The Queen's funeral plans revealed: Her children will mount vigil

Queen’s funeral details REVEALED: Vigil of the Princes, a two-minute national silence, and a final procession of senior royals behind coffin before Her Majesty is laid to rest at 4pm on Monday

• The Queen’s funeral: All the latest Royal Family news and coverage

King Charles and the Queen’s three other children will hold a 15-minute vigil at her coffin on Friday night before her funeral on Monday, which will end with a two-minute national silence.

The monarch’s children and members of the Royal Family will then walk behind the Queen’s coffin to Wellington Arch when it leaves Westminster Abbey – before Her Majesty is taken to Windsor to be laid to rest next to her beloved husband Prince Philip.

Buckingham Palace has released the details of the 11am state funeral and the ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor ahead of her private interment at 4pm on Monday. The King will scatter earth on his mother coffin at 7pm at a private family service.

After the state funeral, attended by some 2,000 guests, including visiting heads of state and other dignitaries, the late queen’s coffin will be transported through the historic heart of London on a horse-drawn gun carriage before being driven by the state hearse to Windsor. 

The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, who is in overall charge of the ceremonial arrangements including the Queen’s funeral, said: ‘The events of recent days are a reminder of the strength of our Constitution, a system of government, which in so many ways is the envy of the world.

King Charles looks tearful as he marches with Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Anne, Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence

‘The Queen held a unique and timeless position in all our lives. This has been felt more keenly over the past few days as the world comes to terms with her demise.

‘Her Majesty’s passing has left many people across many continents with a profound sense of loss.

‘The respect, admiration and affection in which the Queen was held, make our task both humbling and daunting. An honour and a great responsibility.

‘It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and events of the next few days will unite people across the globe and resonate with people of all faiths, whilst fulfilling Her Majesty and her family’s wishes to pay a fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign.’

The King will once again lead his family in marching behind the Queen’s coffin when it is moved, at 10.44am on Monday, from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s funeral service.

He will walk with the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex and behind the quartet will be the Queen’s grandsons Peter Phillips, Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales.

They will be followed by the late monarch’s son-in-law Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin, and her nephew the Earl of Snowdon.

The Queen’s coffin will be carried during the procession on a 123-year-old gun carriage towed by 98 Royal Navy sailors in a tradition dating back to the funeral of Queen Victoria.

The Procession will be led by a massed Pipes & Drums of Scottish and Irish Regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas, and the Royal Air Force – numbering 200 musicians.

 

Hour-by-hour guide to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, September 19 

6am-8.30am: Last vigil at Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall 

At dawn on the last day of national mourning, the King’s bodyguards will begin their final vigil at the Queen’s oak coffin in the Houses of Parliament. It will then close at 8.30am in preparation for the procession.

9am: Big Ben will strike

Big Ben will strike clearly, before the bell’s hammer is covered with a thick leather pad to muffle its strikes for the rest of the day, out of respect and deference to the late monarch.

10.30am: Queen’s coffin is carried from House of Parliament to Westminster Abbey

The Queen’s coffin will be moved onto the state gun carriage which will be outside the north door of Westminster Hall.

From there, it will be pulled by naval ratings using ropes instead of horses from the Hall to Westminster Abbey.

Enormous crowds of mourners are expected to line the streets in Westminster as King Charles and senior members of the Royal Family follow the coffin as they did at the funeral for Princess Diana and for Prince Philip. The military will also join the procession. 

11am: The Queen’s coffin is carried to the High Altar

Around 2,000 guests including members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Liz Truss, former British premiers, foreign dignitaries including US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and possibly Japanese Emperor Naruhito, and other VIPs, will fill the Abbey and watch as the Queen’s coffin is moved down the nave to the High Altar, before the nation falls silent.

The state funeral at Westminster Abbey (pictured) be led by the Dean of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury

11am-12pm: The state funeral at the Abbey

The state funeral will be led by the Dean of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

It is being televised and is expected to be beamed to millions around the world – and could well be one of the most watched live events in human history. 

Royal experts believe that the choice of the Abbey could be both because it is so big – it has a capacity of 2,000 though can hold as many as 8,000 – and more live TV broadcasts have already been held there.

It is also believed that it could be a better place for large crowds to gather to pay their respects, since it is in Central London.

And the Abbey was the setting for many of the most important events of the Queen’s life – from her Coronation to her wedding to Prince Philip. The Princess Royal and the Duke of York, and the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret, were also married there.

Other royal funerals have been held at the Abbey, including Princess Diana’s in 1997 and the Queen Mother’s in 2002. The funeral of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Philip’s uncle, was also held there in 1979.

Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey 

The Queen is photographed on June 2, 1953 smiling after her Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London

12pm: The Last Post 

At the end of the service, the Last Post and Reveille will be played.

12pm-1pm: Queen’s coffin is carried to Wellington Arch via The Mall

The Queen’s coffin will then be placed back on the state gun carriage, before the royal funeral procession will solemnly move through Parliament Square, Whitehall, Constitution Hill and The Mall, past Buckingham Palace, to arrive at Wellington Arch at 1pm.

1pm-4pm: The coffin is transported to Windsor

Then the coffin will be transported to Windsor, where the Queen spent much of the last years of her life, to her final resting place at St George’s Chapel via the Long Walk.

The Queen’s coffin will be lowered into the Royal Vault at St George’s Chapel in Windsor (pictured), where she will be buried alongside her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, her beloved parents, and her sister Princess Margaret

Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in an official wedding photograph taken on their wedding day in 1947

4pm: Queen will be buried at St George’s Chapel by her husband Prince Philip

The committal service conducted by the Dean of Windsor will then begin, and will also be televised around the world.

Before the last hymn, the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb will be removed from the Queen’s coffin by the crown jeweller. 

Then at the end of the service, a lament will be played by a lone piper as the coffin is lowered into the Royal Vault, where she will be buried alongside her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, her beloved parents, and her sister Margaret.

7pm: King Charles will attend private family burial service at chapel

King Charles and his closest family will return to the chapel for a private family burial service, where – as the late Queen did for her father – the monarch will scatter earth upon the coffin. 

 

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