Queen Elizabeth II laid to rest amid pomp and pageantry

Barbados’ President Sandra Mason and Major David Clarke of the Barbados Defence Force were among those at today’s funeral.

WINDSOR, England – Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest alongside her beloved husband today after a day which saw Britain and the world pay a final farewell to the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, in a dazzling show of pomp and ceremony.

Amid formality and careful choreography, there were moments of raw emotion. Late in the day an ashen-faced King Charles held back tears, while grief was etched on the faces of several members of the royal family.

Huge crowds thronged the streets of London and at Windsor Castle to witness the moving, grand processions and ceremonies.

“Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen,” Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told the congregation at the state funeral in the majestic Westminster Abbey, where monarchs have been married, buried and crowned over the last 1,000 years.

Among the 2,000 congregation were some 500 presidents, prime ministers, foreign royal family members and dignitaries, including Joe Biden of the United States.

Outside hundreds of thousands had crammed into the capital to honour Elizabeth, whose death at the age of 96 has prompted an outpouring of gratitude for her 70 years on the throne.

Many more lined the route as the hearse took her coffin from London to Windsor, throwing flowers, cheering and clapping as it passed from the city to the English countryside that she loved so much.

At St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, some 800 guests attended a more intimate committal service which concluded with the crown, orb and sceptre – symbols of the monarch’s power and governance – being removed from the coffin and placed on the altar.

The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the royal household, then broke his ‘Wand of Office’, signifying the end of his service to the sovereign, and placed it on the casket which then slowly descended into the royal vault.

As the congregation sang “God Save the King”, King Charles, who faces a huge challenge to maintain the appeal of the monarchy as economic hardship looms in Britain, appeared to be fighting back tears.

It was in the same vast building that the queen was photographed alone, mourning her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, during the pandemic lockdown, reinforcing the sense of a monarch in sync with her people during testing times.

Later on Monday evening, in a private family service, the coffins of Elizabeth and Philip, who died last year aged 99, were moved from the vault to be buried together in the same chapel where her father, King George VI, mother, and sister, Princess Margaret, also rest.

Music that played at the queen’s wedding in 1947 and her coronation six years later again rang out. The coffin entered to lines of scripture set to a score used at every state funeral since the early 18th century.

After the funeral, her flag-draped casket was pulled by sailors through London’s streets on a gun carriage in one of the largest military processions seen in Britain, involving thousands of members of the armed forces dressed in ceremonial finery.

Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle, her summer home in the Scottish highlands.

Her health had been in decline, and for months the monarch who had carried out hundreds of official engagements well into her 90s had withdrawn from public life.

However, in line with her sense of duty she was photographed just two days before she died, looking frail but smiling and holding a walking stick as she appointed Liz Truss as her 15th and final prime minister.

(Reuters)

US President Biden holds hands with his wife, Jill, as they arrive at Westminster Abbey. (BBC)