Queen Elizabeth II has been laid to relaxation after a state funeral attended by world leaders and a remaining journey via the streets of London.
Monday’s funeral comes 11 days after the longest-serving monarch in British historical past died aged 96 at Balmoral Fort in Scotland on September 8.
1000’s of individuals lined the streets surrounding Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace to witness the passage of the queen’s casket from Westminster Corridor to the church and ultimately to Windsor Fort, the place she was laid to relaxation alongside her late husband, Prince Philip and her father, King George VI.
Tens of millions watched the funeral on tv at house after a public vacation was declared to mark the passing of the queen.
The funeral pageantry
Within the lead-up to the funeral, many individuals throughout the nation camped out and queued for upwards of 13 hours to go to the queen’s coffin in Westminster Corridor and pay their respects.
On Monday, Westminster Abbey’s tenor bell tolled 96 occasions at one-minute intervals – one for yearly of her life – stopping earlier than the service began at 10:00 GMT to mark the one monarch most Britons have ever identified.
The oak coffin was lined with the Royal Customary flag, the queen’s colors, with the Imperial State Crown on prime, positioned on a gun carriage and pulled by naval personnel to Westminster Abbey, the place Queen Elizabeth was married in 1947 and topped queen in 1953.
Amongst 2,000 folks within the congregation, there have been about 500 world leaders, together with US President Joe Biden, Emperor Naruhito of Japan and South African President Cyril Ramphosa.
“All of the folks of the UK: our hearts exit to you, and also you have been lucky to have had her for 70 years; all of us have been. The world is healthier for her,” Biden mentioned after signing a e-book of condolence.
The funeral, which lasted for below an hour, closed with the Final Publish trumpet salute and the nationwide anthem, God Save the King, welcoming the transition from one reign to the opposite.
“It was extremely transferring; I don’t assume anybody couldn’t be touched by it,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Nick Clark, reporting from Westminster Abbey.
The royal vault
King Charles led mourners and 6,000 members of the armed forces who had marched the coffin to the royal hearse, alongside his three siblings, his inheritor, Prince William, and his youthful son Prince Harry, from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch.
Within the afternoon, folks lined the route, throwing flowers, cheering and clapping because the hearse travelled the 32km (20 miles) from London to Windsor – from town to the countryside that Queen Elizabeth had cherished all through her life.
“For the queen and her household, it [Windsor Castle] was the place she spent a lot of World Warfare II, through the blitz and the German bombs falling on London,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Windsor.
“It was an enormous a part of her life, an enormous a part of the royal household’s life, and naturally, the British monarchy’s historical past going again many, many centuries,” he mentioned.
In the course of the ceremony, the crown, orb and sceptre – all symbols of the monarch’s energy and sovereignty – have been faraway from the coffin and positioned on the altar.
As soon as the royal objects have been eliminated, Lord Chamberlain Andrew Parker, probably the most senior official within the royal family, broke his “wand of workplace” to position it on the casket, signifying the top of his service to the queen.
The queen was lowered into the royal vault of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Fort. A personal household service will observe afterward Monday on the chapel that can see the queen interred subsequent to her late husband.
The beginning of a brand new period
The queen’s loss of life has prompted reflection on the nation she dominated over and the legacy of its previous, its current state and what the long run may maintain for the UK below a brand new reign.
The funeral was “an enormous resonant second in historical past for British folks to look again on and look ahead to as nicely”, mentioned Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba, reporting from Buckingham Palace.
“They now sing God Save the King,” mentioned Baba. “Individuals are getting used to this, getting used to the truth that that is the beginning of a brand new period.”