Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin carried from Westminster Hall ahead of state funeral
King Charles III has flown to Scotland to privately mourn the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle, said to have been her favourite place.
The royal family are not expected to carry out any official engagements for a further seven days as they observe an official period of mourning, after Britain’s longest-reigning monarch was buried in the Royal Vaults at St George’s Chapel on Monday.
After four days lying-in-state in Westminster Hall and 24 hours in Edinburgh’s St Giles Cathedral, the Queen’s coffin was taken Westminster Abbey for her state funeral and then on to Windsor, as thousands of people lined the streets in between.
Culture secretary Michelle Donelan said that she was “not sure of the exact costings” of the funeral, but insisted that “the British public would argue that that was money well spent”, and insisted it was “downright preposterous” to question whether taxpayers should foot the bill.
While her department was still “crunching the numbers”, Ms Donelan said approximately 250,000 people queued to see the Queen lying-in-state.
