Through the Vigil of the Princes, King Charles III and his siblings paid honour to their mother.
On Monday, the new king, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, and Prince Andrew followed the procession carrying the Queen’s coffin down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland, to St Giles Cathedral for a Thanksgiving Service in her honour.
For the Vigil of the Princes, the Queen’s children stood vigil around her coffin at the cathedral.
According to People, they stood beside the Royal Company of Archers, who defend the Queen’s coffin, for around ten minutes. According to The Independent, the vigil is a means for a monarch’s children to grieve the death of their parent.
The four royal children stood solemnly on each side of the coffin in photographs taken during the funeral. Due to the fact that the vigil took place in Scotland, King Charles III wore a kilt.
The Queen’s children at the Vigil of the Princes at St. James Cathedral. WPA Pool / Pool / Getty Images
Only three times in recorded history has the Vigil of the Princes been held: after the death of King George V in 1936, at the death of the Queen Mother in 2002, and on Monday for Queen Elizabeth. Charles, Andrew, Edward, and the son of Princess Margaret, Viscount Linley, participated in the Queen Mother’s vigil.
According to The Independent, Princess Anne, who followed her mother’s coffin on its six-hour trip from Balmoral Castle to Edinburgh, is the first female royal to participate in the tradition.
On Sunday, Queen Elizabeth II passed away quietly at Balmoral. The United Kingdom and the royal family will remain in mourning until her burial at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Monday, September 19.
The late queen will arrive in London on Tuesday, where she will lie in state at Westminster Abbey so that the people may pay their respects.