What happens today
Hello, I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Here is what to expect today:
Today will see the first big ceremonial in London as the Queen’s coffin is borne on a gun carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall for her lying in state.
In a tribute to his late mother, the King will lead a procession behind the gun carriage to Westminster Hall. King Charles’s three siblings – Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward – as well as his sons Prince William and Prince Harry will also walk in the procession. Camilla, the Queen Consort, and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, will travel by car, as will Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
The coffin will leave Buckingham Palace at 2.22pm and arrive at Westminster Hall at 3pm. The procession will travel via Queen’s Gardens, the Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard.
There will be a gun salute from Hyde Park during the procession, with one round fired every minute. Viewing areas for the public along the route will open at 11am on the day.
After a service conducted by the archbishop of Canterbury lasting around 20 minutes, the Queen’s lying in state will begin, lasting for four days and ending on the morning of the state funeral on 19 September. The King and the Queen Consort will return to Buckingham Palace.
Those wishing to pay their respects will be able to file solemnly past the Queen’s coffin 24 hours a day from 5pm on Wednesday until 6.30am on the day of the funeral – Monday 19 September.
Senior members of the royal family are expected to pay their own moving tribute, standing guard at some stage around the coffin – a tradition known as the Vigil of the Princes.
At the lying in state, the Queen’s closed coffin will rest on a raised platform, called a catafalque, in Westminster Hall and will be draped in the Royal Standard with the orb and sceptre placed on top. Each corner of the platform will be guarded around the clock by a vigil of units from the Sovereign’s Bodyguard, the Household Division, or Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London.
Key events
People who wish to see the Queen lying in state in Parliament’s Westminster Hall have been warned to brace for long queues.
Geneva Abdul
Claire Varker and her friend Shelley were enjoying champagne in a pub when they learned of the Queen’s death. A silence swept across the pub and some people began to cry, they recalled. They left 10 minutes afterwards feeling the setting inappropriate for reflection.
The pair, seated on their jackets on the paved path along The Mall, came on the train from Somerset this morning to pay their respects to the late Queen.
“There were many days where I just felt sad, and morose, and in disbelief,” recalled Shelley, 46 in the days following the monarch’s death.
I think it’s just something we’ve grown up with,” said Varker, 46, of the royal family. “It’s just always there, isn’t it? Being English, British, it’s something that’s in your culture.
Geneva Abdul
Tony Semmence, 68, arrived at Buckingham Palace from Dorset at 8.30am, encouraged by his daughter who “dragged him along”.
Semmence was shocked upon learning of the Queen’s death. Perched on a stool behind a row of people on The Mall, he said it was incredible the monarch stayed the distance to welcome a new prime minister.
“King Charles … it’s a shame because he’s now mourning for his mother and he’s got to do all these regal things,” added Semmence. “When’s he going to have time to grieve, really?”
Accompanied by family members, Semmence said they will await the procession and spend the rest of the day wandering London.
“That’s all we’re doing, paying our respects to someone who’s been loyal to country for 70 years.”
Emine Sinmaz
On Whitehall, Sheila Ralph has a front-row view of the procession. She travelled from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, last night and headed to Westminster at 8am. The retired 66-year-old says she has come prepared in a waterproof and with a chair and plenty of water.
“The Queen is a wonderful example of duty and someone all of us can aspire to,” she said.
I’m a gold Duke of Edinburgh award holder so it’s important to be here. She’s been Queen all my life. She worked until she was 96 and it can’t have been easy for her. It was a sense of duty that made her keep going. It would’ve been my mother’s 102nd birthday on the day she died so I found it very emotional.
Geneva Abdul
On Wednesday morning thousands poured into Green Park, pressing themselves against the barriers lining The Mall to catch a glimpse of the procession later today, as the Queen’s casket makes its way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.
Armed with chairs, blankets and snacks, people from across the country arrived in the day’s early hours, with the intent of paying their respects to the late monarch and royal family members.
Marcia Lewis arrived on the train from Birmingham this morning and is one of many to assemble chairs behind the barriers on Mall Road from 7.30am, to watch as the procession makes its way to Westminster Hall later today.
“We just thought we wanted to be a part of history, we’ve never done this before,” said Lewis, 58.
“I didn’t think it would affect me as much when she died but indeed, I did have a tear,” added Lewis, who said she burst into tears upon learning of the Queen’s death on Thursday. “I think it just brought back memories, because my mom passed away recently.”
Further down the road, Becky Sclater, 33, her mother Lesley Evans, 61, were sitting on the ground awaiting the procession for the monarch’s lying in state. The pair of self-described royalists, woke up at four this morning in the Midlands, and came to pay their respects and lay flowers in Green Park.
Evans said they came to be part of something, to be part of history. “It’s like an extended part of your family.” Through turbulence and highs and lows throughout the years, the Queen was a source of calm, she added.
“We need the monarchy, and I don’t think people understand the importance of that steadfast side,” said Sclater, whose husband served in the RAF and police force.
“I think this probably shown that even people who aren’t monarchists have seen we’ve lost something,” added Evans. “It’s something to be proud of, sometimes we don’t always have a lot to be proud of.”
