The death of Elizabeth II of England, the longest-serving queen in the history of the United Kingdom, has launched a series of official and semi-official acts that will culminate with the royal funeral in London, for which there is no definite date, although it could be held on Monday 19, as indicated in the ‘London Bridge Operation’, the plan that indicates the steps to follow after the death of the monarch. These are the next milestones to follow starting this Friday.
Carlos III, the king with his own ideas that can endanger the British monarchy
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friday 9
King Charles III returned to London from Scotland this Friday to hold his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has already arrived at Buckingham Palace. At 6 p.m. local time, a televised speech by the new monarch is scheduled and a mass in memory of the queen will be held at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Carlos III also signs this Friday the definitive plans until the funeral. Major sporting events have been suspended, including English league football matches.
Saturday 10
The call Accession Council, which includes senior government figures, will gather at London’s St James’s Palace on Saturday for the new king’s main proclamation, which is read in public from a balcony of the building. Subsequently, Carlos III will hold several meetings with members of the Government, the leader of the opposition, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Westminster Abbey.
Monday 12
Elizabeth II’s coffin will leave Balmoral Castle (Scotland), where she died, and will be transferred by road to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Later, in a ceremonial procession that will take place on Monday, the coffin will arrive at Edinburgh Cathedral, where a mass attended by members of the royal family will be celebrated. Finally, the cathedral will remain open to the public for 24 hours for Scots to pay their respects in front of the queen’s coffin.
Tuesday 13
The coffin will be transferred from Scotland to Buckingham Palace in London. The initial plans established the train as the first option for this trip, but Scottish media point that it will finally be done by plane.
Wednesday 14
In a slow procession, the coffin will arrive from Buckingham to Westminster Hall and be placed on a raised platform called a catafalque. There it will remain around five days open to the public for 23 hours a day. The last member of the royal family to be in Westminster Hall was the Queen Mother in 2002 and more than 200,000 people queued to visit the coffin.
Monday 19
The funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey in London, probably on Monday the 19th, although there is no confirmed date. The abbey is the place where kings have been crowned for centuries and where the late queen married the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947. The coffin will be carried in a further procession to the abbey and two minutes of silence will be observed throughout country. On the eve of the funeral, King Charles III, who will have previously passed through Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales (in that order), will receive the international leaders.
After the funeral, which will last about an hour, there will be another procession to Hyde Park, from where she will finally travel to Windsor by hearse and be buried in St George’s Chapel.
Coronation of Charles III
Carlos III automatically became king after the death of his mother, but the official coronation ceremony may take months to come. In the case of Elizabeth II, the coronation ceremony was held in 1953, 16 months after she became queen.
For the past 900 years, coronation ceremonies have also been held at Westminster Abbey. It is an Anglican religious ceremony led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will place the gold crown Saint Edward, from 1661, on the head of the monarch.
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