Thousands of people waited for hours to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth, who has ruled Britain for the longest time. While their mother’s body was being placed to rest in Edinburgh’s ancient church, King Charles and his siblings kept a sombre vigil by her casket.
The oak casket was draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, a wreath of white flowers, and the Crown of Scotland as Charles, dressed in a kilt, stood for ten minutes with his head bowed. Along with him were his brothers, Princes Andrew and Edward, and sister, Princess Anne.
Earlier, in front of a sizable, dejected throng, the coffin was taken from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the monarch’s formal residence in Scotland. Charles and other royals followed the hearse in a leisurely fashion.
The coffin was carefully passed by others who had been waiting for hours to enter the cathedral. Some people were sobbing, while others made bows or curtsies.
“It was really emotional. It brought it all home,” said Michael Hainsworth, a 70-year-old retired music teacher who was holding back tears while holding his wife. One of the first visitors to the cathedral to see the coffin was him.
After a seven-hour queue wait, Hainsworth remarked, “It’s hard to express. You don’t think it will strike you, but then it does.
In her holiday residence at Balmoral in the Scottish Highlands, Queen Elizabeth passed away on Thursday. She had served as queen for 70 years and was 96 years old. Even though it is experiencing an economic crisis and changing governments, Britain is in sorrow.
On Sunday, her coffin arrived from Balmoral and spent the night at Holyroodhouse. to website
Bagpipers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland performed a lament as they took the coffin from the palace and placed it in the hearse for the brief journey to the cathedral.
A gun salute was fired from a battery on Edinburgh Castle as the hearse departed, and one round was fired each minute throughout the procession. With the exception of a brief jeer directed towards Prince Andrew, there was stillness after that.
The Royal Company of Archers stood watch as 73-year-old King Charles and his siblings slowly followed the hearse after their mother passed away.
One of the individuals standing close to the cathedral on the Royal Mile, which has been there for hundreds of years, was Tina Richardson, a 63-year-old retiree from Dunbar. She said that the late queen was honoured by her middle name, Elizabeth.
She gave her entire life to her country and was there in good times and bad, notably during COVID. She pulled everyone together, the woman told Reuters, adding that “There will never be anyone like her.”
We had pipers, horses, and archers; it felt like the entire Scottish community was here as she took her last voyage, according to Ellie Merton, an arts producer from the border region of Scotland who came up here.
