Europe 1 with AFP 10:54 p.m., September 19, 2022
After a final solemn procession, walking through a crowded Windsor estate and a religious ceremony in front of 800 people, Elizabeth's coffin was slowly lowered into the royal vault of the chapel.
Relive in pictures the last day of the funeral of the Queen of England.
Elizabeth II rests in her final resting place, St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, after a farewell with great pomp and emotion, saluting on Monday the memory of a sovereign with planetary popularity and an incomparable reign.
After a final solemn procession, walking through a crowded Windsor estate and a religious ceremony in front of 800 people, the coffin was slowly lowered into the royal vault of the chapel.
A gesture to signify the end of the reign of Elizabeth II
Shortly before, the Lord Chamberlain had broken his staff and then placed it on the coffin, a symbolic gesture to signify the end of his reign.
Elizabeth II then disappeared forever from the eyes of the world, she who, often smiling, always calm, had become a familiar icon during her 70 years, seven months and two days on the throne.
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The British anthem sounded and it was over.
There was only one last opportunity left for the close family to gather, in private, in the evening for the transfer of the coffin, with that of Philip, the husband of Elizabeth II who died in 2021, in the George VI memorial in the chapel alongside the parents of Elizabeth II and her sister Margaret.
Travel in a hearse across the country
Accompanied by hundreds of foreign dignitaries and thousands of Britons on her way, Elizabeth II's final voyage has come to an end.
Since his death on September 8, at the age of 96, in his Scottish residence of Balmoral, his closed coffin has passed through his kingdom, in a hearse through the Scottish countryside, a Royal Air Force plane, or during slow funeral processions to sad tunes played by brass bands, pulled by horses or sailors.
In Edinburgh and then London, hundreds of thousands of people waited for hours, sometimes all night, to gather before the remains of the only monarch that most Britons have ever known, whose face, present on banknotes and stamps, was recognized worldwide.
A "sad" atmosphere, but "a time of celebration"
A chapter of world history closes with these farewells to the monarch who has crossed the ages with a constant sense of duty, without ever publicly sharing an opinion, but fulfilling her functions as Head of State with seriousness, benevolence, and a tongue-in-cheek humor that is sometimes irresistible.
In Windsor, Pauline Huxtable, 64, had come to celebrate the "extraordinary life" of a queen imbued with "dignity": she was a "mother figure".
"I will never see another queen in my lifetime, because now it's King Charles III, then it will be Prince William, then George," observes Caroline Lachman, 48, on the route of the procession.
"Elizabeth II had this ability to gather for 70 years, she was incredible," she adds, describing a "sad" but "celebratory" atmosphere.
A huge popular emotion
The last day of farewell to the sovereign will have been like the 12 days that followed her death: charged with immense popular emotion, carefully staged, with all the pomp of the secular traditions of the British monarchy.
It had been planned for at least 20 years.
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In the middle of the morning, to the sound of bagpipes, the coffin, surmounted by the glittering imperial crown, left Westminster Hall, the oldest part of Parliament to reach neighboring Westminster Abbey.
Dozens of sailors pulled him, followed by King Charles III, his brothers and sisters and his children, the brothers William, the heir, and Harry, the Californian, in the cold.
Hundreds of foreign leaders present
In the abbey, Queen Consort Camilla, Kate, the new Princess of Wales, and Meghan, Harry's wife, join them.
But also the two eldest of William and Kate, George, 9, now second in the order of succession, and Charlotte, 7, very impressed under her little black hat.
In attendance, the gratin of world leaders, including US Presidents Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, the six former British Prime Ministers still alive, from John Major to Boris Johnson, and European crowned heads, from the King of Spain Felipe VI to King Philippe of Belgium via Prince Albert of Monaco.
Two poignant minutes of silence
"In a famous speech, delivered on his 21st birthday, his late Majesty declared that his whole life would be devoted to the service of the nation and the Commonwealth," recalled the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Anglican Church. which was ruled by the queen.
“Rarely has a promise been so well kept,” he added, paying tribute to a “joyful, present for so many people, touching a multitude of lives” queen.
The ceremony ended with two minutes of poignant silence, observed across the country, before the national anthem which now celebrates Charles III, "God Save the King".
After a parade bringing together 6,000 soldiers through London, the coffin joined Windsor, about forty kilometers to the west.
Throwing a flower, clapping or wiping away a tear, thousands of people lined the roads leading to the residence where Elizabeth, still a princess, had taken refuge during the Second World War, then spent most of her last years.
Economic crisis and social movements
The procession, framed by royal guards in red uniforms and black fur caps, arrived by walking the Long Walk through the estate.
On the steps of the castle: the two corgis (these dogs forever associated with Elizabeth II) of the queen, Muick and Sandy, now entrusted to her son Andrew.
More and more frail in recent months, suffering from mobility problems, Elizabeth II still received, smiling, two days before her death, the brand new Prime Minister Liz Truss, her last public photo.
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She was the oldest serving leader in the world.
During her life, she went through the Second World War, saw the dissolution of the British Empire, the entry and then the exit of the European Union.
After exhausting days of travels in the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom, walkabouts combined with the mourning of a mother, Charles III will have to write his own story.
Some dreamed of a quick transition with the new Prince of Wales, his son William, 40.
But the king promised, like his mother, to serve all his life.
If its popularity rating has skyrocketed, to 70% according to YouGov, the challenges, many, are only beginning, some Commonwealth countries not hiding their desire to break away from the monarchy.
As of Tuesday, the United Kingdom resumes the course of its life suspended since September 8, with the economic crisis and social movements in the foreground.