Emotions overflow in last farewell to queen

Britain said farewell to Queen Elizabeth II yesterday at a state funeral attended by world leaders before a ceremonial journey through the streets of London packed with sorrowful mourners.

Huge crowds gathered in near silence to watch as the queen's flag-draped coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, her orb and scepter, was carried slowly to a gun carriage from Westminster Hall, where it had lain in state since Wednesday.

To the tune of pipes and drums, the gun carriage - used at every state funeral since Queen Victoria's in 1901 - was then drawn by 142 junior sailors in the Royal Navy to Westminster Abbey.

The thousand-year-old church's tenor bell tolled 96 times at one-minute intervals - one for every year of her life.

In his funeral sermon, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby praised the queen's life of duty and service to the UK and commonwealth.

"People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer," he told the 2,000 guests, who included US President Joe Biden and Japan's reclusive Emperor Naruhito.

"But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered," the Anglican leader added, before the coffin was borne on another procession toward her final resting place at Windsor Castle, west of London.

Her eldest son and successor, King Charles III, dressed in ceremonial military uniform, followed the solemn processions, alongside his three siblings.

Charles's eldest son, Prince William, accompanied them alongside William's estranged brother, Prince Harry, and other senior royals.

William's two eldest children, George and Charlotte, who are next in line to the throne, also walked behind the coffin inside the abbey.

Charles, 73, and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, said they 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.

The funeral lasted just under an hour, brought to an end by a bugler playing The Last Post, before two minutes of silence and the reworded national anthem God Save the King.

About 6,000 military personnel were drafted in to take part in proceedings.

The queen will be buried alongside her father, king George VI, her mother queen Elizabeth 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 be transferred to lie alongside her.

Elizabeth's funeral could not be more different from Philip's at St George's Chapel, Windsor, in April 2021.

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

"You were fortunate to have had her for 70 years; we all were," Biden said after signing a book of condolence. "The world is better for her."

In the abbey pews was Liz Truss, whom the queen appointed as the 15th British prime minister of her reign just two days before her death, in her last major ceremonial duty. All of Truss's living predecessors were there plus her counterparts and representatives from the 14 Commonwealth countries outside Britain where Charles is also head of state.

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