The Queen’s life-long sense of duty has been remembered in her state funeral service at Westminster Abbey.
The Dean of Westminster, who led the service, expressed gratitude to a congregation of 2,000 people including world leaders and royalty.
King Charles III led a sombre procession behind his mother’s coffin from Westminster Hall to the abbey.
The Queen’s coffin is now being taken to Wellington Arch, at London’s Hyde Park Corner, to the toll of Big Ben.
From there the coffin will be placed in a state hearse and driven to Windsor Castle, where there will be a smaller committal ceremony.
As the abbey service came towards its end the Last Post was played – by the same musicians who performed it at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral – before the nation came to a standstill for two minutes’ silence.
The King stood silently as the national anthem was then sung.
Among the personal touches was a handwritten message from the King, which was placed on top of the coffin in a wreath of flowers cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Highgrove House and Clarence House at his request. It read: “In loving and devoted memory. Charles R.”
The Dean, the Very Rev David Hoyle, began the service by speaking of the Queen’s “unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth”.
“With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people,” he said.
Prime Minister Liz Truss read to the mourners from John 14 and the congregation sang The Lord’s My Shepherd – a hymn sung at the wedding of the Queen to the late Duke of Edinburgh.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, gave the sermon and quoted the singer Dame Vera Lynn – saying “we will meet again”.
The phrase was used by the Queen in a rare address to the nation at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
The archbishop said: “The grief of this day – felt not only by the late Queen’s family but all round the nation, Commonwealth and world – arises from her abundant life and loving service, now gone from us.”
Source: BBC
