Windsor Castle, the queen, Britain bid farewell, Queen Elizabeth II
At Windsor Castle, the queen is laid to rest with her husband, sister, and parents
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At a historic royal funeral attended by international leaders on Monday, Britain bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. She was then ceremoniously carried past tens of thousands of mourners to her final resting place. Large crowds gathered in London to witness the leisurely transfer of the queen’s flag-draped coffin from Westminster Hall, where it had been lying in state since Wednesday, to a gun carriage. The casket was topped with the Imperial State Crown, her orb, and scepter.

The gun carriage, which has been used at every state funeral since Queen Victoria’s in 1901, was then dragged to Westminster Abbey by 142 junior enlisted sailors in the Royal Navy to the accompaniment of pipes and drums.

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One minute before the 11:00 a.m. service started, the church’s tenor bell tolled 96 times at one-minute intervals, one for each year of her life (1000 GMT).

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby lauded the queen’s life of devotion and service to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in his eulogy.

To the rhythmic strains of funeral marches, the coffin was then carried for three hours through the streets of London to Windsor Castle, which is located west of the metropolis.

A sea of uplifted arms, many holding cellphones, lined the route to capture the synchronised display of military prowess.

As spectators dropped flowers on the road and distant, muffled church bells rung, the final “God save the queen” chants could be heard.

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The Dean of Windsor presided over a private funeral late on Monday in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, according to the royal family’s official website.

Corgi dogs

Robert MacDonald, a 48-year-old veteran of the army, was one of the several people lined the three miles (five kilometres) long Long Walk that leads to Windsor Castle.

The military cortege passed the late queen’s Fell pony, Carltonlima Emma, who was standing without a rider on the Long Walk. Her last two corgi dogs, Muick and Sandy, met it at the castle.

After a year of deteriorating health, the queen—the longest-reigning monarch in British history—passed away at Balmoral, her Scottish Highland home, on September 8.

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Along with his three siblings, her eldest son and heir apparent, King Charles III, accompanied the solemn processions through London while clad in ceremonial military garb.

They were accompanied by senior royals as well as Prince William, Prince Harry, and Charles’s eldest son, Prince Charles.

George, nine, and Charlotte, seven, William’s two oldest children, also followed the coffin in Westminster Abbey.

Charles, 73, and Camilla, 75, the Queen Consort, announced late Sunday that they had been “truly touched” by the outpouring of support from the people.

In order to honour the only monarch that the majority of her citizens have ever known, Britain, a nation that has undergone significant change since the queen was crowned in the same monastery in 1953, has dug deep into centuries of history.

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