Two-minute silence across the United Kingdom to conclude Queen’s funeral

A two-minute silence will be held at 11.55am on Monday at the conclusion of the state funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II, it has been announced.

The silence will follow the sounding of the Last Post to bring an end to a service bringing together members of the royal family together with visiting monarchs and presidents from around the globe, senior British dignitaries and members of the public in Westminster Abbey.

A congregation of more than 2,000 will be led by King Charles III in saying a formal farewell to the UK’s longest-serving sovereign before her body is taken to Windsor Castle for burial alongside her lat husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

Under a plan meticulously drawn up over many years with the input of the late monarch and confirmed by Buckingham Palace today, the coffin bearing the Queen will be taken on the morning of Monday 19 September from Westminster Hall, where she has been lying in state since Wednesday and where King Charles and his siblings will mount vigil on Friday evening.

The last members of the public to pay their respects will file past the oak coffin at 6.30am, before it is taken to the Abbey shortly after 10.30am on a gun carriage hauled by 142 Royal Navy personnel.

The coffin will be lifted from the catafalque where it has stood in Westminster Hall - draped with the Royal Standard and carrying the imperial state crown, orb and sceptre - by pall-bearers of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, of which the Queen was company commander.

They will carry the coffin to the north door of the hall, where it will be placed upon the gun carriage, which was removed from active military use in 1901 for the funeral of Queen Victoria and has since the conveyed the bodies of Kings Edward VII, George V and George VI, Sir Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbatten.

Its route through Parliament Square will be lined by military personnel, with a guard of honour drawn from all three services, a Royal Marine band.

King Charles and the Queen’s other children and grandchildren - including the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex - will walk behind the coffin on its eight-minute journey to the Abbey.

Beginning at 11am, the funeral service will be conducted by the Dean of Westminster David Hoyle, with lessons read by prime minister Liz Truss and Commonwealth secretary general Baroness Scotland and a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The sounding of the Last Post and two-minute silence will be followed by the National Anthem and a lament played by the Queen’s Piper, before the conclusion of the ceremony at 12 noon.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to line the route as the Queen’s coffin is then taken in procession up Whitehall, down The Mall and up Constitution Hill to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, where it will be transferred to the state hearse for the journey to Windsor.

Again, the King and other royals will walk behind the coffin for the 45-minute procession, during which minute guns will be fird in Hyde Park and Big Ben will toll.

Despite calls over the past few days for the route to be extended to allow more members of the public to pay their respects, Palace officials made clear that no significant changes had been made this week to the long-established plan.

Details of the route which the Queen’s hearse will take to Windsor have not been released, but it will arrive at the Castle by road at around 3pm to lead the procession down the Long Walk.

Among the congregation of around 800 for the committal service in Windsor’s St George’s Chapel will be many current and former members of the Queen’s household including staff who had worked personally for her during her 70-year reign.

The coffin will enter the historic chapel at 4pm for a service led by the Dean of Windsor David Conner, with prayers by clergy of churches linked to the royal residences in Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral.

Before the final hymn, the crown, orb and sceptre will be removed from the coffin to be returned to the Tower of London.

The Lord Chamberlain, Lord Parker of Minsmere, will break his wand of office as a symbol of the conclusion of his service to the monarch, placing the pieces on the coffin before it is lowered into the royal vault.

And, in a moving final gesture, the sovereign’s piper will again play a bagpipe lament, walking slowly away from the doorway so that the music in the chapel gradually fades.

A private burial service will then be conducted by the Dean in the King George VI Memorial Chapel attended only by the King and close relatives, allowing a “deeply personal” family farewell at the end of a day of very public mourning.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to line the route as the Queen’s coffin is then taken in procession up Whitehall, down the Mall and up Constitution Hill to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, where it will be transferred to the state hearse for the journey to Windsor.

Here are the expected times of the key events:

End of lying-in-state

Before the end of the Queen’s lying in state, a vigil will be mounted by King Charles III, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex at 7.30pm on Friday, 16 September.

The last members of the public will be able to file past the coffin to pay their respects until 6.30am marking the end of the Queen’s lying-in-state.

Following this, the doors will close in preparation for the procession to Westminster Abbey where the State Funeral service will take place.

Route

At 10.35am the coffin will be lifted from the catafalque where it has stood in Westminster Hall - draped with the Royal Standard and carrying the imperial state crown, orb and sceptre - by pall-bearers of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, of which the Queen was company commander.

Her Majesty will then be moved from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey at 10.44am on Monday for the funeral service.

The route to Westminster Abbey, which will be lined by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, will go from Parliament Square to Broad Sanctuary and the Sanctuary.

