The British will finally be able to be closer to their queen. After reaching Edinburgh, the coffin of Elizabeth II will be exhibited to the public on Monday after a procession led by Charles III, launching a week of farewells until her national funeral.
Many will undoubtedly flock to Saint-Gilles Cathedral to try to pay homage to their sovereign who died on Thursday, given the number of people who gathered the day before along the route of the funeral procession to applaud, cry or throw a flower in its path. In the Scottish capital, tens of thousands of people welcomed the hearse on Sunday afternoon, a sign of the fervor of the people for the one who reigned for more than 70 years.
While awaiting the funeral on September 19, her son, the brand new King Charles III, is settling in as monarch, with the heavy task of succeeding his popular mother in a context of serious social crisis and divisions in the United Kingdom but also of protest against the colonialist past in its 14 other kingdoms.
A procession over a little over a kilometer
Charles III must go to Parliament in London at 10 a.m. (11 a.m. in Paris) accompanied by his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, to receive the condolences of the presidents of the two chambers. They will then fly to Edinburgh, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official royal residence in Scotland, where the remains of the Queen spent the night, watched over by the Royal Company of Archers, a ceremonial unit which serves as a bodyguard. to the sovereign.
The staff of the palace, where the queen came to spend each beginning of the summer, will thus be able to pay her a last tribute, in the same way as the employees of the castle of Balmoral, where she breathed her last, were able to do so. The coffin will leave the stone palace in the early afternoon, at 2:35 p.m. to reach Saint-Gilles Cathedral.
Crowds are expected to see the King and Queen consort as the latter will both walk behind the hearse, while the other royals will follow in car, during the half-hour procession of just over a mile . During the religious ceremony which will follow, the crown of Scotland, in solid gold, will be placed on the coffin. The Queen’s remains will remain on display in the cathedral for 24 hours.
Charles III will meet Nicola Sturgeon
After the religious ceremony, the king is due to receive the Scottish independence Prime Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and go with the queen consort to the local Parliament for a condolence session. Then, at 7:20 p.m., a funeral wake will begin for the royal family.
The body will then embark from Edinburgh on Tuesday evening on a royal plane to London. It will again be on public display 24 hours a day, enclosed, draped in the royal standard, on a dais at the Palace of Westminster from Wednesday evening. He will stay there for five days before the state funeral.