Queen to lie in state for public viewing over 4 days at Westminster Hall

Elizabeth’s coffin leaves Buckingham Palace for last time, accompanied by family.

Queen Elizabeth left Buckingham Palace for the last time on Wednesday, her coffin carried by a horse-drawn gun carriage and trailed by grieving family members during the short journey to the Houses of Parliament, where the monarch will lie in state until her funeral early next week.

With artillery firing salutes at one-minute intervals, the solemn procession was designed to underscore the Queen’s 70 years as head of state as the national mourning process shifts to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the British capital.

King Charles, his sons Princes William and Harry, and other members of the Royal Family walked behind the gun carriage.

Authorities planned for a 16-kilometre route, with 1,000 marshals, stewards and police officers on hand at any given time to help manage it. An army of other volunteers included multi-faith pastors and sign-language interpreters.

Thousands of people who had waited for hours along The Mall outside the palace and other locations to line the route held up phones and cameras, and some wiped away tears, as the solemn procession passed. Applause broke out as it went through Horse Guards Parade.

The coffin was draped in the Royal Standard and topped with the Imperial State Crown — adorned with almost 3,000 diamonds — and a bouquet of flowers and plants including pine from the Balmoral Estate, where Elizabeth died last week.

An escort of two officers and 32 troops from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in red uniforms and bearskin hats walked on either side of the gun carriage.

Big Ben tolled, a gun salute boomed from Hyde Park and the martial strains of a military band accompanied the procession.

The 38-minute procession ended at the historic Westminster Hall at Parliament just after 3 p.m. local time.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a short service at the hall, attended by the Royal Family members, British Prime Minister Liz Truss and others.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you,” Welby said, reading from the Book of John.

Thousands more were standing or sitting in line along the banks of the River Thames waiting their turn to file past the coffin before the Queen’s state funeral on Monday. They were warned they may have to wait for hours, but they are being given numbered wristbands so they can take food and bathroom breaks without losing their place in line.

When they get to Parliament, mourners must pass through airport-style security screening. Prohibited items include liquids, spray paint, knives, fireworks, flowers, candles, stuffed toys and “advertising or marketing messages.”

Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika of the Household division, who organized the ceremonial aspects of the Queen’s funeral, said it was a sad day but that “it’s our last opportunity to do our duty for the Queen and it’s our first opportunity to do it for the King, and that makes us all very proud.”

London’s Heathrow Airport halted flights to prevent overhead planes from disturbing the procession.

The airport said in a statement that the changes would “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.”

Troops involved in the procession have been preparing since the Queen died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96. So have the horses of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.

Sgt. Tom Jenks of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery said the horses have undergone special training, including how to handle weeping mourners, as well as flowers and flags being thrown onto streets as the procession passes by.

Thousands at Scotland viewing

Crowds have lined the route of the Queen’s coffin whenever it has been moved in its long journey from Scotland back to London.

On Tuesday night, thousands braved a typical London drizzle as the state hearse, with interior lights illuminating the sovereign’s flag-draped casket, drove slowly from a military air base into the heart of London

Geoff Colgan, a taxi driver who took the day off to witness the occasion, stood stunned in the moments after the Queen’s coffin passed.

“It’s one of those things you know would happen, but when it does you can’t believe it,” he said, holding his toddler.

Earlier, in Edinburgh, some 33,000 people filed in silent respect past her coffin as it lay for 24 hours at St. Giles’ Cathedral.

Hundreds of thousands are expected to do the same in London when the Queen lies in state at Westminster Hall for four days before her state funeral on Monday.

The hall is where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried, where kings and queens hosted magnificent medieval banquets and where ceremonial addresses were presented to Queen Elizabeth during her silver, golden and diamond jubilees.

Chris Bond, from Truro in southwest England, was among those lining up along the banks of the River Thames. He also attended the lying in state of the Queen’s mother in 2002.

“Obviously, it’s quite difficult queuing all day long, but when you walk through those doors into Westminster Hall, that marvellous, historic building, there was a great sense of hush and one was told you take as much time as you like, and it’s just amazing,” he said.