The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall.
Her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow.
The coffin was draped in the Royal Standard and topped with the Imperial State Crown — encrusted with almost 3,000 diamonds — and a bouquet of flowers and plants, including pine from the Balmoral Estate, where Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96. Four officers from the Household Cavalry – two from the Life Guards and two from the Blues Royals – began the first vigil around the coffin, taking their places at the corner and bowing their heads.
"We weren’t sure what to expect because we’ve seen clapping, we’ve seen ‘God save the King,’ we’ve seen ‘God save the Queen,’ so we didn’t know. But the silence was just unbelievable,” she said. Heathrow Airport temporarily halted flights, saying it would “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.”Biden recalled “the Queen’s kindness and hospitality" she hosted them and the first lady at Windsor Castle in June, the statement said.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to visit the 900-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest building in Parliament, for four days before her state funeral on Monday. By Wednesday afternoon, the line snaking along the banks of the River Thames was 2 1/2 miles long, according to a government tracker.
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