From Sardar Shahab
LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II has been buried after a state funeral attended by world leaders and a final journey through the streets of London.
Monday’s funeral comes 11 days after the longest-serving monarch in British history died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8.
Thousands of people lined the streets surrounding Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace to witness the passage of the queen’s casket from Westminster Hall to the church and eventually to Windsor Castle, where she was laid to rest alongside her late husband, Prince Philip and her father, King George VI.
Millions watched the funeral on television at home after a public holiday was declared to mark the passing of the queen.
In the lead-up to the funeral, many people across the country camped out and queued for upwards of 13 hours to visit the queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall and pay their respects.
On Monday, Westminster Abbey’s tenor bell tolled 96 times at one-minute intervals – one for every year of her life – stopping before the service started at 10:00 GMT to mark the only monarch most Britons have ever known.
The oak coffin was covered with the Royal Standard flag, the queen’s colours, with the Imperial State Crown on top, placed on a gun carriage and pulled by naval personnel to Westminster Abbey, where Queen Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned queen in 1953.
Among 2,000 people in the congregation, there were about 500 world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, Emperor Naruhito of Japan and South African President Cyril Ramphosa.
“All the people of the United Kingdom: our hearts go out to you, and you were fortunate to have had her for 70 years; we all were. The world is better for her,” Biden said after signing a book of condolence.
