Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral Monday

The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at London’s Westminster Abbey on Monday will be the culmination of decades of meticulous planning.

On the morning of the funeral, the lying in state — begun at Westminster Hall in parliament on Wednesday — will continue until 6:30 am (0530 GMT).

At 6:30 am, the doors will close in preparation for the transfer of the coffin to the nearby abbey.

Shortly after 10:35 am a bearer party will lift the coffin from the catafalque, a raised platform, and carry it to the state gun carriage which will be waiting outside the North Door of Westminster Hall.

Westminster Abbey can hold up to 2,200 people.

At 12:15 pm, the coffin will be drawn on the gun carriage, followed on foot by members of the royal family led by the king, to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner near Buckingham Palace, from where it will continue to Windsor by royal hearse.

The hearse will arrive at Windsor at 3:06 pm and make its way to the castle via the Long Walk avenue, again with flights stopped, as the castle is on the flight path into and out of Heathrow.

The king and senior members of the royal family will join the procession on foot from the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle at around 3:40 pm before the cortege halts at the chapel at 3:53 pm.

The televised committal service starts at 4:00 pm.

Monday’s committal service is expected to be attended by at least 800 people, most of whom will not have been at the abbey.

They will include past and present staff members who worked for the queen.

A private burial service will be held at 7:30 pm.

The queen’s final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, which is an annexe to the main chapel, alongside her husband Prince Philip.

– Return to the abbey –

The last time Westminster Abbey was used for a monarch’s funeral was for King George II in 1760.

Since then, the preferred church has been St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle but Elizabeth opted for a larger venue.