On Sept. 8, Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96 after 70 years on the British throne. As the longest-reigning monarch in Britain’s history, many are left wondering what happens next?
Before her funeral, the Queen’s lying-in-state has seen thousands of people from all around England join an approximate five-mile queue to set their sights on the monarch’s closed casket, topped with a crown as a way of paying respect to the late Sovereign.
Public viewing is available 24 hours a day until Monday, September 19, when she will be laid to rest at her state funeral. The line snakes from Westminster Hall to Southwark Park, and as of Friday morning, the government closed the line and dissuaded any new admittance to the queue until its re-openings, per the BBC.
Now that the line is back up and running, NBC News reported that there’s now an estimated wait time of about 24 hours.
David Beckham caused a bit of fanfare when he joined the line with the rest of the British public for about 12 hours. “We all want to be here together. We all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our Queen,” Beckham told reporters.
With politicians, world leaders, celebrities, and more attending the funeral, King Charles III will host official overseas guests and heads of state at Buckingham Palace on Sunday before the service.
The Queen’s funeral services will be held at Westminster Abbey (which hosted the Queen’s 1947 wedding to Prince Philip and her 1953 coronation) on Monday, September 19.
Her casket will be processed on a gun carriage to the Abbey, where the Archbishop of Canterbury will provide a sermon, according to CBS. King Charles III will reportedly walk behind the coffin along the short trip to Westminster Abbey, with other members of the royal family. At the service’s end, a two-minute moment of silence will be held across the U.K.
Afterwards, Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will reportedly be taken to Hyde Park with a walking procession, and then travel by hearse to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
King Charles III announced the official period of royal mourning will last until seven days after the Queen’s state funeral.
Following the Queen’s death, Prince Charles immediately assumed the role as king. He issued a statement shortly after the Queen’s Sept. 8 passing. “The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” read the memo.
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world. During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held.”
While Charles III immediately succeeded his late-mother and Queen, details regarding his coronation remain under lock and key. The ceremony has reportedly been kept under the codename “Operation Golden Orb,” and is suspected to take place sometime in 2023.
As we know, with the Queen’s death, Charles III is not the only royal family member to receive a change in title. Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles’ wife since 2005, will now be known as Queen Consort. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, will now be dubbed the Prince and Princess of Wales (Catherine will inherit Lady Diana’s former title). The children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archie, 3, and Lilibet,1, have become a prince and a princess.