UPDATED 8:55AM Central
LONDON (AP) – Britain and the world are saying a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers. Crowds massed along the streets of London on Monday to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchill’s was filled with spectacle.
Ahead of the service, a bell tolled 96 times. That’s once a minute for each year of Elizabeth’s life. Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey before pallbearers bore it inside the church. Atop the coffin sat a handwritten note from King Charles III.
UPDATED 6:50AM Central
London AP (WBAP/KLIF) – A hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin sets off from London’s Wellington Arch on its way to Windsor Castle.
Britain’s royal family, along with hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries gathered at the Gothic abbey in London for the service Monday, lowered their heads as Household Cavalry trumpeters played “The Last Post.”
UPDATED: 5:59AM Central:
LONDON — Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said “few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen” for Queen Elizabeth II.
In a sermon at the monarch’s funeral in Westminster Abbey, the leader of the Church of England said the queen “was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.”
Recalling the queen’s promise on her 21st birthday that “her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and the Commonwealth,” Welby said: “Rarely has such a promise been so well kept.”
The funeral service includes readings and hymns of significance to the queen, including the hymn “The Lord’s My Shepherd,” which was sung at her wedding to Prince Philip in the same abbey in 1947.
UPDATED: 4:30AM Central:
LONDON (AP) – King Charles III and Princes William, Harry arrive at Westminster Hall for procession of queen’s coffin to state funeral.
Original post:
LONDON (AP) – Britain and the world are laying Queen Elizabeth II to rest at a state funeral that will draw presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers as well as up to a million people lining the streets of London to say a final goodbye to a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age.
A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early Monday when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners. Hundreds of thousands had waited for hours, many of them through cold nights to file past the queen’s flag-draped coffin in a moving outpouring of national grief.
(Associated Press)
