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Thousands of mourners line the streets to bid the Queen farewell as funeral arrangements are set

Ysabelle Alesna
Sep 12, 2022
The Queen’s coffin travels from Balmoral to Edinburgh. Source: Twitter @DelMody

It’s been less than a week since the death of Queen Elizabeth II and Scottish mourners have lined the streets of Edinburgh, standing in silence to pay their tearful respects to the late monarch.

On Sunday, September 11, at 10 am (7 pm AEST) a hearse carrying the oak coffin of the UK’s longest reigning monarch drove out of the gates of Balmoral Castle to commence a  six-hour long journey from the Scottish Highlands to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Her coffin was draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, held in place by a floral wreath of flowers picked from the garden of the Balmoral estate.

“I feel numb. She was amazing, so selfless, and such a servant to her people,” Wendy Green, one of the mourners who came to pay her respects outside the Queen’s Scottish residence, tells Time Magazine. 

“We will never have another quite like her.”

As the hearse made its slow drive through villages and towns on its way to Edinburgh, flowers were tossed onto the road, bagpipes played, and others applauded for the late Monarch.

“There was no way I could miss this. I would regret it for the rest of my life,” Eilidh Mackintosh, another one of the thousand mourners, tells 7News. 

“She never let us down and I didn’t want to let her down either. Now she has gone there is a big hole in the heart of the nation.”

The Queen’s coffin will rest in Holyroodhouse’s Throne Room before another procession on Monday afternoon takes place for her transfer to St Giles’ Cathedral.

King Charles III and other members of the Royal Family will be in attendance for the procession and attend the service held at the Cathedral.

Princess Royal, Princess Anne, has already arrived at Holyroodhouse accompanied by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, alongside her brothers Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward and his wife, Countess Sophie of Wessex.

Her Majesty’s coffin is scheduled to lie at rest at St Giles Cathedral for 24 hours to allow the people of Scotland to pay their respects before Princess Anne and the Royal Air Force transfer the Queen to Buckingham Place, to rest in the Bow Room.

According to the Royal Family’s official website, “On the afternoon of Wednesday 14th September, the Coffin will be borne in Procession on a Gun Carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, where The Queen will Lie-in-State in Westminster Hall until the morning of the State Funeral.”

After the Archbishop of Canterbury conducts a short service, the Lying-in-State begins until Monday Monday, September 19.

The Lying-in-State will be the last time the public will have the opportunity to visit and pay their respects to the Queen before her final procession to her state funeral service.

While the Queen’s funeral on Monday, September 19, will be a public holiday in the UK,  it has been announced that Australia has also been given a “one-off” public holiday on September 22 to mourn the Queen’s death.

Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death, aged 96, on Thursday, September 8, a series of constitutional and ceremonial events have taken place both in the UK and within The Firm.

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