Final preparations underway for procession of queen's coffin (UPDATED)

[Omaha Steve]

Last edited Wed Sep 14, 2022, 09:42 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: AP

By MIKE CORDER and DANICA KIRKA

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday, her coffin borne by a horse-drawn gun carriage and trailed by grieving family members during a 38-minute journey to the Houses of Parliament, where it will lie in state until the funeral early next week.

With the royal standard and crown of state resting on top of the coffin and 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 U.K. capital.

King Charles III, his sons Princes William and Harry and other members of the royal family walked behind the gun carriage. Big Ben’s bells tolled and a gun salute boomed as the coffin proceeded along The Mall to the martial strains of a military band.

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.



The Coldstream Guards march near Buckingham Palace, during a procession for the Lying-in State of Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall in London, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. The Queen will lie in state in Westminster Hall for four full days before her funeral on Monday Sept. 19. (Richard Heathcote/Pool Photo via AP)



Original post below.

By MIKE CORDER and DANICA KIRKA

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will leave Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday as it is taken amid somber pageantry on a horse-drawn gun carriage past crowds of mourners to the Houses of Parliament, where the late monarch will lie in state for four days.

Crowds began massing early along the flag-lined road outside the palace for the procession from the monarch’s official London residence to the historic Westminster Hall at Parliament. King Charles III and other members of the royal family will walk behind the coffin.

Thousands of people are gathering on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace and along the banks of the River Thames hours before the coffin procession begins. People in the crowd cheered when Charles waved to them as he drove from his residence, Clarence House, to the palace.

Joan Bucklehurst, a 50-year-old retail worker from Cheshire in northwestern England, said the queen “meant so much for everybody.”



People queue opposite the Palace of Westminster to be first in line bidding farewell to Queen Elizabeth II in London, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Thursday Sept. 8, 2022, after 70 years on the throne, at the age of 96. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-entertainment-london-royalty-549802eb6aa833e36d664aac7f2a7bf3?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_1

[twodogsbarking]

1. I think it is weird to haul a corpse around for ten days.

[Bayard]

4. I think its mostly for regular people to say goodbye

They did love her (except for that woman standing there with her arms crossed).

[Sogo]

6. She is rather notable, isn't she?!

LOL!

[Martin68]

7. Just another sign that the monarchy is a fetish.

[yellowdogintexas]

12. Gerald Ford was hauled around a lot too. Palm Springs to DC to Michigan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Gerald_Ford

The casket was moved around several times at each location. I attempted to count them and came up with
approximately 15 moves.

I remember at the time thinking how exhausted Betty Ford must have been by the time everything was finished.

He died on December 26, and was buried on January 3rd.

[Zambero]

2. Abe Lincoln made the rounds longer than that

By train. Aside from that, using "coffin" in this day and age sounds a bit Dracula-esque. Casket is a less ghoulish choice of words.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. "Coffin" is still more common in the UK than "casket", I'd say

If I look up the funeral director closest to me, their website lists "coffins and urns", not "caskets".

[question everything]

5. I think that the British are the masters of Pomp and Circumstances

[bucolic_frolic]

8. I quick-read the headline as possession

I thought Trump had submitted a bid!

[harumph]

9. I think it's pretty clear we need a "coffin cam."

24-7, 365 days a year for at least a decade. Or maybe just a grave cam in the King George VI memorial chapel.
We could broadcast it non-stop like the burning Yule log.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. For the next 5 days:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-62902778

[beaglelover]

13. That is pretty cool. I just clicked on the live feed and got to see the changing of the guards.

[dalton99a]

10. Procession:

Last edited Thu Sep 15, 2022, 09:06 PM - Edit history (1)