UK prepares for final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II

At 10.44am on Monday, the Queen's coffin will be moved from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for a ceremony attended by 2,000 guests.

AP - Vadim Ghirda

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

Heads of state and government from around the world joined the British this Sunday in gathering en masse in front of the coffin of Elizabeth II, on the eve of a state funeral which promises to be grandiose. 

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The period of national mourning is coming to an end in the UK.

Queen

at the age of 96, will be buried this Monday at the end of the afternoon.

The public still has until 6:30 a.m. to gather in front of the monarch's coffin in Westminster Hall, the oldest chamber in the British Parliament.

This Sunday, thousands of people continued to line up to pay their last respects.

These were joined by Heads of State and Government from around the world.

Joe Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill, made the sign of the cross in front of the coffin of the late sovereign.

He paid tribute to 

 Elizabeth II 's sense of "

 " and " 

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen or the King of Spain, Felipe VI, also bowed before the remains of the queen, as well as the first Ukrainian lady, Olena Zelenska, visibly very moved.

Foreign leaders were to be received at Buckingham Palace in the early evening, for Charles III's first major diplomatic meeting.

Last of the Queen's children to pay tribute to her, Prince Andrew, reputedly favorite son of Elizabeth II and who fell into disgrace after accusations of sexual abuse ended in a financial agreement, praised her " 

 ", her " 

 " , his “ 

 ” and his “ 

 ”.

In a video message, Queen Consort Camilla insisted on the difficulties that Elizabeth II, " 

 ", encountered in a world of predominantly male heads of state and government.

The organization of this state funeral, the first since that of Winston Churchill in 1965,

, and mobilizes thousands of police and military personnel.

Backstage, rehearsals are in full swing, and around Westminster Hall, the most ardent were already camped out to secure a place of choice.

I want to say goodbye to the queen, she was such a good sovereign, wonderful.

An example for all of us.

Those who sleep outside to see the funeral procession

Murielle Paradon

2,000 guests

This Monday morning, 2,000 guests will gather at Westminster Abbey, where Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, for the culmination of tributes paid in immense emotion since the death of the monarch to planetary popularity.

It will be " 

 " former Archbishop of York John Sentamu warned the BBC.

The Queen did not want a " 

 " service, he added, announcing a ceremony that " 

 " and " 

 " hearts.

At 10.44am, the body will be moved from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, attended by 500 foreign guests.

Invitations had to be limited to one representative per state, and their spouse, in addition to a dozen royal families.

Margrethe of Denmark, a distant cousin of Elizabeth II and now the only reigning woman in Europe, will be present.

Just like Emperor Naruhito of Japan, whose first trip since his accession to the throne in 2019, or the controversial Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

Vladimir Putin,

since the invasion of Ukraine, however, has not been invited.

Belarus, Burma, Syria, Venezuela and even Afghanistan have also been ruled out.

The British diplomatic service will have spent hours on the placement of guests to respect the sensitivities and relationships of all, says our correspondent in London,

.

The ceremony, which will begin at 11 a.m., will be led by Dean of Westminster David Hoyle.

The sermon will be delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Anglican Church of which the British sovereign is the formal head.

The ceremony will end an hour later with the national anthem and a musical lament.

The Queen's coffin will be fired from the gun carriage towards Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, near Buckingham Palace, followed by the Royal Family and a procession, to the sound of Big Ben and cannon shots.

He will then be placed in the royal hearse to take the direction of Windsor, about thirty kilometers west of London, where he must arrive at 3:06 p.m. sharp.

After a funeral ceremony, the sovereign will be buried during a private ceremony in the evening at the Saint-Georges chapel, within the walls of the castle, where her parents and her husband Philip are already resting.

For this historic event, a public holiday has been declared and many businesses, including almost all supermarkets, will keep the curtain down.

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