She took leave of London, her Kingdom and the world at a slow pace: the step who lived for 96 years, reigned for 70 (like no one before her on the British throne) and in the BBC's farewell words - inevitably celebratory, but perhaps not unjustified in the perception of most - "enters history after making history".
If nothing else, that page of history, almost a century long, of which
Elizabeth II
in its own way it was the protagonist: and today it is closed forever.
The salute to the queen of records consumed the last few hours on a day suspended between gray clouds and patches of sunshine.
The definitive ones.
With the conclusion of the popular homage to the Westminster Hall funeral home made without a break for 4 days and 4 nights by hundreds of thousands of subjects and onlookers;
the solemnity of the state funeral officiated in Westminster Abbey before the powerful of the earth;
the transfer to Windsor Castle for an extreme crowd bath, a sepulchral liturgy punctuated in detail by his own will and finally the entombment of his mortal remains in the family chapel of St George: next to his beloved consort Philip, his father, to his mother, to his sister Margaret.
Two minutes of silence close the queen's funeral
The epilogue of a royal destiny that in front of a tomb is sealed and at the same time dissolved.
Closing the circle of a ceremonial protocol in which nothing was left to chance.
Starting with the announcement of His Majesty's death, echoed last September 8 from the shelter of the Scottish residence of Balmoral: the starting moment of a farewell journey that lasted for a dozen days interwoven with liturgies, collective emotions, ritual events of handover of the crown (and some protest).
A period of mourning, but also a national and global event.
Followed by a mobilization of people with few precedents under the eye of a police apparatus never seen on the island;
from television coverage culminating in today's live marathon to unified networks;
The state funeral, under the vaults of that abbey where Elizabeth was married in 1947, still as a princess, and was then crowned in 1953 a year after her father's successor to King George VI, were in fact the highest moment of these 12 days.
Officiated inside the church in a sober as well as majestic and ecumenical form in front of an audience of hundreds of dignitaries and foreign leaders with bowed heads - from Joe Biden to Sergio Mattarella, from the surviving reigning monarchs of Europe to the emperor of Japan -, to 2000 selected guests, to British celebrities and politicians of all colors.
And a human tide in the streets.
In an atmosphere of a great event, even if colored by the black of a mourning exhibited not only in the clothes of the guests;
but also in an atmosphere of profound emotion left to transpire at times up to the shining eyes by the same King Charles III, eldest son and 74-year-old heir struggling with the weight of a succession not without unknowns, as by the other royals: from the tears of the fourth child of the queen, Edoardo, to the troubled faces of his nephews William and Harry;
up to the emotion of the queen consort Camilla or the new princess of Wales, Kate, consoled if only by the impeccable ceremonial debut of the princes George and Charlotte, for the first time behind the coffin of the great-grandmother 'Gan Gan'.
A commotion that, moreover, did not prevent the heart of the Royal Family from following imperturbably on foot the cadenced step of the marines of the Navy as of the inevitable Royal Guard in red jackets and black hats who accompanied the last processions of the remains of Her Majesty towards the residence the final.
That of greeting to the symbolic places of London before;
the one in the direction of Windsor Castle then.
Against the backdrop of the waving of Union Jack banners, the tolling of bells, the blare of trumpets, drum rolls, cannon salutes and notes to the rhythm of the march, under the gaze of the wings of people as far as the eye can see.
In an alternation of moments of absolute silence, throwing flowers, applause of greetings.
Until the real final act.
Farewell to the royal regalia - the imperial crown, the scepter, the globe of
gold - removed from the top of the coffin and placed on the altar of St George's chapel: as if to testify that Elizabeth descends into the tomb without frills, no longer queen in front of that God in whom she believed but "sister" of a "faith simple and solid ", also indicated as the foundation of his" dedication to the country, to the Commonwealth, to the wider world ".
A "service" on which the final word falls.
Buried with the remains of a sovereign, with what was her banner as commander in chief and with the staff symbol of power broken in two behind a double slab of marble.
