Lying in State

Watch the continuous live stream from Westminster Hall without commentary
via Sky News here.

In accordance with royal tradition, on Wednesday afternoon the coffin of Her Majesty the Queen, with the Imperial State Crown glittering on top, was brought from Buckingham Palace on a Royal Navy gun carriage to lie in state at Westminster Hall, erected by order of her ancestor, King William II, nearly a thousand years ago.  

The Queen was accompanied in the procession by a scarlet-coated guard of honor, followed on foot by the King, his brothers, sons, and other male relatives.  The Princess Royal walked next to her brother the King.  The rest of the royal ladies, including the Queen Consort and the Princess of Wales, were brought to the Hall by limousines via a different route.

After a short service of prayers by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Westminster Abbey (directly across the street from the Hall), and a couple of musical offerings by the Choir of the Chapel Royal, a guard of honor took up positions around the casket, beginning the first of many vigil shifts that will go on continuously until Monday morning, the day of her state funeral.  

The Royal Family having departed, the doors were opened to a miles-long queue of what used to be called Her Majesty's loyal subjects (a taboo word now) and others from the Commonwealth and around the world.  Hundreds of thousands are expected to pay their respects in the next several days. 

The procession:

 

The service:

 

The BBC provides a helpful guide to events during the period of lying in state.

Here follow tributes to Her late Majesty by the former Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. 

Former Conservative Prime Minister (1990-1997) Sir John Major, a very fine man:

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Former Labour Prime Minister (1997-2007) Sir Tony Blair:

 

Former Conservative Prime Minister (2010-2016) David Cameron:

 

Former Labour Prime Minister (2007-2010) Gordon Brown:

 

Former Conservative Prime Minister (2019-2022) Boris Johnson brilliantly delineates the qualities that made Elizabeth II a great monarch:

 

And former Conservative Prime Minister (2016-2019) Theresa May has the last laugh:

 

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