Disability rights campaigners have described access arrangements for the Queen’s lying in state in Westminster Hall in London as “disappointing”.
People with pre-existing medical conditions have been told to prepare for significant wait times including possibly overnight, in guidance that has been criticised as not a reasonable adjustment as required by the Equality Act.
The government has demonstrated a “breathtaking” lack of awareness around the needs of disabled people wishing to attend the lying in state this week, the head of Disability Rights UK, Kamran Mallick, said.
Mallick said:
The threat of confiscation of food, drink and portable shelter such as unfoldable umbrellas is in breach of the Equality Act. Many disabled people use these to double up as walking sticks. Disabled people often need food and water on the go, or to take with medication.
He added:
How ironic that our monarch should sign the Equality Act into law over a decade ago, and end her life herself disabled, and yet still the government cannot enact the laws around equity of accessibility which she brought into being.
King Charles has arrived at Buckingham Palace, after departing Clarence House earlier.
The King waved as he drove past thousands of well-wishers lining The Mall.
Later today, he will lead a procession behind his late mother the Queen’s coffin as it travels to Westminster Hall for her lying in state.
Queen Elizabeth II was a “legend” with the power to speak “to the soul of the whole world”, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said.
The late British monarch “was a constant throughout turbulent and transforming events in the last 70 years, stoic and steadfast in her service”, the EU chief said in a major speech in Strasbourg today.
She said:
More than everything, she always found the right words for every moment in time. From the calls she made to war evacuees in 1940 to her historic address during the pandemic. She spoke not only to the heart of her nation but to the soul of the world.
Rowena Mason
People who wish to protest against the monarchy should respect those mourning the Queen and not ruin their opportunity to express their private thanks, Keir Starmer has said.
Amid controversy over a small number of protesters being removed by police or arrested, the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast the right to protest and disagree was a British tradition, but he called for it to be done “in the spirit of respect”.
“Respect the fact that hundreds of thousands of people do want to come forward and have that moment. Don’t ruin it for them,” he said.
“The word I’d use around that issue is respect,” he said.
I think if people have spent a long time waiting to come forward to have that moment as the coffin goes past or whatever it may be, I think respect that, because people have made a huge effort to come and have that private moment to say thank you to Queen Elizabeth II.
Starmer’s plea for respect comes as the campaign group Republic wrote to police forces to raise concerns about arrests of anti-monarchy protesters in recent days and serve notice that it expects protests before the coronation to be allowed to go ahead peacefully.
Read the full story here:
Photograph: Kevin Coombs/Reuters
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has announced that the date of the Queen’s funeral, Monday 19 September, will be a federal holiday and national day of mourning.
The national day of mourning is “an opportunity for Canadians from coast to coast to coast to commemorate Her Majesty”, Trudeau said in a statement published last night.
To mark the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, September 19th will be a National Day of Mourning in Canada. On the same day, there will also be a national commemorative ceremony to honour Her Majesty’s life and service. More details here: https://t.co/Vh31Qr7KQq
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 13, 2022
In Canada nearly 90% of workers fall under provincial jurisdiction and are not eligible for federal holidays. Trudeau said he was working with the country’s provinces to arrange a possible public holiday.
Trudeau said:
We have also chosen to move forward with a federal holiday on Monday. We will be working with the provinces and the territories to try and see that we’re aligned on this. There are still a few details to be worked out, but declaring an opportunity for Canadians to mourn on Monday is going to be important.
Joanna Partridge
King Charles III will inherit his mother’s considerable wealth alongside assets belonging to the crown. One of the richest people in the world, Queen Elizabeth II inherited much of her fortune but is credited with having made some astute investments during her long life and reign.
The sovereign and the wider royal family have three main sources of income, the crown estate, the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall, much of it derived from centuries-long ownership of land and property across the country, including in central London, and even the seabed around swathes of the British Isles, amounting to assets with a combined value of more than £17bn.
Here’s an explainer of the UK royal family’s finances:
Flights at Heathrow airport will be delayed today to ensure silence is observed in the skies as the ceremonial procession of the Queen’s coffin moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.
This could mean some cancellations or flights being rescheduled between 1.50pm and 3.40pm, with further changes expected on the day of the funeral, Monday 19 September.
In a statement, the airport said “out of respect” for the mourning period it will be making “appropriate alterations to our operation”.
A Heathrow spokesperson added:
Passengers will be notified by their airlines directly of any changes to flights. We anticipate further changes to the Heathrow operation on Monday September 19, when Her Majesty’s funeral is due to take place, and will communicate those in more detail over coming days. We apologise for the disruption these changes cause, as we work to limit the impact on the upcoming events.
A civil service trade union has criticised the decision to give King Charles’s staff redundancy notices during the period of mourning as “nothing short of heartless”.
The Guardian reported on Monday that up to 100 employees at the King’s former official residence, including some who have worked there for decades, received notification that they could lose their jobs following his accession to the throne.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), said:
While some changes across the households were to be expected, as roles across the royal family change, the scale and speed at which this has been announced is callous in the extreme. Least of all because we do not know what staffing the incoming Prince of Wales and his family might need.
