The Queen has left her treasured Scottish home in Balmoral for the last time following her death at the age of 96.
Her Majesty’s coffin was transferred from the Ballroom at Balmoral Castle into a waiting hearse, and departed from the main entrance at the Aberdeenshire estate at 10am, three days after her death was announced to the world on Thursday evening.
Members of the public watched on as the funeral cortege slowly drew out of the main gate before turning onto the road that leads towards Ballater, a town that this week spoke of the Queen as a "neighbour" and a "friend" during the summers she spent there with her family.
The convoy is expected to wind its way south through Angus towards Dundee in the early afternoon, and will pass over the Friarton Bridge in Perth on its way into Fife, from where it will cross the Firth of Forth on its way into Edinburgh.
The Queen’s coffin is expected to arrive at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the capital at approximately 4pm. It will remain there until Monday afternoon, after which a procession will convey the Queen to St Giles’ Cathedral, where she will rest for a day to allow Scots to pay their respects.
From there, she is then expected to be flown to RAF Northolt from Edinburgh Airport, accompanied by the Princess Royal, and will rest at Buckingham Palace from Tuesday into Wednesday. She will then lie in state at Westminster Hall until the day of the state funeral on Monday September 19. Aberdeenshire Council workers laboured into Saturday evening making final preparations for the start of the Queen’s final journey from Scotland, with traffic cones and metal fencing in Ballater marking out where locals are expected to line the route in order to say their last goodbyes.
Thousands of well-wishers have passed across the small bridge that leads to Balmoral from the main road since Thursday evening, when news of the Queen’s death first broke. Among the tributes that have been left are hundreds of bouquets, written messages from young and old alike, and even drawings from children depicting the Queen with Paddington Bear - an image from the Platinum Jubilee that has endured in the months since.
King Charles III travelled to London on Friday to meet Prime Minister Liz Truss and to make his first address to the public as the new monarch. Members of the Royal Family who remained at Balmoral came out to greet the public on Saturday following a short private prayer session at the nearby Crathie Kirk.
Among their number was the Princess Royal, Edward and Sophie Wessex and the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, who made a rare public appearance to inspect the scores of tributes left at the gates of Balmoral by a grieving and adoring public.
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