For the last time in
Buckingham Palac
and, a symbol of royalty inextricably associated with his name by almost all living British subjects and not only by them.
The long farewell to
Elizabeth II
, queen par excellence in the eyes of the world for 70 years, has consumed another stage tonight with the definitive return home: beyond the gates of that building that she was the first to love not even so much, and which nevertheless has been "his" official residence in the heart of London since, at the age of just 26, he ascended the throne of St. James in 1952.
A place to which she now returns closed in a coffin, after having closed the accounts on 8 September with a page of history at the age of 96 in the shelter of the Scottish residence of
Balmoral.
Accompanied by the emotion and homage of a people who are pouring into the streets of the island: that people who no more than three months ago celebrated it joyfully on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee of a record reign.
The day of the last flight of the sovereign globe trotter (117 countries visited during her existence) started again in Edinburgh, where the first moment of public exhibition of the coffin took place.
Greeted in the 24-hour opening of the funeral home by over 26,000 people, not a few of them in tears, in St Giles Cathedral, among whose aisles the four sons of His Majesty were inaugurated the first vigil: King Charles III and the princes Anna, Andrea and Edoardo.
ANSA agency
Elizabeth's coffin in St Giles' Cathedral greeted by trumpet blasts.
On the coffin the crown of Scotland - World
Carlo's first time in parliament: rooms together, solemn ceremony of condolence for the queen.
In Edinburgh, the king received the keys to the city and accompanied his mother's coffin with the royal family to St Giles Ore's cathedral in line for Elizabeth, the farewell of the subjects (ANSA)
From the center of the capital of Scotland - land of the Kingdom as unruly as it was dear to the matriarch of the Windsor house, whose people did not miss her warmth by appearing in the hundreds of thousands on the side of the streets and squares to bow to the funeral procession - the remains of
Elizabeth II s
were finally transferred to the airport.
Where, to the sound of the military honors of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, the coffin wrapped in the royal banner was loaded onto a mammoth C-17 Globemaster of the RAF (on board which Princess Anne also boarded) for the journey to the base by Northolt.
And from there, on the street, in the direction of London and the palace.
The appetizer of another crowd, in anticipation of the real one: of the millions of people expected starting tomorrow, when the bier will be exhibited for 4 days to pay tribute to those who want to queue for hours at Westminster Hall.
Until the eve of the solemn state funeral, the first officiated on the banks of the Thames since that reserved in 1965 for the Prime Minister of Victory (and first head of government of the Elizabethan era), Winston Churchill, destined to end with the entombment of the daughter of George VI in Windsor Castle, at St George's Chapel: next to the remains of Prince Consort Philip who died almost 100 years old in April 2021 after 73 years of marriage.
Funeral to which over 500 foreign dignitaries have already been invited from every corner of the planet, including heads of state and government such as the leader of the White House, Joe Biden, for the US, or President Sergio Mattarella for Italy.
And from which, according to unofficial informed sources quoted by the media, the participation of any representation of
Vladimir Putin's Russia will be excluded:
put to the index without surprises at the behest of the Tory government of the new premier Liz Truss due to the war in Ukraine, like her ally Belarus and coup-leader Burma.
For tonight, however, Elisabetta will still be watching over her family, her children and grandchildren.
King Charles in the lead, eldest son and heir called to welcome her on a rainy evening at Buckingham Palace, together with Queen consort Camilla, who has just returned from Northern Ireland: the second goal, after the Scottish one, of a tour as a neo monarch among the nations of It was not by chance that a kingdom began in the most turbulent, under the banner of the commitment to the continuity of efforts in favor of unity and reconciliation that were a constant in the life of his "beloved mother".
Like everyone or almost everyone - except the