The late Queen is lying in a "scene of quiet dignity" in an oak coffin in the ballroom of Balmoral Castle where she died, a senior palace official has said. The coffin is due to leave the castle on Sunday (September 11) for a six-hour procession to Edinburgh.
The official said: “On Thursday September 8, The Queen passed away peacefully at Balmoral Castle. She currently lies in an oak coffin covered with the Royal Standard for Scotland and with a wreath of flowers laid on top, in the Ballroom of Balmoral Castle.
“This enables the Balmoral Estate Staff, many of whom have spent a good deal of their lives in Royal Service there, to pay their last respects. It is a scene of quiet dignity.”
The coffin will be lifted into a hearse on Sunday at 10am by six of the estate’s gamekeepers. A palace spokeswoman said: “It is obviously people who have known Her Majesty well and it’s a personal connection.”
The procession will pass through towns and villages and via Aberdeen to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The coffin will remain in the Throne Room at Holyroodhouse overnight, where the staff of Holyroodhouse will be able to pay their final respects, before a procession on Monday along the Royal Mile to St Giles’ Cathedral for a service, a Vigil of the Princes featuring the King and other royals, and a mini lying in state where the public will be able to pay their respects for 24 hours.
The procession along Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile will feature the King and the late Queen’s other children the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex following behind on foot, along with Anne’s husband Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.
The Queen Consort and the Countess of Wessex will follow by car and also attend the service in St Giles’s. The arrangements at Balmoral are being overseen by Richard Gledson, factor of the Balmoral Estate, with the Reverend Kenneth MacKenzie, minister of Crathie Church, in attendance.
