illions of individuals are anticipated to line the streets of London as Britain bids farewell to its longest-serving monarch on Monday.
A number of world leaders, together with US president Joe Biden, will be a part of King Charles for the primary royal state funeral in Westminster Abbey in additional than 200 years.
Among the many 2,000 within the congregation might be on a regular basis heroes together with NHS workers who toiled tirelessly in the course of the pandemic, British armed forces veterans awarded the very best honours for bravery, and charity employees who’ve remodeled the lives of these much less lucky.
The doorways to Westminster Abbey will open at 8am, three hours earlier than the service. Her Majesty’s coffin will depart Westminster Corridor at 10.35am.
Late-Evening rehearsal held for Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II
The state gun carriage will bear her casket, drawn by 98 Royal Navy sailors in a convention relationship again to the funeral of Queen Victoria.
After the funeral, she might be borne by an amazing procession, that includes greater than 4,000 navy personnel, that may slowly wend by central London.
The spectacle is anticipated to change into essentially the most watched occasion in tv historical past with billions tuning in the world over.
Policing the funeral might be an even bigger operation the London Olympics in 2012, in line with a Scotland Yard chief.
The “vastly complicated” operation is the most important ever mounted by the Metropolitan Police, mentioned Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy.
In addition to the ten,000 uniformed officers on responsibility, snipers might be stationed on rooftops and drones will present safety chiefs with fixed visible updates.
Working with a spread of different businesses, the Yard has drawn up contingency plans to take care of a spread of challenges together with terror assaults, prison exercise, crowd surges and crushing.
Mr Cundy mentioned: “This would be the largest single policing occasion that the Met Police has ever undertaken.
“As a single occasion that is bigger than the 2012 Olympics, it’s bigger than the Platinum Jubilee weekend.
“The vary of officers, police workers and all these supporting the operation is really immense.”
The six surviving former British PMs who served beneath the Queen will attend, together with Ms Truss.
European leaders will embody French president Emmanuel Macron, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italian president Sergio Mattarell and Finland’s Sauli Niinistö, in addition to European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s spouse Olena can also be set to be there – whereas neither Russia nor Belarus have been invited.
The navy regime of Myanmar, accused over deaths of democracy campaigners, have additionally been neglected, whereas Iran can have solely an envoy.
Westminster Abbey couldn’t match all of the heads of state the Queen met in her lifetime, so former US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump have been additionally not invited.
In London, an enormous display has been erected in Hyde Park to indicate the funeral.
Different cities displaying the funeral on out of doors screens embody Manchester (Cathedral Gardens and Trade Sq.), Birmingham (Centenary Sq.) and Edinburgh (Holyrood Park).
The Royal Shakespeare Firm, of which the late Queen was patron, will display the funeral at its theatre in Stratfordupon-Avon. The Curzon and Arc cinema chains will host free screenings. A lot of the nation’s cathedrals might be broadcasting the funeral and holding particular companies.