The tombstones of Elizabeth and Philip: united in life for 73 years, close even later.
no longer queen before that God in whom she believed but "sister" of a "simple and solid faith", also pointed to as the foundation of her "dedication to the country, to the Commonwealth, to the wider world".
A "service" on which the final word falls.
Buried with the remains of a sovereign, with what was her banner as commander in chief and with the staff symbol of power broken in two behind a double slab of marble.
The tombstones of Elizabeth and Philip: united in life for 73 years, close even later.
no longer queen before that God in whom she believed but "sister" of a "simple and solid faith", also pointed to as the foundation of her "dedication to the country, to the Commonwealth, to the wider world".
A "service" on which the final word falls.
Buried with the remains of a sovereign, with what was her banner as commander in chief and with the staff symbol of power broken in two behind a double slab of marble.
The tombstones of Elizabeth and Philip: united in life for 73 years, close even later.
with what was once his banner as commander in chief and with the staff symbol of power broken in two behind a double slab of marble.
The tombstones of Elizabeth and Philip: united in life for 73 years, close even later.
with what was once his banner as commander in chief and with the staff symbol of power broken in two behind a double slab of marble.
The tombstones of Elizabeth and Philip: united in life for 73 years, close even later.
Funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the royals arrive at Westminster Abbey
The coffin was also followed along the central nave inside the abbey by the princes George and Charlotte, great-grandchildren of the sovereign, who joined with Queen Camilla and the other spouses in the procession -
behind King Charles, his brothers and his children - only inside the church.
Reverend David Hoyle opened the liturgy after the singing of a first solemn hymn, recalling with his voice initially cracked with emotion the symbolic value of Westminster Abbey in the long life of Elizabeth II.
ANSA agency
A note among the flowers on the coffin, perhaps it is from King Charles - World
Among the flowers placed on the Queen's coffin, a note was noticed with the inscription 'In loving and devout memory' (ANSA)
Elizabeth II "has dedicated her life to serving the nation and the Commonwealth," as she promised on her 21st birthday radio broadcast,
the Archbishop of Canterbury said in his sermon during the solemn liturgy.
Welby also recalled the 'We'll Meet Again' that the sovereign sent in a message to her subjects in the midst of the lockdown for the Covid pandemic, reiterating it now in the name of faith in the afterlife.
Prior to her sermon, British Prime Minister Liz Truss had read a passage from the Gospel of John about Jesus Christ's promise to his disciples of a place in heaven.
Deep emotion at the funeral even among the benches of the Royal Family:
during the reading of a passage from the writing entrusted to Baroness Patricia Scotland, a high British diplomat and secretary general of the Commonwealth, Prince Edward,
fourth child of the sovereign,
was seen
visibly wiping a few tears eyed with a white handkerchief.
Edoardo sits in the very first row, beside the bier on which his mother's coffin rests, next to King Charles with his wife Camilla;
to Princess Anna, second royal child with her husband Tim Laurence;
and his wife Sophie ..
The blessing of the assembly by the Reverend David Hoyle closed the solemn religious rite of the state funeral.
This was followed by a blast of trumpets, then
two minutes of silence in memory of the sovereign observed in the church, in London and throughout the Kingdom
and the singing of the British national anthem: in the revised and corrected version of God Save the King, in honor of the new king Charles III.
The sound of a bagpipe, followed by the notes of the organ of the historic abbey, then accompanied the exit in the procession of the celebrants and concelebrants: including the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who had recited before the liturgical epilogue a prayer in suffrage of the soul "of our sister Elizabeth",
evoking his "sure hope in the resurrection", and the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols.
The coffin was then picked up on the shoulder by a Royal Guard picket of honor followed along the aisle at a cadenced and solemn step by Charles II and the other royals arranged according to the ceremonial order.
A further coffin procession is now planned in the heart of London to Wellington Arch. This will be followed by a transfer by car to Windsor Castle, outside the British capital, burial site.