The Queen's final journey to lying in state

a tri-service guard of honor makes its way into position on the east side of parliament square the royal navy army and royal air force with colours draped and accompanied by the band of hm royal marines with drums draped and muffled moving into position they will be there to welcome the coffin and the gun carriage as it heads towards westminster hall and like the lying in state departing wellington barracks members of the public are being urged now to move towards hyde park all ceremonial viewing areas are now full there are screens for people to watch at hyde park corner was the operation name for the death of king george vi and it was a cold february was it not when his body was brought back by train from sandringham also died on holiday and the shock then dying at the age of 56 we feel shocked at the queen dying at 96. i think it was james pope hennessy who wrote about a sort of national obsession people wore dark armbands the frontage of shops was blacked out people were genuinely astonished and of course it was was unexpected although he'd been a very sick man a lot of that had been hidden from public view he'd but a few days earlier waved off at the edinburgh as they were known then philip and elizabeth to go on this extraordinary commonwealth tour and then the the young now queen of course returning to britain uh and people sort of projected onto her their ideas of this vulnerable queen you know the sort of tremorous queen but in fact a lot of the observers at the time her private secretary and people working with her said that very quickly she assumed the mantle of state and from the word go there was a quiet self-possession that struck them all even churchill who when he was greeted with the news of the death of the late king he said bad news it's the worst he said of course they had developed a keen bond meeting weekly throughout the second world war and when he was consoled well you've got a wonderful new queen he said she is but a child but very quickly he was enamored and very very struck by her self-assurance i think he referred to it as her reflectiveness and her authority in but an infant using churchill's slightly retro phrasing of the time hm royal marine band is also preparing to move off the stage is now set at buckingham palace the lifeguards on the north side the blues and royals on the south side and in front of the center arch the first battalion cold stream guards stood waiting for members of the public themselves waiting often for hours to watch this they have their own memories of the queen a sparkling smile let's listen uh [Applause] good afternoon from bucknell palace it is two o'clock the queen will leave for the final time shortly at 2 22 her majesty's coffin will be taken on a gun carriage to westminster hall where she will lie in state until her funeral on monday the king will be accompanied by his siblings and his sons as he walks behind his mother's coffin westminster hall will then be open to the public from 5 p.m with a queue already building the public warned they may have to wait more than 24 hours to fall past the queen as she lies in state until the morning of her funeral on monday tessa dunlop royal historian is here with me rhiannon mills our royal correspondent too and there is so much preparation we are on that goes into this over the years and this week by dawn and it overnight to make this the best it can be as we see the minute guns preparing to be fired the queen had so much love and respect for her armed forces as commander-in-chief but also as a veteran herself having served in the auxiliary territorial service during the second world war as a military wife and as a military mother she had this deep heartfelt appreciation and always cared so much about the personnel and about their families and of course those very unique british military ceremonies always accompanied those huge milestone moments that she marked throughout what was an extraordinary 70-year reign it was only three months ago that we saw that final troop in the color for queen elizabeth ii to mark her official birthday a moment that was accompanied by this wonderful celebratory music um an extraordinary sight of british military pageantry today there will largely be silence as we see what is being described as a relatively small personal procession ahead of the full ceremony of the state funeral on monday we'll hear that and people if they're just turning on now tuning in they'll notice the predominant military theme very fitting really when you bear in mind the queen was the last living head of state to serve in world war ii hmm the final few minutes for the royal family to say privately goodbye to their mother king charles leading his siblings will walk behind the gun carriage on its way to westminster hall oh [Music] the tri-service guard of honor makes its way to the east side of parliament square in preparation for the royal party to arrive led by the band of the royal marines [Music] as the band and the honor guard move off there is a sense of calm at buckingham palace as they await her majesty's coffin alastair bruce minute guns will be fired from hyde park there is a sense of drama about this afternoon second preparation and at very little notice but according to a plan well made the armed forces are about to convey the late queen to her final public duty of lying in state for the people to come and pay their respects [Music] marching down bird cage walk where the stuart kings from whom the late queen descended used to have their aviaries on the way towards parliament square parliament square itself was the island of thorns where literally there was an island on which king edward the confessor in the early 11th century built himself a palace and founded an abbey to saint peter which was known as the minister in the west the minster in the west and became westminster and it is there that later on the queen's funeral will take place on monday next week meanwhile waiting in the park the king's troop royal horse artillery are ready to fire the minute guns which will punctuate the progress of the procession from buckingham palace down the mile across horse guards under the arch which is the ceremonial exit from the royal palaces and on to whitehall finally into parliament street parliament square and into the palace of westminster this is all about delivering the queen for the public and many have come to watch as the lake queen passes by on the mull but not far away huge numbers are gathering in order to file past the lake queen in westminster hall the doors will be opened at around