Large crowds gathered in London and Windsor Castle on Monday for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and watched in silence and awe at a grand procession.
While some cried, others hugged each other for support and some lifted their children up so they could see “history happening”.
In central London, where the funeral began, tens of thousands of people lined the streets around Westminster Abbey, the Mall — as the elegant avenue leading to Buckingham Palace is known — and Hyde Park. Many camped overnight or arrived in the cold early hours of the morning.
At the first sight of the queen’s coffin being carried to Westminster Abbey, a hush fell over the crowd, who followed the funeral on scattered screens or over a radio broadcast over loudspeakers.
Many said the scale and pomp of the funeral captured how they felt, and that it was a fitting goodbye for the queen, who died on September 8 at the age of 96. She remained on the throne for 70 years, and most Britons have not known another monarch.
Some in Hyde Park were wiping their eyes and others were sobbing. Applause was also heard from the crowd.
“I find it difficult to put into words what we have just witnessed. That was really special and memorable,” said Camilla Moore, 53, of Nottingham. “It was terribly sad. Very, very sad. The end of an era.”
Colin Sanders, 61, a retired soldier who flew from North Yorkshire to London to say goodbye to the Queen, couldn’t hold back his tears as he listened to the ceremony on the Mall.
“It felt like we were there… it was very emotional,” he said. “She is like her grandmother, a loving and caring person. She said she would serve the country and that’s what she did.”
After the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the queen’s coffin was carried in a carriage of arms through central London, past her home at Buckingham Palace to Wellington Arch in Hyde Park. From there he was placed in a hearse to be taken to Windsor Castle, west of London, for a ceremony at St George’s Chapel. The queen was buried in the castle, in the King George Sixth Memorial Chapel.
Hundreds of thousands of well-wishers lined the route, throwing flowers and cheering as she made her way from the city to the English countryside she loved so much.
As the funeral procession approached the castle, even the queen’s beloved pony and corgis were brought in to watch.
It was the UK’s first state funeral since 1965, when the country’s World War II leader, Winston Churchill, received the honour.
More than an hour before the funeral service began, all observation areas in central London were declared full. Authorities said they expected up to a million people to be able to travel to the capital.
Source: CNN Brasil
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