The Queen’s funeral will, according to tradition, be a state funeral, a rare honour mostly reserved for the sovereign.
The only monarch not to be given a state funeral in the last 295 years was Edward VIII, who abdicated.
State funerals have, on rare occasions, by order of the monarch and by a vote in Parliament providing the funds, been held for distinguished figures including Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.”
“The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
All the Queen’s children travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, after doctors placed the Queen under medical supervision.
Her grandson, Prince William, is also there, with his brother, Prince Harry, on his way.
The last state funeral in the UK was Churchill’s in 1965 and the last state funeral for a sovereign was for the Queen’s father, George VI, in 1952.
