Queen Elizabeth is laid to rest in front of the world | CBC News

Britain and the world bid a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral on Monday that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers – and crowds who gathered on the streets of London to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an era.

The insignia of state and monarchy abounded: the coffin was draped with the royal standard and on top sat the imperial state crown, sparkling with nearly 3,000 diamonds, and the orb and scepter of the sovereign. But the personal was also present: a handwritten note from her son, King Charles, which read: “In loving and devoted memory” and signed Charles R – for Rex or King.

Elizabeth’s funeral procession arrived at the west gate of the medieval abbey just before the 11am local time service. Pallbearers lifted the coffin from the state gun wagon and carried it into the Gothic building.

David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, began the service with prayers for her family, recognizing “her unwavering commitment to a high calling over so many years”.

The service, held where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953, was attended by 2,000 people including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. Also in attendance were around 200 members of the British public who have previously been recognized for their volunteer efforts during this year’s Queen’s Jubilee.

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke at the service and told the congregation that the grief felt by so many in Britain and around the world reflected the late monarch’s “rich life and loving service”.

“Her late Majesty declared on a 21st birthday broadcast that her whole life would be devoted to serving the nation and the Commonwealth,” he said. “Seldom has such a promise been kept so well. Few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen.”

You can catch live coverage of the Queen’s funeral now on CBC TV, CBC News Network, CBC Gem, CBCNews.ca and the CBC News app. At 12:00 p.m. ET, the broadcast will transfer to Ottawa for a national memorial ceremony.

CBC News Network will rebroadcast the funeral at 7 p.m. ET.

CBC Radio One’s live coverage began at 5:30 p.m. ET and is also available on the CBC Listen app.

Towards the end of the service, two minutes of silence were observed at the Abbey and across the UK. Then the congregation sang God save the kingwith a whistling wail ending the Anglican service.

The service was followed by a procession through the streets of London to take the Queen’s coffin to Windsor, where there will be a funeral service and a private service for members of the royal family.

Gun salutes were fired during the procession in nearby Hyde Park and Big Ben rang every minute during the procession.

Elizabeth is later interred with her husband Prince Philip, her parents and the ashes of her sister Princess Margaret in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, died last year aged 99.

It began to rain in Windsor as the crowd fell silent for a moment of contemplation. Some stayed outside the castle to reserve the best seats for viewing the Queen’s coffin.

Jilly Fitzgerald, who was in Windsor, said there was a sense of community among the mourners as they prepared to wait for hours to see the procession carrying the Queen’s coffin.

“It’s good to be with all the people who all feel the same. It’s like a big family because everyone feels like the Queen is part of their family,” she said.

Charles ‘moved beyond measure’

A day of funeral services in London and Windsor started early as the doors of the 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had gathered outside the Queen’s coffin since September 14. Many of them had spent cold nights outside paying their respects at the foot of Elizabeth’s flag-bedecked coffin in a moving burst of national mourning.

The closing of the hall marked the end of four full days in which the coffin lay in state and the start of Britain’s first state funeral since that in 1965 for Winston Churchill, the first of 15 Prime Ministers during Elizabeth’s reign. Two days before her death on September 8 at her summer residence in Balmoral, the Queen appointed her last Prime Minister, Liz Truss.

Monday was declared a bank holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died on September 8 aged 96, and up to a million people were expected to line the streets of London along the route of the funeral procession.

Police officers from across the country will be on duty as part of the largest one-day security operation in London history.

The evening before the funeral, King Charles addressed a message of thanks to people in Britain and around the world, saying he and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, were “moved beyond measure” by the large number of people who attended came out to pay her respects to the queen.

In Canada, a memorial ceremony will be held at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa on Monday at 1 p.m. ET. Live coverage from the Canadian capital begins at 12pm ET.

Former Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark have chosen to attend the ceremony in Ottawa, sources told CBC. Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson will attend the ceremony in Ottawa, according to a government press release.