WATCH LIVE: Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral

Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest on Monday, after a state funeral attended by leaders from around the world and a historic last ceremonial journey through the packed streets of London. 

The longest-serving monarch in British history died aged 96 at Balmoral, her Scottish Highland retreat, on September 8 after a year of declining health. 

Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral live stream: 

For an alternative stream of the funeral, click here.

She was succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III, 73, who late Sunday said he and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, had been “deeply touched” by the public’s flood of messages.

“As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you,” he said.

Many people have camped out for days to witness the elaborate spectacle of the pageantry of Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral and to pay their final respects. 

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral programme

Royal Navy sailors will haul the flag-draped coffin, topped with the majestic Imperial State Crown, on a gun carriage from Westminster Hall to the adjacent abbey. 

The funeral starts at 10:00 GMT (12 midday CAT, South African time). After just under an hour, a bugler will play The Last Post, before two minutes of silence and the reworded national anthem, “God Save the King”. 

Afterwards, the coffin will be taken west by road to Windsor Castle, with many thousands expected to line the route.

She will be buried alongside her father king George VI, her mother queen Elizabeth the queen mother and sister princess Margaret, reuniting in death the family who once called themselves “us four”. 

The coffin of her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will also be transferred to lie alongside her.  

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Queen Elizabeth’s funeral could not be more different from Philip’s at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in April last year.

Coronavirus restrictions limited mourners to just 30, led by the queen, a solitary figure in mourning black and a matching facemask. 

But now, more than 2,000 people, including heads of state from US President Joe Biden to Japan’s reclusive Emperor Naruhito, will pack Westminster Abbey, the imposing location for royal coronations, marriages and funerals for more than 1,000 years.

“All the people of the United Kingdom: our hearts go out to you, and you were fortunate to have had her for 70 years; we all were. The world is better for her,” Biden said after signing a book of condolence.

Charles will lead mourners, alongside his three siblings and his heir, Prince William.

Some 6,000 military personnel have been drafted in to take part in the solemn procession to and from the abbey, on the route to Windsor and the committal service at St George’s Chapel.

‘Out of place’ 

In the abbey pews will also be Liz Truss, whom Queen Elizabeth appointed as the 15th British prime minister of her reign just two days before her death.

All of Truss’s living predecessors will be there too, plus her counterparts and representatives from the 14 Commonwealth countries outside Britain where Charles is also head of state.

Whether they remain constitutional monarchies or become republics is likely to be the defining feature of Charles’s reign.

The queen’s death has prompted deep reflection about the Britain she reigned over, the legacy of its past, its present state and what the future might hold, as well as the values of lifelong service and duty she came to represent during her 70-year reign.

Select members of the public won invitations to the abbey for the funeral after outstanding service to the community. 

Among them was lawyer Pranav Bhanot, 34, who gave free legal advice and delivered meals during the Covid pandemic.

“I feel completely out of place because all the headlines are saying there are going to be world leaders and presidents,” he said, having first dismissed the call from a government official as a hoax.

“But it will give me a really nice opportunity to pay my respects to someone I hugely admired.”

Big Ben tolls

After the abbey service, Charles and other senior royals will again follow in procession past hushed crowds to a waiting hearse and the final journey to Windsor.

Throughout, Big Ben, the giant bell atop the Elizabeth Tower at one end of the Houses of Parliament, will toll and guns will fire at one-minute intervals.

A vast television audience is expected to watch the funeral worldwide and live online, in a sign of the enduring fascination with the woman once described as “the last global monarch”.

But those lining the streets of London — already jammed at sunrise on Monday — said they had to bear witness.

“I want to take part in history,” said Jack Davies, 14, camped out for the procession with his parents at Hyde Park Corner, where the coffin will be transferred from the gun carriage for the drive to Windsor.

“I will talk about this moment to my children. I’ll say: ‘I was there!'”

At Windsor, the queen’s crown, orb and sceptre will be removed and placed on the altar. 

READ: Five things to know about the queen’s coffin procession

The most senior officer of the royal household, the lord chamberlain, breaks his “wand of office” and places it on the coffin, symbolising the end of her reign.

The lead-lined oak casket, draped with the queen’s colours, will then be lowered into the Royal Vault as a lone bagpiper plays a lament. 

A private interment ceremony for Queen Elizabeth will take place at the adjoining King George VI Memorial Chapel at 18:30 GMT (20:30 CAT, South African time).