Queen’s funeral: Elizabeth II laid to rest alongside husband, royal family announces – as it happened

As a momentous day in UK history draws to a close, here’s a roundup of what happened as Britain said goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II.

View image in fullscreen

• Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest reigning monarch, has been buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George’s chapel, Windsor Castle, in a small private ceremony attended by family.

• Earlier on Monday 2,000 guests including heads of state gathered in Westminster Abbey for her funeral.

• The coffin was then taken to Wellington Arch in a procession featuring members of the armed forces and their bands. The Queen’s children, including King Charles III followed behind the coffin on its journey after it left the abbey. His sons, Prince William and Prince Harry joined them. The Queen’s coffin was later driven to Windsor Castle.

• A service of committal was held at St George’s chapel, where the Queen’s coffin was lowered in to the royal vault and her instruments of rule were placed on the altar.

That’s all for today, drawing our live coverage of the Queen’s death, period of mourning and funeral to a close. It is an honour to have been part of the team that has brought you updates of what has happened since she died on 8 September. Thank you for following along. I leave you with Caroline Davies’ recap of today’s historic events.

As we approach midnight, the front pages of Tuesday’s newspapers are being published before they go on sale tomorrow.

The Guardian has a striking image of the Queen’s coffin being carried in to Westminster Abbey.

The Times, a newspaper that loves a wrap-around picture on big occasions, also goes with a photograph of the Queen’s coffin being carried into Westminster Abbey.

The Telegraph leads with a photograph of King Charles putting the Queen’s company camp colour on her coffin at St George’s Chapel.

The Sun has a two-part wrap, proclaiming: “We sent her victorious.”

The Daily Mail has a photograph of the scene in St George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle.

Another two-part wrap, this time for the i, which says it’s “The end of the Elizabethan Age.”

Finally, the Financial Times leads with a quote from Justin Welby’s sermon at Westminster Abbey.

After what was described as the biggest security and policing operation in London’s history, the Metropolitan police has released the number of arrests it made during the 11 days after the Queen’s death.

It said it had made 67 arrests in the areas near the palace and Westminster Hall as of 5pm on Monday, for what it said was a range of offences.

More than 3,000 officers from almost every force in the UK were helping the Met’s operation in London. A total of 10,000 officers were deployed for the Queen’s funeral on Monday.

Armed police, motorbike escort riders, officers carrying out patrols on horseback, dog teams and the marine unit were among the specialist teams involved.

Rooftop snipers were in place while the cortege was moving, accompanied by a helicopter escort anywhere outside of the capital, PA Media.

There were more than 22 miles of barriers in central London alone to control crowds and keep key areas secure.

About 2,300 police officers were in place to oversee the Queen’s final journey from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle.

About a thousand lined the route, alongside military personnel, from the Abbey to Wellington Arch while the Queen’s coffin was carried from the service by gun carriage.

The royal family has released a new photograph of the Queen, after they announced that she had been buried at Windsor Castle this evening.

The previously unpublished image shows her walking on moorland. She is wearing sunglasses, with a headscarf on, walking stick in hand and has a coat draped over her arm.

It is captioned: “‘May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.’ In loving memory of Her Majesty The Queen. 1926 - 2022".”

Sir Keir Starmer has said the Queen’s funeral marked “the passing of an era” as he planned to open Labour’s conference with a tribute to the late monarch and the national anthem.

The Labour leader was among the 2,000 mourners gathered in Westminster Abbey for the service on Monday.

He wrote on Twitter: “Today marks the passing of an era.
“The dignity, courage, spirit, selflessness and good humour Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II showed throughout her reign will always be with us.

“We are lucky to call ourselves Elizabethans.”

Sir Keir is set to open his party’s four-day conference in Liverpool on 25 September with a tribute to the long-reigning monarch.

Party delegates will also sing the national anthem at the start of the gathering, for the first time in recent history.

However, a Labour source dismissed reports that drinks receptions will be toned down at this year’s conference in a sign of respect to the late Queen.

The Liberal Democrats cancelled their conference because it fell within the period of national mourning, but the Conservatives are going ahead with theirs in Birmingham from 2 October.

19 Sept 202216.19 EDT

Caroline Davies

After the majestical funeral pomp and military spectacle, unsurpassed in the nation’s living memory and watched across the world, the final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II would belong only to her family.

Night had fallen as she was laid to rest next to the Duke of Edinburgh in the George VI Memorial Chapel, Windsor, in private and away from cameras.

With only her family present, it was a wholly intimate ceremony, one for a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother who also was a Queen.

The contrast with the earlier grandeur of Britain’s official goodbye, with its pipers, buglers, and muffled bells; its kings, queens, prime ministers and presidents in the gothic splendour of Westminster Abbey, could not have been more marked.

Read more:

The Queen has been buried alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, an announcement on the royal family’s official website said.

“The Queen was buried together with the Duke of Edinburgh, at The King George VI Memorial Chapel,” the statement said.

The Queen’s corgis, Sandy and Muick, were among the many in Windsor paying their respects as her coffin made its way to St George’s Chapel.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby led the BBC’s coverage of the Queen’s committal at Windsor Castle, in an echo of his father, Richard Dimbleby, from 70 years ago.

It was a move that earned the BBC great praise on Twitter.

