realizing their mistake.
“The difficulty is that you always think there could be a better view 100 meters away,” says Madeley. “But I’m happy with where we are.”
Robert Madeley and Christopher Clowes arrived at 4am from “just as far as Regents Park” and Leicestershire, and are dressed in morning clothes with a box of flapjacks – “it’s what I would have wanted”, says Clowes. pic.twitter.com/6SjchwhVlE
— Archie Bland (@archiebland) September 19, 2022
Updated at 06.54 BST
Archie Bland
Around one million people are expected to visit central London today. As you cross the city towards Westminster Abbey, the normal 5am sight of people going to work or coming home from a night out starts to give way to bored-looking administrators in tabards, signs of crowd control and middle-aged couples with folding chairs and sandwiches.
There are veterans in full badges, tourists with selfie sticks huddled under aluminum sheets, a dog in a bow tie, a woman in a black fascinator and a queue for the toilet at Westminster station that looms and go out into the street 430 hrs.
“I’ve been asleep for two hours,” says William Sidhu, gesturing to the phone booth he’s just stepped out of in Parliament Square. “I think I’ve lost my place.”
Updated at 06.54 BST
Updated at 05.51 BST
The Queen’s death has spawned a mixture of strange traditions and ceremonies not seen or heard since the death of the last reigning monarch, her father George VI in 1952.
Among the more unusual protocols will be presented at the committal service to be held at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle at 4pm on Monday, after the Queen’s coffin is driven there when the royal funeral at the Abbey ends of Westminster.
Windsor Castle, with St George’s Chapel on the far left. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP
This involves the official “crown jeweler” removing the imperial crown from the coffin to symbolically separate the Queen from her crown. It also features Lord Chamberlain Baron Parker, former head of MI5, breaking his ‘wand of office’ and placing it in the coffin signifying the end of his service to the Queen.
PA Media reports:
During the service, which will be led by the Dean of Windsor, David Conner, the Imperial State Crown, Orb and Scepter will be lifted from the Queen’s coffin by the Crown Jeweler, separating the Queen from his crown for the last time, PA Media reports.
With the help of the boatmaster and a sergeant-at-arms, the crown jewels will be passed to the dean who will place them on the high altar.
At the end of the last hymn, the King will step forward and place the Queen’s Company of the Grenadier Guards, a smaller version of the Regimental Royal Standard, on the coffin.
The Grenadier Guards are the senior regiments of the Foot Guards and the Queen was their Colonel-in-Chief.
Only one regimental royal standard is displayed during a monarch’s reign, and it served as the Queen’s company color throughout her lifetime.
At the same time, former MI5 spy chief Baron Parker, Lord Chamberlain and most senior official in the late Queen’s royal household, will ‘break’ his wand of office and will lie in the coffin
The ceremonial breaking of the white cane signifies the end of her service to the Queen as sovereign.
As the coffin is lowered into the royal vault, the dean will sing a psalm and the citation before the King of Arms of the League pronounces the Queen’s many styles and titles.
Updated at 06.56 BST
Last in line
A woman and her younger companion became the last to join the line-up to watch the Queen lie in state as an usher handed her a bracelet.
“You’re the last person in the queue,” he told her, according to footage shown on Sky News on Sunday night.
The woman said “Bless you” and was applauded by administrators and others waiting as she walked through the cordon to take her place.
Barriers were set up to control the queue near Tower Bridge after the last mourners passed through. Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
Her relief was drowned out by the groans of those behind her who were turned away.
“I’m absolutely devastated,” said a disappointed mourner.
Updated at 07.10 BST
With the queue to view the Queen’s coffin in state now closed, the last mourners will pass through Westminster Hall in just under two hours.
The Council for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said after 10.30pm on Sunday night that the last people had been admitted to the queue.
Mourners line the south bank of the Thames as they wait to pay their respects at Westminster Hall on Sunday night. Photograph: Jack Dredd/REX/ShutterstockThe queue of Westminster Hall seen from the window of the Deanery of Southwark Cathedral. Picture: Jill Mead/The Guardian Mourners queue to pay their last respects to the Queen on Sunday night. Photograph: Jack Dredd/REX/Shutterstock
“The queue to attend Her Majesty the Queen in State is at capacity and is now closed to new entrants,” the department said.
“Please do not try to join the queue. The marshals will handle those who are already nearby. Thank you for your understanding.
what will happen today
Here’s a guide to today’s events. All times are BST.
06.30 h – The queen’s lie to the state will end
The lie in state, in…