Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral to be UK’s first since 1965

The Queen’s state funeral would be the UK’s first in additional than half a century, with former Prime Minister Winston Churchill being the final head of state to be accorded with this honour in 1965.

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years. She was 96.

Unlike Prince Philip, who had a royal ceremonial funeral, the Queen could have a state funeral, which is often reserved for the sovereign.

A state funeral sometimes begins with the physique of the deceased being carried on a gun carriage, which is drawn by sailors from the Royal Navy, as a part of a army procession, in response to The Independent newspaper.

The physique is taken from a personal resting chapel to Westminster Hall within the House of Parliament, it stated.

Also Read: | What Queen Elizabeth II stated when a clueless vacationer requested her if she had ‘met the Queen’

This is adopted by one other procession to Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s Cathedral, relying on the place the service is, the report stated.

Heads of state are then given a 21-gun salute.

The solely monarch to not be given a state funeral within the final 295 years was Edward VIII, who abdicated.

The final state funeral within the UK was Churchill’s in 1965 and the final state funeral for a sovereign was for the Queen’s father, George VI, in 1952.

The Queen’s coffin will likely be mendacity in state, which is a convention by which the physique of the deceased is positioned in a state constructing for the general public to pay their tribute.

The Queen will lie in state in Westminster Hall for about 4 days earlier than her funeral, in response to the BBC.

The final member of the Royal Family to lie in state within the corridor was the Queen Mother in 2002, when greater than 200,000 folks queued to view her coffin, the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, bells tolled round Britain on Friday as mourners flocked to palace gates to pay tribute to the Queen.

Also Read: | Long lived the Queen. Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, dies at 96

— ENDS —