Queen Elizabeth II has laid to relaxation after a state funeral attended by world leaders and a ultimate 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 on September 8.
1000’s of individuals lined the streets surrounding Westminister Abbey and Buckingham Palace to witness the passage of the queen’s casket from Westminister Corridor to the church and finally to Windsor Citadel, the place she was laid to relaxation alongside her late husband, Prince Philip and her father, King George VI.
Hundreds of thousands 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 Westminister Corridor and pay their respects.
On Monday, Westminister Abbeys’ 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 Normal flag, the queen’s colors, with the Imperial State Crown on prime, positioned on a gun carriage and pulled by naval personnel to Westminister Abbey, the place she was topped and married.
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 guide of condolence.
The funeral, which lasted for underneath an hour, closed with the Final Put up 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 youthful son Prince Harry, to Wellington Arch.
Within the afternoon, folks lined the route, throwing flowers, cheering and clapping because it handed the hearse travelled from the town to the countryside that she had cherished all through her life.
“For the Queen and her household, it [Windsor Castle] was the place she spent a lot of the Second World Warfare, throughout the blitz and the German bombs falling on London,” Al Jazeera’s Rory Challends, reporting from Windsor.
“It was a giant a part of her life, a giant 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 gadgets have been eliminated, Lord Chamberlain, essentially the most senior official within the royal family, broke his “Wand of Workplace” to position it on the casket, signifying the tip of his service to the queen.
The queen was lowered into the royal vault, and a personal household service adopted on the King George VI Memorial Chapel, the place she was buried.
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 nation underneath 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 effectively. They now sing ‘God Save the King,’ individuals are getting used to this, getting used to the truth that that is the beginning of a brand new period,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba, reporting from Buckingham Palace.