He added that the union, which represents some palace workers, was working to ensure staff have “full job security”, and that it continued to support other royal staff concerned that their “futures are thrown into turmoil by this announcement at this already difficult time”.
Clarence House, located next to St James’s Palace in central London, is the official London residence of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. The offices of King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, will move to Buckingham Palace and staff had expected to be transferred.
Some people in the crowd outside Buckingham Palace on Monday night were shocked at the Guardian’s revelations about the handling of redundancies at Clarence House.
Read the full story by my colleagues Rachel Hall and Emily Dugan here:
Japan’s emperor and empress will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral next week at the invitation of the royal family, a Japanese government spokesperson has confirmed.
The Japanese government accepted the invitation for Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to travel to Britain to pay their respects to the late Queen, because of close relations between the two countries’ royal families, chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.
Traditionally, a Japanese emperor does not make appearances at funerals at home or abroad because of a cultural belief that considers death impure. The decision for Naruhito to attend the Queen’s funeral underscores the importance and the bond between the royal and imperial families.
Matsuno said:
During Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign, the British royal family and the Japanese imperial family have maintained friendly relations for three generations.
The imperial couple are scheduled to leave Japan on Saturday and return home on Tuesday, he said.
Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and other government officials are not planning to attend the funeral, Matsuno added.
Richard Adams
A new university to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II should be located in Milton Keynes or elsewhere after a national competition, says the head of the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) in a speech today.
Nick Hillman, Hepi’s director, says that increasing long-term demand for university places means creating a new institution would be justified, and suggests Milton Keynes as the largest location in the country without a campus university, although it is home to the Open University.
Hillman says:
We have universities named after King George IV [King’s College London], Queen Victoria [Queen’s University Belfast] and Queen Mary. We also have a number of Oxbridge colleges named after royals. How fitting it would be if we were now to found a new university in the late Queen’s memory.
I tentatively suggest we might want to investigate the possibility of doing that … in Milton Keynes, which was formally designated as a city earlier this year as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. If this seems unfair to other parts of the UK, I wonder if we could have a competition, as with city status, to determine where such a new university or universities might go.
If this all sounds mischievous or opportunistic, I would merely ask if not now, then when? We cannot sensibly serve the future growing demand for higher education from existing institutions alone.
Hillman notes that at the start of Queen Elizabeth’s reign in 1952 there were only 18 mainstream universities in the UK, and now there are more than 140. The number of fulltime students 70 years ago was around 80,000 – while University College London and Manchester universities now have as many students combined, and there are more than two million in total studying in UK higher education in 2022.
Hundreds of people are queuing to see the Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall, which begins today.
The Queen will lie in state at Westminster Hall in London from today at 5pm until 6.30am Monday 19 September. Here’s what that means and how you can be involved.
What exactly is meant by the term ‘lying in state’?
Lying in state is usually reserved for sovereigns, current or past queen consorts, and sometimes former prime ministers. During the formal occasion, the closed coffin is placed on view, as thousands of people queue to file past and pay their respects.
When and where will the Queen lie in state?
The late monarch’s lying in state in Westminster Hall opens to the public at 5pm on Wednesday and it will be open 24 hours a day until it closes at 6.30am on Monday 19 September – the day of the Queen’s funeral. Westminster Hall is the oldest building the parliamentary estate, it dates back to 1099 and has been the site of key events, such as the trial of Charles I, coronation banquets, and addresses by world leaders.
What can people expect to see?
The closed coffin will be draped in a royal flag, usually a personal standard, and will rest on a raised platform called a catafalque, flanked by a military guard around the clock. A crown and other regalia are traditionally placed on top of a sovereign’s coffin. Each corner of the platform is watched 24 hours a day by units from the Sovereign’s Bodyguard, Foot Guards or the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
Will the royal family be there?
It is likely that the Queen’s children or even grandchildren will honour her with a vigil and join the guard over the coffin at some point – a tradition which has been called the Vigil of the Princes. Should the Princess Royal stand guard for the Queen, she will be the first female member of the royal family to do so.
Will there be a queue?
Yes. Government guidance says there will be a queue that is expected to be very long. People will need to stand for “many hours, possibly overnight” with very little opportunity to sit down as the queue will be continuously moving. As large crowds are expected, there are likely to be road closures and delays on public transport.
Will security be tight?
Visitors will go through airport-style security and there are tight restrictions on what you can take in, with people allowed just one small bag with one simple opening or zip.
Is there anything I need to bring?
Official guidance suggests that people should bring suitable clothing for the weather, food and drinks to have while queueing, a portable power bank for your mobile phone and any essential medication. People are also advised to “dress appropriately for the occasion to pay your respects”, banning clothes “with political or offensive slogans”. People will not be allowed to bring flowers or other tribute items, including candles, soft toys, and photographs. Also banned are banners, flags, hampers, blankets and folding chairs. The government guidance says people should not film, photograph, use mobile phones or other handheld devices in the security search area or within the Palace of Westminster. Queue-jumpers and anyone drunk will be removed from the queue by stewards and police patrolling the lines.
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