five o'clock and they will remain open 24 hours a day while the vigil is kept over the lake queen by soldiers from the household division and by the various royal bodyguards of england and scotland and standing outside the gates which lead to clarence house where the king and queen consort are still living and also lancaster house members of the royal household there for young children who probably don't know quite what this is all about history is reflected in what they see and for those who worked in the royal household the loss of the late queen very deeply felt by so many in fact this morning many came to buckian palace and had the chance to pay their respects in the bow room just looking out towards the gardens of the palace the ceremony is very simple the gun carriage which went into the palace some time before we'll wait until the coffin is brought from buckingham palace and placed upon it and then the king's troop royal horse artillery is exactly 22 minutes past two will start their procession to westminster hall along the way salutes will be given to elizabeth ii by soldiers sailors and men and women and royal marines but this is for the public and it is their chance to take time to say thank you to the queen coming down third birdcage walk the band of his majesty's royal marines [Music] leading the senior service the royal navy the queen's father her husband and two of her sons served in the royal navy an island race that respects the importance of its navy to protect the shores of the kingdom followed by the grenadier guards it was 1942 that princess elizabeth was asked by her father king george vi when times were pretty hard in the second world war for her to become the colonel of the grandeur guards she's held a very close relationship with them right the way through to the end of her reign and we will see the grenadiers play a very treasured role as their responsibility their queen's company is to guard the queen's coffin and the royal air force as a young woman princess elizabeth and her sister princess margaret rose like so many others of her generation looked into the skies above london and watched the dogfights take place between the spitfire and the messerschmitt from the luftwaffe of nazi germany and so she knew the importance of it horse guards arch which looks out towards the war memorial the guards memorial at the far end people have been gathering here for some time a huge sense of anticipation and wherever you are watching this you will come with your own thoughts about a queen whose image has been a constant on the stamps on the coins on the bank notes on television at major national events but this god's memorial is still pockmarked with the impact of munitions that were dropped during the blitz and winston churchill the queen's first prime minister gave instruction that it should be left entirely unrepaired um so many memories here represented as the band of her majesty's royal marines collingwood under their principal director of music the tongue coming into parliament square the muffled drums a reflection of the period of mourning for the late queen each of the drums which normally show the symbols of the royal marines and all the bravery that they've shown through history all covered today every polished every pair of gloves sparkling white everything pressed as they come to a halt of westminster oh meanwhile at buckingham palace royal family prepare to give up the queen to the nation from canterbury with the dean of the chapels royal leading out of the state entrance as we see her majesty the queen brought to the gun carriage so and the mall waiting to embrace the late queen as she comes through the canopy of trees here the late summer of this extraordinary year of platinum jubilee when so much happened down this processional route it was just before the queen's coronation that lord eccles who was designing any aspects of it insisted that iron oxide be mixed with the tarmac in order to give it a sense of a red carpet along which the young queen would travel [Music] everybody here witnessing a royal family in grief born part of a nation in reflection right now the royal family are preparing the queen for this final journey [Music] the royal standard flying at the top of the mast to signify that the king is in residence state color of the gulf stream guards immediately in front of the gate waiting to be lowered as elizabeth ii leads through the reflection of those windows a glimpse of queen's children thoughts of the nation with the king and his siblings and his two sons who amongst other members of the royal family will follow this court age they watch as queen's company first battalion grenadier guards bear a party placed the queen upon the gun carriage so in just one minute the procession that will take queen elizabeth ii on her last journey for her final act of duty to lie in state for the nation will begin [Music] senior drum major mass band of the household division [Music] in front of the gun carriage are members of the lake queens household led by the major general commanding the household division with the chime of the bell ringing every minute immediately in front of the horses we see the two pages who looked after the queen all white roof who appeared in the famous representation of the olympics and [Music] for them many members as the queen with the imperial state crime passes by [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] the imperial state crime was first worn by the queen at her coronation in 1953. it contains stones that tell the whole story of her kingdom and today adorns an anointed sovereign being taken to lie in state [Music] the king dressed as the marshal of the royal air force his sister princess royal the duke of york and the earl and wessex and forefather [Music] followed by the prince of wales duke of sussex peter phillips [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] so [Music] the escort on either side of the gun carriage formed by first battalion grenadier guards you'll notice that their arms are reversed swords are turned backwards the rifles turn back with the left arm to hold the muzzle down all as an act of respect for the late queen [Music] [Music] the garrison sergeant major mr stokes who has been preparing these soldiers leads the king and his siblings and other members of the royal family and in the rear rank of that family the earl of snowden and the duke of gloucester [Music] the scarlet tunics of the dismounted lifeguards from the household cavalry regiment leading this parade as the senior regiment of the british army [Music] and watch from the end where buckingham palace stands by the great statue of queen victoria one late sovereign watches our latest departed queen make her way towards westminster the heart of the nation's constitution [Music] one might surmise that the late queen would most have her interest in the horses taking part after a lifetime loving anything equestrian she made the point that the king's troop who convey her now with their horses and their gun carriage would keep the name her father had given of king's troop royal horse artillery they held that title all through her reign and now we have a new king [Music] at the center of the imperial state crown there are four pearl earrings that hang from the arches where they cross these are supposed to have come from scotland and to have been worn once by mary queen of scots [Music] and the blue sapphire in the cross at the top supposedly taken from the ring finger of king edward the confessor when his coffin was translated from one part of westminster abbey to the other by king henry iii in the 1200s i'm watching with eminent pride as their daughter passes by queen elizabeth we mother as we remember her and king george the sixth [Music] so [Music] so the procession will shortly turn towards the right and pass [Music] into horse guards by where horse guards approach road [Music] for the king taking on the sovereign responsibility at the death of his mother must add a great burden to these first days of kingship [Music] the united kingdom flags that adorn the entire length of the mall give way in horse guards to the flags of commonwealth countries including the other realms of which the queen was sovereign head and sovereign and of the commonwealth itself which was the heart of so much that she dedicated her reign to support [Music] it was on this corner in 1981 that the queen was riding to her birthday parade trooping the color and someone with a starting pistol fired shots towards her no one necessarily knew it was just a starting pistol and it it's a reminder of the courage that must sometimes be required in public life to always be at the center of public events but the queen very quickly recovered her horse and with immense composure took the entire parade as colonel in chief of the regiment trooping its color [Music] the queen consort [Music] princess of wales [Music] the countess of wessex and fawfa and the duchess of sussex leave the palace and we'll pass up bird cage walk and into parliament square and a light in palace yard outside westminster hall awaiting the arrival of the cortege bringing the lake queen [Music] queenless elizabeth ii was born on the 21st of april 1926. [Music] and april being a bad month for weather normally in the united kingdom she also used to have an official birthday in the early weeks of june and always that was marked with the queen's birthday parade here in horse guards and as she passes through our memories can go back to the countless times on horseback at the side of her father the king or as sovereign or in carriage in later years she took that salute from her household division [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] passing under horse guards arch marks the departure from the royal grounds and this was always the main entrance of the palaces and those palaces bit the queen well on this her last public engagement [Applause] [Music] [Music] the blue sashes that members of where the most noble order of the garter in this case given to each of them by the queen as the order's sovereign head [Music] procession turning left into whitehall and towards parliament square they will shortly pass the entrance to 10 dining street and for the queen's constitutional life she appointed 14 prime ministers inheriting one in sir winston churchill her 15th when she arrived as sovereign [Music] so [Music] the queen unveiled this women at war memorial with the clothes hanging on it that were worn by women helping in the war effort or fighting themselves from 1939 to 1945 of course in 1945 the queen herself as princess elizabeth joined the army in the auxiliary territorial force and in that service she provided her small part towards the defeat of the tyranny in nazi germany [Music] so [Music] and at the rear of this procession the blues and royals who also form part of the household cavalry dismounted bringing the rear of this procession [Music] last november the queen was unable to take part in the annual act of remembrance at the cenotaph but she had been to almost every annual remembrance and she had stood in front of the cemetery beside her father too her own wartime memories merged with those of new generations as so many of her armed forces served on operations during her reign [Music] at its top the cenotaph has the empty tomb for the thoughts and memories of all those families who were affected by war [Music] the dad of wars acknowledging in silence the sovereign whose father and grandfather led them in the first and second world war and so many of those who died during the queen's reign in the army navy and air force [Music] around the gun carriage the military aquarius who served the queen from the royal navy the army and the air force taking their place as pallbearers for the sovereign they served whilst first battalion grenadier guards march on either side of them guarding elizabeth iii [Music] so [Music] band of the scots guards who have [Music] carried out this task today with their director of music [Music] and the major general commanding the household division major general chris geeker whose troops including these the king's troop royal horse artillery are playing their part in saluting this former sovereign [Music] the queen's personal staff marching in a row there the palace steward two of her pages [Music] they would have been in close attendance on the queen day by day throughout her life [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] so [Music] the queen passes the statue of sir winston churchill as she enters now parliament square with a royal salute from the guards of honor the procession will turn into that great palace yard and we can see [Music] the massive hall of westminster waiting to greet the late sovereign and we'll witness as she is taken from the gun carriage and carried into the heart of that hall [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] oh

Channel: Sky News

Views: 749,544

Keywords: Sky News, the Queen, Queen Elizabeth, King Charles, procession, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Hall, London, The Mall

Id: bPQMvBwuzKs

Length: 67min 3sec (4023 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 14 2022