Princess Royal accompanies her mother on final flight

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II

1926 — 2022

Draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, Queen Elizabeth left Scotland for the final time on Tuesday for Buckingham Palace CREDIT: Andrew Milligan

On Tuesday, the Princess Royal accompanied her mother on her final flight, departing at 5.42pm in an RAF Globemaster C-17 military transport aircraft from Edinburgh to West London, as the Queen left Scotland for the final time.

The Princess said it had been an “honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys”, having been with the Queen in the final 24 hours of her life.

“Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting,” she said.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland turned out to pay their personal respects, with 33,000 people queuing for up to 12 hours to walk past as the Queen lay at rest in St Giles’s Cathedral and lining the streets.

At 4.20pm on Tuesday, the coffin was carried from the cathedral to the sound of a lone piper to the waiting hearse, followed by servicemen from the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Members of the public lined the roads to the airport, some removing their hats as the hearse passed them, others watching in silence or filming on their mobile phones in scenes encapsulating mourning in the modern age.

At Edinburgh Airport, a guard of honour of three officers and 101 soldiers was formed by The Royal Regiment of Scotland, with an aircraft bearer party provided by the Queen’s Colour Squadron, Royal Air Force.

The aircraft, recently used for Operation Pitting to evacuate thousands of people fleeing the Taliban, took off at 5.42pm.

Nearly six million people immediately tried to log on to tracking website Flightradar24 to follow its progress until it landed at RAF Northolt before 7pm.

As the Queen left Scotland for the final time, the flag on her coffin - the Royal Standard of Scotland - was changed to the Royal Standard ready for it to arrive in England.

At Northolt, it was met by a guard of honour of three officers and 96 aviators from the Queen’s Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force and a bearer party from the Queen’s Colour Squadron.

It was loaded into the claret-coloured state hearse, used for the first time and designed by the Royal household and Jaguar Land Rover in consultation with the late Queen to allow as many people to see her journey as possible.

Flanked by police outriders, the hearse was lit as if a moving beacon transporting the coffin along the A40 in a reminder of the Queen’s oft-quoted mantra: “I have to be seen to be believed”.

As it made its way to London, motorists got out of their cars to catch a glimpse of the car, with cheers and applause echoing after it and flowers thrown in its wake.

Outside Buckingham Palace, a hush descended over the waiting crowds before the convoy arrived, breaking into spontaneous applause as it passed by the Queen Victoria Memorial.

Inside the gates of Buckingham Palace, a guard of honour provided by 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards was stationed in the Quadrangle to give the Royal salute.

A bearer party found by Queen’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards carried the coffin to the palace’s Bow Room, where the sovereign’s piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns of the Royal Regiment of Scotland played a lament.

The Royal family, led by the King, received the Queen’s coffin, ready to take over a private, intimate evening with her family.

The gathering, the first time the 22 members of the wider family have been in the same place since the Queen’s death, was stripped of ceremony and cameras, allowing them a moment of peace in what has been a gruelling schedule.

Just a week ago, the Queen had appeared in good health and spirits, receiving Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister, at Balmoral.

On Tuesday night, the King and his three siblings, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, were supported by their spouses, the Queen Consort, Sir Tim Laurence and the Countess of Wessex.

All eight of the late Queen’s grandchildren and their husbands and wives were also present, with the Prince and Princess of Wales and Duke and Duchess of Sussex reunited again after a surprise walkabout in Windsor to view flowers on Saturday.

Other grandchildren included Princess Beatrice and her husband Eduardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, Peter Phillips, Zara and Mike Tindall, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

Also present were the Queen's beloved niece and nephew, Lady Sarah Chatto and Earl Snowdon, the children of Princess Margaret, hearing prayers from the Rt Rev and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullaly, Dean of the Chapels Royal.

A rota of Chaplains to the King, who were formerly appointed by the Queen, kept watch over the coffin whilst it rested overnight in the Bow Room.  

On Wednesday, the coffin will effectively be handed over to the public, for a four-day-long lying in state at Westminster Hall before the full state funeral on Monday.

The procession to Westminster Hall will step off from Buckingham Palace at 2.22pm, arriving at Westminster Hall at 3pm.

Poignantly, it will include senior members of the Royal household and the Queen’s closest personal aides, who have been invited in recognition of their many years of service and loyalty.

It will end in a 20-minute service at Westminster Hall, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury accompanied by the Dean of Westminster, with the lying in state beginning at 5pm London time.

The Telegraph London

Pigeon Post News 14 September 2022