The King and his sons will walk behind the Queen’s coffin as she leaves Buckingham Palace today for the final time ahead of her lying in state.
The royal family will accompany their matriarch on foot on the journey to Westminster Hall where hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pay their respects after queueing for hours.
Charles, the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex, along with the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex, will form part of the procession on Wednesday afternoon.
Thousands turned out to see the Queen’s coffin return to Buckingham Palace following her death and subsequent ceremonies in Scotland.
The late monarch’s coffin was transported to the London landmark by plane and hearse after spending the night in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.
After landing at RAF Northolt, the convoy including the hearse was watched by thousands who defied the rain to see the long-serving Queen make her last of many return journeys to the Palace
The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arrives at Buckingham Palace (Gareth Fuller/PA)
Anne’s son Peter Phillips and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will also walk behind the procession, as well as the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Snowdon.
The Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Sussex will travel by car.
The procession will leave the palace at 2.22pm and is expected to arrive at Westminster Hall at 3pm.
A service lasting around 20 minutes will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury accompanied by the Dean of Westminster.
Mourners have already joined the queue to attend the Queen’s lying in state which begins at 5pm, continuing until 6.30am on Monday September 19, the day of the Queen’s funeral.
The bearer party from the Queen’s Colour Squadron (63 Squadron RAF Regiment) carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to the waiting hearse at RAF Northolt (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA)
Government guidance says the queue is expected to be very long, with people standing for “many hours, possibly overnight” and with very little opportunity to sit down.
There were emotional scenes on Tuesday evening when the late Queen was brought back to London by plane and taken to Buckingham Palace for the final time.
As the hearse carrying the coffin began its journey from Northolt in north-west London, people stood silently by the road with some recording the historic moment on their camera phones.
The Queen’s grandchildren were among members of the royal family paying their respects to the late monarch by witnessing her coffin’s arrival at the palace.
On Wednesday, the presence of Charles, William and Harry in the procession will see the father and sons united in their grief for a mother and grandmother.
William and Harry put on a united front with their wives during a mammoth walkabout on Saturday.
Crowds cheer as King Charles III and the Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle, Co Down (Niall Carson/PA)
The brothers have a well-documented troubled relationship but the death of their grandmother saw them unexpectedly come together when they viewed floral tributes left to the late Queen at Windsor Castle.
William, Kate, Harry and Meghan arrived in the same vehicle and greeted well-wishers for around 40 minutes before William hopped into the driver’s seat of the Audi with his wife in the passenger seat, and his brother and sister-in-law in the back.
In his televised address to the nation on Friday evening, the King talked of his love for Harry and Meghan, saying: “I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas.”
Then in Harry’s tribute to his grandmother he said he wanted to honour his father at the start of his reign as King.
The Princess of Wales, the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex walk to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
The last time Charles and his two sons were all seen together in public was at the service of thanksgiving for the Queen in St Paul’s Cathedral during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
But on that occasion, Harry and Meghan were seated some distance from Charles and William on the other side of the aisle in the second row, behind the Wessex family and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
The Jubilee service at St Paul’s was Harry and Meghan’s first public appearance alongside the Windsors since they stepped down as senior royals in 2020 amid the Megxit storm.
In April 2021, Harry and William joined their father when they walked behind the Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin at his funeral.
The brothers were separated by their cousin Peter Phillips but he dropped back half a pace at one point so the siblings appeared closer together.
After the funeral service, William and Harry could be seen chatting as they walked back up the hill from the chapel to the castle.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel