It’s a long week that the United Kingdom is about to live: while Queen Elizabeth II died in the afternoon of Thursday, September 8, her funeral is being organized slowly. The official date was finally announced this Saturday: his funeral, with great pomp, will be well celebrated on Monday, September 19, as the rumors announced for several days. But before that, the program looks loaded.
Indeed, the coffin, which will be revealed this Sunday, September 11 at Balmoral should first leave the family residence to go this Sunday to Holyrood, the residence of British kings in Edinburgh. A first big step, for this area that she loved so much and in which the whole family had gathered for a few days around her body.
After 24 hours in the palace, his coffin will then be moved to Saint Giles Abbey, during a procession in which the new King Charles III and most certainly his other children, Anne, Andrew and Edward, as well as some of his grandchildren, including the popular Eugénie, Béatrice and Zara, should take part. Will Princes William and Harry also make the trip? After their joint outing in Windsor, we can only hope so.
The return to London
Then it’s on Tuesday September 13 that the body should be repatriated to London to be exhibited the next day in a stronghold of the capital, the Palace of Westminster. There, the British will have several days to meditate in front of the coffin of their sovereign, in the heart of London. Before the funeral, which will therefore take place on the 19th, at 11 a.m., local time.
In front of an audience that should be made up of several thousand personalities from all over the world : some heads of state like Emmanuel Macron or Joe Biden have already confirmed their presence, as have the European royal elite. All monarchies should in particular send a representative there to pay tribute to the Queen of England, whom they all knew personally. The whole country will also stop: shops and banks will be closed, buses will stop when the coffin enters the church and the death knell will sound for 96 minutes.
Not to mention the entire royal family: in addition to King Charles III, his wife Camilla and his sons William and Harry, accompanied by their wives Kate and Meghan, all of the queen’s grandchildren should be present. This Saturday, they also made a remarkable appearance at Balmoral: Princess Anne and her children, Zara and Peter Phillips, Prince Andrew and his daughters Eugenie and Beatrice as well as Prince Edward, with his daughter Louise, are went to meet the public at Balmoral and were very moved.