Procession

The King will lead the procession to Westminster Abbey which will be made up of 200 musicians from the massed Pipes and Drums of Scottish and Irish Regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas, and the Royal Air Force, with the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl of Wessex.

Behind the quartet will be the Queen’s grandsons Peter Phillips, the Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales.

They will be followed by the late monarch’s son-in-law Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin, and her nephew the Earl of Snowdon.

The Queen’s coffin will be carried on the State Gun Carriage, a 123-year-old apparatus towed by 98 Royal Navy sailors in a tradition dating back to the funeral of Queen Victoria.

The Procession will arrive at the West Gate of Westminster Abbey at 10.52am where pall bearers will left the coffin from the carriage and carry it into Westminster Abbey to begin the service.

Westminster Abbey Service

Doors will open at 8am to allow guests - so far among them US president Joe Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron - to take their seats.

Heads of state and overseas government representatives, including foreign royal families, governors-general and realm prime ministers will gather initially at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea and travel under “collective arrangements” to Westminster Abbey.

Other representatives of the realms and the Commonwealth, the Orders of Chivalry including recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross, government, parliament, devolved parliaments and assemblies, the Church, and Her Majesty’s patronages will form the congregation, along with further representatives from law, emergency services, public servants and professions, and public representatives, totalling 2,000 people.

Members of the British royal family who are not part of the procession from Westminster Hall will have arrived at the abbey and been escorted to their seats in the South Lantern.

At 11.00am, the State Funeral service will begin led by the Dean of Westminster. Prime minister Liz Truss and the secretary-general of the Commonwealth are both expected to give readings at the service.

Towards the end of the service at approximately 11.55am, the Last Post will sound followed by a two minutes’ silence and the National Anthem to finish around 12 noon.

Windsor private service

Following the state funeral, the coffin will be followed by the King, the Queen Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales and members of the royal family who will walk in the procession to Wellington Arch where it will be driven to Windsor on the state hearse.

The route to Wellington Arch will be lined by Armed Forces from Westminster Abbey to the top of Constitution Hill in addition to minute guns fired in Hyde Park.

A committal service will take place at St George's Chapel, Windsor, Castle at 4pm on Monday.

At 7.30pm the Queen will be buried in King George VI's chapel in Windsor Castle in a private service.

The Queen's final resting place will be St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle alongside her husband of 70 years, the Duke of Edinburgh, in the King George VI Memorial Chapel.

Philip is currently in the Royal Vault but will be moved to be with his wife.

Full timeline for Monday

6.30am: Queen's lying-in-state ends marking the public’s last opportunity to pay respects to the late monarchy. Preparations for the Westminster Abbey service begins.

8am: The doors of Westminster Abbey will be opened for the congregation to begin taking their seats.

10.35am: The coffin will be moved from Westminster Hall to the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy.

10.44am: The gun carriage will set off and will be drawn by Royal Naval officers followed by the King, members of the Royal Family, members of the King’s household and household of the Prince of Wales.

11am: The State Funeral will begin, conducted by Dean of Westminster.

11.55am: The Last Post will sound, followed by a two-minutes' silence throughout the United Kingdom ending with the National Anthem.

Noon: The service will end and the coffin will be followed by the King, the Queen Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales and members of the Royal Family who are to walk in the Procession to Wellington Arch

12.15pm: The procession will set off for Wellington Arch with the route lined by the Armed Forces from Westminster Abbey to the top of Constitution Hill at the Commonwealth Memorial Gates. The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery will witness the departure of the Coffin to Windsor.

3.06pm: The State Hearse will approach Shaw Farm Gate on Albert Road, Windsor

3.10pm: The Procession will step off.

3.20pm: Governors-General and Realm Prime Ministers will arrive at the West Door, St. George’s Chapel and will be escorted to their seats in the Nave.

3.25pm: Members of the Royal Family not walking in the outdoor procession will arrive at the chapel.

3.40pm: The King and those in the Procession join as it passes into Engine Court. As before, the Queen Consort with the Princess of Wales, and the Duchess of Sussex with the Countess of Wessex will follow by car.

3:53 pm: The bearer party will lift the Coffin from the State Hearse, from where it will be carried in procession up the West Steps.

4pm: The Committal Service will begin. At the conclusion, the King and the Royal Family will depart from the Galilee Porch for Windsor Castle.

7.30pm: A private burial service will be conducted by the Dean of Windsor, attended by the King and members of the Royal Family. Her Majesty is to be buried together with her late husband, The Duke of Edinburgh, at the King George VI Memorial Chapel.