By Michael Holden and Kate Holton and Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) – Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was placed in a crypt at Windsor Castle, her final resting place, on Monday after a day of unparalleled pageantry that drew world leaders to her funeral and crowds took to the streets to say farewell to a revered monarch.
Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers followed the hearse’s route from London, throwing flowers and cheering as it passed from the city to the English countryside she loved so much.
Many more flocked to the capital to witness the procession, in a moving tribute to Britain’s longest-serving monarch, who won global respect during 70 years on the throne.
Inside the majestic Westminster Abbey, where the funeral was held, some 500 presidents, prime ministers, members of the foreign royal family and dignitaries, including Joe Biden of the United States, were among the 2,000 gathered.
Later, attention shifted to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where around 800 guests attended a ceremony before his burial.
It ended with the crown, orb and scepter – symbols of the monarch’s government and power – being taken out of the coffin and placed on the altar.
The Lord Chamberlain, the highest ranking official in the royal house, then broke his ‘craft wand’, signifying the end of his service to the sovereign, and placed it in the coffin before the slow descent into the royal crypt.
As the assembled group sang the national anthem, King Charles appeared to be fighting back tears.
Late in the evening, in a private ceremony for the family, Elizabeth’s coffin and that of her husband of more than seven decades, Prince Philip, who died last year at age 99, will be buried together in the same chapel where her parents and The queen’s sister Princess Margaret are also there.
It was in the same vast building that the queen was photographed mourning Philip alone during the pandemic lockdown, reinforcing the feeling of a monarch in sync with her people during a time of trial.
CROWD FOLLOWS
At the funeral, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, told those in attendance that the grief felt by so many in the UK and the world reflected the late monarch’s “abundant life and loving service”.
“His late majesty declared in a 21st birthday broadcast that his entire life would be dedicated to serving the nation and the Commonwealth,” he said.
“Rarely has a promise like this been so well fulfilled. Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen.”
The music that played at the queen’s wedding in 1947 and at her coronation six years later rang out again.
After the funeral, his flag coffin was pulled by sailors through the streets of London in a carriage of arms in one of the largest military processions seen in the UK, involving thousands of members of the Armed Forces dressed in ceremonial clothing.
The coffin was taken from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch and transferred to a hearse to travel to Windsor, where another large crowd waited patiently.
People climbed poles and barriers to watch the procession. Millions more watched on television on a holiday declared for the occasion, the first time the funeral of a British monarch was televised.
“I’ve been coming to Windsor for 50 years,” said Baldev Bhakar, 72, a jeweler from nearby Slough, speaking outside Windsor Castle.
“I’ve seen her many times over the years; it felt like she was our neighbor and she was just a lovely woman; a beautiful queen. It was nice to say a last goodbye to our neighbor.”
Elizabeth died on 8 September at her Scottish summer home, Balmoral Castle. Her health was on the wane, and for months the monarch who had held hundreds of official engagements into her 90s withdrew from public life.
However, she was photographed just two days before she died, looking frail but smiling, as she named Liz Truss her 15th and final prime minister.
When she succeeded her father George Sixth, Winston Churchill was her first prime minister and Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union. She met leading figures from politics to entertainment and sport, including Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Pele and Roger Federer.
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