The great civil procession around the coffin gives way to the tribute of the dignitaries in his wake and the burial in Windsor
The British Government asked mid-afternoon this Sunday that the public no longer join the queue to visit the burning chapel of Queen Elizabeth II. Thus began the closing of the great civil procession that has greeted the figure of the monarch since Wednesday, and the focus turned to her funeral and burial, this Monday. The leaders arrived in London and the Police secured the area around Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.
Among the first to arrive at the reception that, at his official residence, King Carlos III offered on Sunday afternoon to 500 funeral guests, were the emeritus kings, Juan Carlos I and Sofía. They arrived at the palace in a car shared with Irish President Michael D Higgins, a fluent Spanish-speaker, and other guests. The king and queen, Felipe VI and Letizia, also attended the reception, after honoring the catafalque with the coffin of the late queen.
The time spent in the queue to get to Westminster Hall from its origin was reduced throughout the day. With the temperature dropping since Thursday, the long queue has claimed more than a thousand mishaps. The ambulance service had 98 attended during the night of Saturday, 368 during the day, with 55 needing hospitalization.
In the ‘ebay’ market, its managers withdrew the offers for the sale of plastic wristbands that served as entrance to the enclosure and safe conduct to return to the same position in the queue after leaving it, to eat or go to the bathroom. These used bands would have attracted bids for tens of thousands of pounds, but ‘ebay’ prohibits the sale of tickets to events that are free, and removed them.
Nearly a million people are expected to line up this Monday in the streets and parks around the space for the funeral and hospitality for the guests. Unlike what happened at Diana’s funeral 25 years ago, also tumultuous, the procession will not start from a place relatively far from Westminster Abbey, such as Kensington Palace, the princess’s home.
This time the tour of the coffin is brief. It consists of crossing a street. But the Police will deploy 10,000 officers to ensure the security of the VIPS, who will be transported by bus to near the abbey gate and, after the ceremony, taken to a reception and lunch at Lancaster House, opposite Buckingham Palace. Three thousand agents will ensure the transit of the funeral car to Windsor Castle, where it will be buried.
Matriarch
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, honored the remains of Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, accompanied by the first lady, Jill, and later stated that the queen reminded him of his mother, “because of the way she looked, as if asking if you were well, if you wanted something». He also said, “to the British people”, that he has been “lucky to have her for 70 years”. “We all have been,” he added. “The world is better because of her.”
The new Princess of Wales, Catherine, received in Buckingham Olena Zelenska, wife of the President of Ukraine. It is also known that both the king and the prime minister received governors general and prime ministers of the Commonwealth countries and other dignitaries, but the Royal House refused to publish the list of guests to what some media described as the “reception of the century”, by the number of heads of state and government gathered around the figure of the long-lived British queen.
The queen consort, Camila, issued a televised message as a prologue to the ringing of the bell of the Isabel Tower, better known as Big Ben, which at 8:00 p.m. marked the beginning of a minute of silence in memory of the British matriarch. Camila highlighted the late queen’s personality as a pioneering woman in a world overwhelmingly dominated by men.
The young Margaret Thatcher noted her coronation as a possible opening of possibilities for women to have more relevant roles. In her reign, three women have been Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, asked her advice on how to balance public life and motherhood. “You have to go on,” the queen told him. Ardern has now remembered it as practical and realistic advice.
#Elizabeth #IIs #funeral #attracts #world #attention