Received

King Charles and all senior members of the royal family have gathered at Buckingham Palace to receive the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth after tens of thousands of people lined the streets as it was driven through the British capital.

On a dark night of heavy rain, the well-lit hearse travelled slowly from a nearby airport through London, with crowds stood all along the way, some in the road, others throwing flowers and many ditching their cars to catch a glimpse of the cortege.

Elizabeth died peacefully on Thursday in her holiday home at Balmoral Castle, in the Scottish Highlands, at the age of 96 , plunging the nation into mourning.

The death of the United Kingdom's longest-reigning monarch has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to gather at royal palaces across the country to express their condolences.

Charles, who automatically became king, is also travelling to the four parts of the United Kingdom, to lead the mourning.

Princess Anne, the Queen's only daughter, travelled with the coffin as it was brought from Scotland where it has been since Elizabeth died last week.

"It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys," Anne said in a statement.

"Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting."

A party of bearers from the Royal Air Force carried the casket onto the transporter plane.

A kilted honour guard from the Royal Regiment of Scotland stood with fixed bayonets as a regimental band played the national anthem as the plane began to taxi.

With that, Scotland bade farewell to the Queen.

Crowds of people also gathered outside Buckingham Palace - the site of many memorable festivities during the Queen's reign, from royal wedding celebrations to jubilees.

On Wednesday, the coffin will be taken on a gun carriage as part of a grand military procession to Westminster Hall, where a period of lying in state will begin until the funeral on Monday.

Members of the public will be allowed to walk past the coffin for 24 hours a day until the morning of the funeral, which will be attended by dozens of world leaders.

In Northern Ireland, thousands of well-wishers greeted Charles with handshakes, smiles and warm words as he walked along lines of people crowding the streets outside Hillsborough Castle, the monarch's official residence in the province.

But the visit was also laden with political significance given the UK's historical record in Ireland and the more recent years of violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.

At a ceremony at Hillsborough Castle, the acting Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Alex Maskey, paid fulsome tribute to the Queen.

"Queen Elizabeth was not a distant observer in the transformation and progress of relationships in, and between, these islands," said Maskey, a member of Sinn Fein, which seeks the reunification of Ireland.

"She personally demonstrated how individual acts of positive leadership can help break down barriers and encourage reconciliation," he said.

Maskey, who was himself interned by the authorities as an Irish Republican Army suspect in the 1970s, said Charles had already shown he understood the importance of reconciliation and was committed to it.

"The challenge for all of us is to renew the work that you and Queen Elizabeth have already done," he said.

In 2011, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Irish Republic since independence from London almost a century earlier.

© RAW 2022

King Charles will be joined by his two sons, Princes William and Harry, and other senior royals for a solemn procession as the late Queen Elizabeth is taken from Buckingham Palace to lie in state at parliament.

After the Queen's death last week at her summer home of Balmoral Castle in Scotland, her coffin was taken to Edinburgh for a series of poignant ceremonies.

It was flown to London and taken to Buckingham Palace, where Charles and all the senior members of the royal family have gathered - the first time they have all been together since the monarch died.

"It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys," said Princess Anne, 72, who flew down from Scotland alongside her mother's coffin.

"Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting."

The Queen's death, at the age of 96, has plunged the nation into mourning for a monarch who had reigned for 70 years.

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of London in driving rain to watch as the oak coffin, covered by the Royal Standard flag, was taken by hearse from an air force base to the palace.

Inside the palace to receive it were her children, grandchildren and their spouses, along with the children of Elizabeth's late sister Margaret. The coffin was taken overnight to the Bow Room where a rota of chaplains will keep watch over it.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Imperial State Crown will be placed on top, along with a wreath of flowers. Prayers will be said with Charles and other royals present.

At 2.22pm (11.22pm AEST), the coffin will be placed on a gun carriage of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery to be taken through central London to Westminster Hall.

Charles will walk in silence behind the carriage with the other senior royals, including his siblings Anne, Andrew and Edward.

Also in the procession will be his sons William, 40, now the Prince of Wales, and Harry, 37, the Duke of Sussex.

Kate - William's wife and now the Princess of Wales - and Harry's wife, Meghan, will travel by car, as will Charles' wife Camilla, now the Queen Consort.

With much of central London closed to traffic, large crowds are expected to line the route to watch Wednesday's procession, which will be accompanied by guns firing every minute at Hyde Park, while parliament's Big Ben bell will toll.

When the cortege reaches Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster, the coffin will be carried inside by soldiers from the Grenadier Guards. There will be a short service conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church.

Four days of lying in state will then begin until the funeral on September 19.

The full-scale, ceremonial procession on the day of the Queen's funeral is likely to be one of the biggest the country has ever witnessed.

With as many as 750,000 mourners expected to file past the coffin during its period of lying-in-state, people have already begun queuing to pay their final respects, with the government warning they faced a long and arduous wait.

The Scottish government said about 33,000 people had filed past the coffin during the 24 hours it was at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The hundreds of thousands predicted to join the line will be asked to queue for up to 7.5km along the southern bank of the River Thames.

© RAW 2022

King Charles has landed in Northern Ireland to lead the mourning there for Queen Elizabeth before his mother's coffin is flown to London ahead of four days of lying in state.

After a silent vigil attended by Charles, his sister Anne and brothers Andrew and Edward at St Giles' Cathedral in the Scottish capital Edinburgh on Monday, people queued overnight to file past the Queen's coffin on Tuesday.

Charles, 73, is travelling to the four parts of the UK before the Queen's funeral on September 19.

In Northern Ireland, people lined the streets at Hillsborough Castle, the monarch's official residence, ahead of his visit.

"We came out to pay our respects to Queen Elizabeth because she was a fantastic queen and very loyal to Northern Ireland and we wanted to be here to welcome the new king," said Heather Paul, 61, holding flowers and a small Union Flag.

"We think Charles will be a fantastic king, he's had a very long apprenticeship and I think he will follow on in the Queen's footsteps," said Paul.

He is due to arrive later on Tuesday from Scotland, where he followed the Queen's coffin up Edinburgh's Royal Mile and was joined by his siblings for a 10-minute vigil at St Giles' Cathedral. They stood, heads bowed, at the four sides of the coffin while members of the public filed past.

"We were desperate to be here to show our respects." said Will Brehme, an engineer from Edinburgh, who arrived in the early hours of the morning with his partner and 20-month-old daughter sleeping in a baby carrier.

"It is a moment that will live with us forever. When you think that she worked all of her life for us it is the least we could do."

Elizabeth died on Thursday in her holiday home at Balmoral Castle, in the Scottish Highlands, at the age of 96 after a 70-year reign, plunging the nation into mourning.

Charles, who automatically became king of the UK and 14 other realms including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Jamaica, will be joined by new Prime Minister Liz Truss

In Belfast , he will meet senior politicians and faith leaders and attend a service at the city's St Anne's Cathedral before returning to London.

A potent symbol of the union, the Queen in her later years became a major force for reconciliation with its Irish nationalist foes, with her state visit to Ireland in 2011 the first by a monarch in almost a century of independence.

Charles has also spoken about the murder of his great uncle Lord Mountbatten, to whom he was very close, in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1979, saying the death had given him a profound understanding of the agonies borne by so many people in the country.

The Queen's coffin will leave Scotland for the first time since her death when it is flown to London on Tuesday evening and then driven to Buckingham Palace.

On Wednesday, it will be taken on a gun carriage as part of a grand military procession to Westminster Hall where a period of lying in state will begin until September 19.

© RAW 2022