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The Royal Family at Westminister Abbey: 'Leaders who serve lovingly are even rarer'
Photo:
Dominic Lipinski / dpa
Great Britain bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II with a moving funeral service.
2000 invited guests, including heads of state and government from all over the world as well as representatives of royal families, attended the ceremony in London's Westminster Abbey alongside the entire British royal family.
The Queen was crowned there in 1953.
At the end of the service, mourners in the church and across the UK observed a two minute silence in honor of the Queen before singing the national anthem 'God save the King' for the new King Charles III.
sang.
When the anthem was played, King Charles was visibly moved.
The monarch's eyes seemed to fill with tears.
In his homily, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby paid tribute to the late Queen's lifetime achievement.
People who "serve with love" are rare, he said.
"Leaders who serve lovingly are even rarer."
But those who serve will be remembered for a long time, "when those who cling to power and privilege are forgotten."
The late Queen once vowed to serve her people all her life.
Just two days before her death at the age of 96, she had appointed and received Britain's new Prime Minister, Liz Truss.
Before the funeral service, 142 marines had pulled the coffin of the monarch from Westminster Hall, where it had been publicly laid out since Wednesday, on a cannon carriage to the cathedral.
King Charles III walked behind the coffin.
and his three siblings, as well as heir apparent William and his brother Harry.
At Westminster Abbey, William's older children, Prince George, nine, and his sister Charlotte, two years younger, also ran with their mother after their great-grandmother's coffin.
The coffin was wrapped with the royal standard, on it rested the royal crown, scepter and orb.
After the funeral service in Westminster Abbey, at which Germany was represented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the coffin containing the Queen's remains is carried in a solemn procession to the triumphal Wellington Arch.
From there he is taken by hearse to Windsor Castle, 35 kilometers away.
There, after a service with 800 guests, the funeral will take place in the evening with the royal family.
Massive security measures
The Queen's State Funeral is the first in Britain since the death of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965. The Queen's funeral ceremonies are taking place amid heavy security.
Scores of people had camped along the procession route since the weekend to secure front-row seats.
In the past few days, countless people had queued for hours in wind and weather to say goodbye to the Queen at the coffin in Westminster Hall.
kha/AFP/dpa
