As thousands of mourners prepare to pay their final respects to Queen Elizbath II, her coffin will be flown to London later on Tuesday and taken to Buckingham Palace, where the queen will lie in state in Westminster.
It marks the next stage of a highly organised plan which will eventually see the monarch interred within Windsor Castle.
Thousands of people have queued in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, to see the closed coffin of the monarch in St Giles’ Cathedral since Sunday evening. Later on Tuesday, the coffin will leave the cathedral and be flown from Edinburgh airport to London, accompanied by Princess Anne, the Princess Royal.
The plane will land at an RAF base to the western edge of the capital and the coffin will be driven to Buckingham Palace.
The sovereign’s piper will play a lament as the coffin is carried from the hearse and taken inside the monarch’s London residence.
The following day, the queen will lie in state in Westminster Hall, where hundreds of thousands are expected to solemnly file past the coffin draped in the royal standard.
Mourners began queuing in London to pay their respects 48 hours before the hall is even opened to the public, a clear indication of the interest in the four-day period prior to the state funeral on Monday.
Source: ewn.co.za