The funeral ceremony of queen elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in the United Kingdom, is considered one of the greatest diplomatic occasions of the century.
The ceremony, however, brings together not only authorities from the main nations, but also thousands of people who accompany from the initial procession to the monarch’s burial.
The UK estimate is that at least 750,000 people pass by the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, and the queue to see the monarch’s coffin reached eight kilometers, with a waiting time of more than 8 hours. However, it will only be possible to know if the estimate will be fulfilled or if the public will exceed that volume after the monarch’s burial.
The funeral of Elizabeth II, the longest-lived queen in history, attracts long lines of subjects and even people from other countries. As well as the Queen’s Farewell, other funerals drew crowds and at some the audience passed into the millions.
Princess Diana
On 6 September 1997, Princess Diana’s funeral also took Londoners and people across the world to the streets. It is estimated that 2.5 million people attended Lady Di’s farewell ceremonies.
Diana, who was married to then Prince Charles III, died in a car accident in Paris. Local media considers that she did not have a State Funeral, however the ceremony did have elements of a head of state funeral.
The official ceremony took place at Westminster Abbey, where the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II will take place, next Monday (19).
Winston Churchill
When Elizabeth II took over as Queen after the death of her father King George VI, the acting British Prime Minister was Winston Churchill.
Churchill held the post from 1940 to 1945, leading the United Kingdom through World War II, and then from 1951 until 1955, when he resigned shortly before his 80th birthday.
His funeral took place on January 30, 1965 and was attended by at least 1 million people. It was the first State Funeral by a politician in the century, and the biggest national event since the Coronation in 1953.
Pope John Paul II
Approximately two million people came to Rome on April 8, 2005 to bid farewell to Pope John Paul II.
The ceremony brought together world leaders, such as the then President of the United States, George W. Bush, the then President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and King Juan Carlos of Spain.
The streets of Rome, where Vatican City is located, were congested due to the flow of pilgrims heading to St. Peter’s Square, where the ceremony took place.
The funeral was followed by nine days of mourning by the Catholic Church.
Eva Peron
The actress and first lady of Argentina Eva Perón died in 1952, aged 33, victim of cancer.
Evita Perón, as she was known, was so loved by Argentines that her wake lasted two weeks and brought together 2 million people in Buenos Aires.
Adored in the country, the first lady was embalmed and waited for three years for a monument to be built for her burial, which never happened.
In 1955, Argentina’s military forces overthrew then-President Juan Domingo Perón and hid Evita’s body, in order to prevent him from becoming a weapon against the regime, due to its symbolism.
As soon as the disappearance of Evita’s body became public, graffiti spread across the country with the words “Where is Eva Perón’s body?”, in addition to arrests and deaths of personalities who condemned the theft of the Argentine First Lady’s corpse.
The body was returned just 16 years after its disappearance.
Her grave in La Recoleta Cemetery in the city of Buenos Aires is still adorned with fresh flowers and messages from her supporters, and her figure continues to inspire artistic expressions.
Ayrton Senna
One of Brazil’s greatest idols, three-time Formula 1 world champion Ayrton Senna died in an accident at the Imola GP, in Italy, on May 1, 1994.
On the 5th of May, his farewell was a big event in Brazil. The wake was held in the main hall of the Legislative Assembly, in São Paulo, and more than one hundred thousand people entered the hall to say goodbye to the athlete.
On the streets, however, it is estimated that 3 million people took to the streets to accompany the idol’s funeral procession in the capital of São Paulo.
Ayrton Senna’s grave, in the Morumbi Cemetery, is still constantly visited by fans from all over the world.
Source: CNN Brasil
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