Read more here:

The Dean of Windsor, the right reverend David Connor, will lead the service before the burial of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in the crypt of the King George VI Memorial Chapel.

He also led the committal service at St George’s Chapel on Monday afternoon.

The Queen’s coffin will be interred with the Grenadier Guards’ Queen’s company camp colour – a smaller version of the royal standard of the regiment – which the King placed on her coffin at the end of the committal service.

The Grenadier Guards are the most senior of the foot guards regiments and the Queen was their colonel-in-chief.

Only one royal standard of the regiment is presented during a monarch’s reign and it served as the Queen’s company colour throughout her time as Queen.

A small crowd has formed outside Windsor Castle’s Henry VIII Gate ahead of the private burial of the Queen attended by her family.

The town has largely emptied since the end of the procession down Long Walk, leaving a sleepy, solemn atmosphere.

Dozens of people are still taking photos by the castle as the sunset lights up the walls and glowing clouds beyond.

Some are trying to get a glimpse through the gates into the castle courtyard beyond while others are on the street having a drink, PA Media reports.

A private burial service will begin shortly at St George’s Chapel where the Queen will be laid to rest.

Her coffin has been lying in the royal vault at the church, at Windsor Castle, since the committal service this afternoon.

Members of the Royal family will return to the chapel for the intimate event, where she will be buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel. It will begin at 7.30pm. The memorial chapel is a small annex at the church.

Elizabeth II is the 11th former monarch to be buried in the chapel in Windsor Castle. She will be buried alongside her father King George VI, the Queen Mother and her sister Margaret.

Her late husband, Prince Philip, will have his coffin moved to join her, after his death and burial last year.

The Queen commissioned the chapel in 1962, and it was completed in 1969. Her father’s remains were moved there from the royal vault in the March of the same year.

View image in fullscreen

Despite the size of the crowd in Belfast, silence pervaded.

Some dressed in suits and black ties, others in T-shirts and jeans. Veterans wore polished medals while tourists perched on the edge of sturdy suitcases.

Some sat on blankets, others stood throughout. A young boy made room beside him on his fold-out chair for his Paddington Bear teddy.

The gathering on the lawns outside the city’s City Hall was diverse, but its purpose was unifying – to pay respects to the late Queen.

Wearing a platinum jubilee T-shirt, and sitting on a stool draped in a Union flag, Simon Freedman struggled to hold back tears as the big screen showed members of the royal family singing the Lord Is My Shepherd.

For the 51-year-old from Coleraine, the Queen’s funeral held added poignancy. He had travelled down to Belfast in part to pay tribute to the memory of his own mother, Olive Sarah Freedman, who was a big royal fan and died in 2020 from Covid-19 at the age of 79.

“The fact we couldn’t have a service because of the lockdown in 2020, today kind of did that as well for me,” he told PA Media.

“My mother’s favourite hymn was the Lord Is My Shepherd, so it was quite fitting.

“I knew when that hymn came on, I’d shed a tear.”

Nine-year-old Tom Murray, from east Belfast, was the young boy with the Paddington teddy.

“She was a great monarch and the longest reigning monarch,” he said.

“She helped a lot of charities as well, so she was a really, really good monarch.

“The funeral was very sad, the King looked like he was crying.”

One view from across the Irish channel, as one writer for the Irish Times says it was a “culture shock” watching Britain grieve.

“In Ireland we take our funerals much as we take our tea: brisk, chatty and with a minimum of fuss. So there is a degree of culture shock watching Britain grieve for its queen.

“That’s especially true of the coverage of the funeral, which, on BBC One and Sky News, unfolds with a solemnity so hushed that every so often you find yourself wondering if you’ve muted the sound by accident. But, no, it’s just the UK muting itself as it says farewell to Queen Elizabeth.”

Irish broadcaster RTÉ covered the funeral, but not the procession, tuning back in to daytime soaps.

Writer Ed Power adds: “The funeral of Britain’s longest-serving monarch is a historic event, but it’s not the kind of history to stir the blood or have us on the edge of our seats. This is meditative and austere — hypersober slow TV.

“After the coffin’s procession through London on the state gun carriage, the final leg of the queen’s journey to Windsor Castle is by hearse. As the pace picks up, so does the coverage. The BBC doesn’t quite let its hair down, but Kirsty Young is allowed to break the solemnity and strike up a note of vague chattiness.”

He ends by reflecting that “on days such as this the gulf between the countries feels wider and deeper than usual”.

19 Sept 202213.06 EDT

Daniel Boffey

View image in fullscreen

There was no eye contact or acknowledgment between Prince William and Prince Harry as they walked behind the Queen’s coffin. Nor indeed, it appeared, as the two princes were joined by their wives, Kate and Meghan, in Westminster Abbey.

Harry, wearing a morning suit on to which his medals were pinned rather than military uniform, the traditional dress permitted of working members of the royal family at ceremonial events, kept his gaze focused ahead during the procession from Westminster Hall to the abbey and later at Windsor Castle.

Walking behind King Charles III, the Princess Royal, Prince Edward and the Duke of York, who had also stood out in a morning suit, the brothers were at least side by side, rather than being buffered by their cousin, Peter Phillips, as had been the case at the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh last April.

Read more: