As the late Queen Elizabeth II arrived at Buckingham Palace for the last time tonight, tens of thousands of Londoners lined the streets to greet her.
Many people watching the procession of the late monarch’s coffin from RAF Northolt laid down their umbrellas out of respect, and others were seen wiping tears from their eyes as the throng was illuminated by phone camera flashes.
Mourners applauded and clapped as the new state hearse proceeded past the gates of the palace, through the central arch into the square, around the Queen Victoria Memorial, and down Constitution Hill in the pouring rain.
Despite the rain, a large number of people attended, and many are still outside the palace.
The King’s Guard formed another guard of honour as they approached the palace’s Grand Entrance. All of the late monarch’s offspring and descendants, including the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, greeted her. Charles and Camilla left Buckingham Palace soon after seeing the casket arrive.
Before the late king is presented to the country and laid to rest for four days at the historic Westminster Hall, the coffin will be at rest in the palace’s bow chamber for one night.
Thousands of people lined up all night last night in Edinburgh to see the Queen’s coffin before it left for London at 5 p.m. today, in preparation for the burial in Westminster Abbey on September 19.
After standing in line for hours through the streets of the Scottish capital, respectful well-wishers were overtaken with emotion as they somberly passed the Queen’s coffin, thought of her illustrious 70-year reign, and lowered their heads or even curtsied.
Many visitors to the cathedral were observed sobbing, embracing loved ones, and finding solace in the large gathering of people who had come to pay their respects to the late king or queen.
Some English visitors made the trip to the Scottish cathedral in the hope that paying their respects to the Queen would be simpler there than at Westminster Hall in London, where lines are predicted to go on for miles and last up to “30 hours.”
As Queen Elizabeth II made her last trip back home tonight, tens of thousands of people lined the streets in the vicinity of a military installation in West London.
After spending 24 hours at St Giles’ Cathedral where tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to Britain’s longest-reigning queen, Her Majesty’s casket arrived at RAF Northolt at 6:55 p.m. this evening.
At RAF Northolt, a sizable throng gathered to see the coffin of Her Majesty arrive.
In order to see the moving moment when the RAF Globemaster C-17 carrying the Queen’s corpse swooped in through the clouds before coming down on the runway just before 7 o’clock in the evening, workers left their desks early and parents brought their kids straight from school.
Many people said that when the Queen’s casket arrived, it would be their one and only chance to honour the beloved queen.
In an effort to see the coffin as it made its trip to Buckingham Palace, where almost the whole Royal Family assembled for the first time since the Queen passed away last Thursday, others waited for hours in the pouring rain.
Outside the airfield, mourners gathered six deep behind metal barricades on the sidewalk.
A lot of people held up umbrellas, while others sought cover behind bus stops and on the forecourt of a neighbouring gas station.
Before and after the coffin-transporting aircraft, which was accompanied by Princess Anne, blasted in, there was a minute of reverent quiet.
For many of those assembled, the arrival was announced by the sound of the jet’s engines due to the cloudy sky and unique flight route.
Around 25 minutes after the coffin was driven out of the facility, there was a raucous wave of spontaneous applause.
The cortège moved up to the A40, causing ripples to appear along the way.
The glass-windowed Jaguar hearse was followed by three police outriders who were flashing their lights.
The Royal Standard was draped over the Queen’s coffin, which was also decorated with a white wreath.
Four black Range Rovers and a vintage Rolls Royce with Princess Anne followed the funeral.
At the rear of the courtroom, a marked police car followed.
It happened in the midst of a huge security operation, with hundreds of police officers sent in to make sure everything went according to plan.
To aid with the operation, soldiers and security personnel were also sent in.
Emma Keech, a teaching assistant, described how she and her mother Pat, sister Claire, and two great-nephews, Codey, 8, and Caleb, 6, hurried from school to make the 50-mile trek from Bedford.
I actually just finished work and drove up the M1 to come here, she replied.
“We arrived two hours ahead of schedule.” There were already hundreds of people there.
We just had this one opportunity to say farewell, so I knew it. Since there will be so many more people there, we do not want to bring the young children to Lindon for the rituals.
Aside from the actual funeral day, “I’ve had job responsibilities as well.”
I called at 7 a.m. and said, “We need to do this for the boys,” Emma recalled. History is being made right now. In our lives, there are three generations of us, and we will never again see it.
To commemorate the momentous occasion, Janet Price, 70, accompanied her six-year-old granddaughter Sophie.
Janet from Ruislip commented, “I stood in this very location when Princess Diana died 25 years ago. Her corpse was sent to RAF Northolt. Like today, it was a day I’ll never forget.
I have no doubt Sophie will feel the same way in the future. Two hours before the aeroplane arrived, we arrived here. We just had to visit and see it. It was quite emotional.
Robert Carter, a government employee, age 49, and wife Kristina Carter, a nurse, watched from the side of the road. We wanted to see the Queen return home, she remarked. It’s a crucial time in history. We were aware that there would be a large crowd, but because we live nearby, we felt compelled to attempt.