What Queen Elizabeth II told former Archbishop of York on grief and loss

Britain's longest-reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest at Westminster Abbey on Monday as her funeral will mark the first state funeral in Britain since former UK prime minister Sir Winston Churchill's in 1965. Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully last Thursday. She was 96.

“When you grieve someone you love deeply, it is not easy doing it in public,” the monarch had told the Lord Bishop John Sentamu in a "most wonderful" letter sent four weeks after the Duke of Edinburgh's death, the former Archbishop of York told BBC.

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Recalling his visit to the Queen in 2018 to seek permission to step down as the Archbishop of York, Lord Bishop Sentamu said that he was meeting Elizabeth II with a “huge burden”. But the Queen generously put her hands around the Bishop's and prayed for three minutes.

It was like my "burden had lifted", he said.

King Charles III, accompanied by Camilla, the Queen Consort are set to be in attendance at his mother Elizabeth II's funeral. Queen's other three children, Anne, Andrew and Edward, as well as their spouses will also be present at the funeral. The monarch's grandchildren Princes William and Harry, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Zara Tindall, Peter Phillips, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn will also pay their respects to the Queen as global leaders and dignitaries come together in London to bid farewell to the monarch,