They walk for the last time with their mother.
In a solemn and moving procession, between Buckingham and Westminster, the royal family passes the gates of the palace with the deceased queen.
Their mother, their grandmother.
That of the nation too, who came en masse along the route to pay him a final tribute.
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OUR FILE - Elizabeth II, a rock and a symbol for England
At 2:22 p.m. exactly, a great silence falls.
A cannon shot rang out, then the first drums and bars
of Beethoven's
Funeral March .
Once out of the palace, the procession begins on the Mall, the famous avenue that connects Buckingham to Trafalgar Square.
Carried by a horse-drawn Royal Horse Artillery gun carriage, the oak coffin is covered with the Royal Standard, the royal standard.
We grew up with her.
She reminds me of my mother.
Nothing will be like before now that she is dead.
It's the end of an era
Beverly Gould, 58
Above, the '
Imperial State Crown
', resting on a purple velvet cushion surrounded by flowers including white roses and white dahlias as well as foliage from Balmoral and Windsor Castles.
Around, men of the company of the queen of the first battalion of grenadiers of the Guard.
The returning sun ignites the red of the uniforms and makes the blades of the sabers sparkle.
Behind the coffin, senior members of the royal follow on foot.
King Charles III and the other three children of Elizabeth II, first.
Then his own children, Crown Prince William and Harry the Rebel.
The whole press wondered how the two brothers with difficult relations would hold up.
They walk side by side, a new displayed sign of family unity after their joint appearance in Windsor this weekend.
The slow pace - 75 strides per minute -, the cannon shots fired from Hyde Park and Big Ben's gong every minute, the beauty of the music continuing with other funeral marches by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Chopin, the grave faces , everything contributes to the solemnity of the moment.
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Chills run through the audience.
Elsewhere, in the center of the capital, the bells of the churches are ringing the death knell.
Passers-by stop, many follow the televised ceremony on their cell phones and the notes of the
“Funeral March”
resound like an echo.
Even the skies tuned in as air traffic over London was restricted to ensure silence.
Since early in the morning, a crowd has been pouring in from the neighboring metros, from Westminster to Green Park, reaching the Mall or trying to approach Parliament.
Among them, Admiral Lord West impresses in his full ceremonial uniform, aboard his Tube car.
This former chief of staff of the Royal Navy and former head of the intelligence services is part of the reception committee of the royal coffin in Westminster Hall.
He has met the Queen multiple times in his career, including each time she presented him with one of the many medals pinned to her lapel.
“
He was a most knowledgeable head of state.
She received all the documents from the intelligence services
” he confides, also remembering her “
tremendous sense of humor
”.
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Vast palisades were erected to channel the masses.
On the Mall, the grand stage for royal ceremonies dressed to the nines and adorned with Union Jack, access has been restricted so that spectators only line up in three to four rows on either side and can all see the procession.
Some wear mourning clothes.
The clever ones have brought a folding stool, the more athletic ones perch on poles.
This is the case of Sabrina Costilana, a 31-year-old hairdresser of Romanian origin who has lived in London for seven years.
She came because she felt “
sad
” about the death of the queen,
“a very strong woman”
.
"The end of an era"
The atmosphere is neither cheerful nor too serious.
There are children, prams, English people, tourists.
Mobile phones film the historic moment.
Theresa Bouder-Khazanchy, 67, and her sister Beverley Gould, 58, wore the “
total British look
”: blue-white-red flag, umbrella in the same colors and pennants with the effigy of Elizabeth II in their hands .
They had already gone to post themselves at the edge of the highway taken by the coffin arriving from Scotland on Tuesday evening to reach London.
They feel a special bond with the deceased sovereign.
First, because their parents were exactly the same age as her and Prince Philip.
Second, because the queen died on Theresa's birthday and will be buried on Beverley's birthday on Monday.
"
We grew up with her.
She reminds me of my mother.
Nothing will be like before now that she is dead.
It's the end of an era
,” sighs Beverley, tears in her eyes.
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Along with her two sisters, Australian Sargun Bhatia, 23, was on a three-week trip to Europe when she learned of the Queen's death.
His only day in London will have been a tribute to the Queen.
"
I love the story and I didn't want to miss such a moment
," Sargun says.
"
The Queen was very popular in Australia, Charles is less so, but I think that despite a 'dated' side, it is easier to leave things as they are, keeping the monarchical system at home
," said this student. in law, an allusion to the debate which agitates his country where the English monarch is also head of state.
The procession then goes to Westminster Hall, where other members of the royal family, Queen Consort Camilla in the lead, welcome it.
The Archbishop of Canterbury presides over a short religious ceremony.
It is in this huge building, a symbol of British history, that the queen's coffin will be displayed until her funeral on Monday.
The Hall, whose construction began in 1097 during the reign of William II, survived the Parliament fire of 1834 as well as the explosion of a bomb which hit it in 1941, during the Second World War.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to file past the Queen's coffin
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to parade in front of the queen's coffin, placed on a catafalque.
A huge queue began to form, running from Southwark Park on the south bank of the Thames to Westminster.
The wait could last between 5 and 35 hours, according to estimates… This presentation to the public will last 24 hours a day until dawn on the day of the funeral.
At the Queen Mother's funeral in 2002, 200,000 people rushed to see her coffin.
This time, 750,000 people are expected – or even 1 million according to high estimates – with the risk that more than half of them will not be able to access the interior.
After the funeral at Westminster Abbey, where more than 200 world leaders and dignitaries are expected on Monday, the coffin will head back to Windsor.
There, a new religious ceremony and another funeral march will be held, before the sovereign is buried in a more intimate way in the Saint-Georges chapel, alongside her husband Prince Philip, who died in April 2021.
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Until then, the king and queen consorts will travel to Wales on Friday for another session of condolences from local authorities, completing their tour of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales).
Since his accession to the throne and in particular his very successful address to the nation the day after the death of his mother, Charles III has seen his popularity rating jump.
According to a YouGov poll released on Tuesday, three in five people now think he will make a good king, up from just over 30% a few months ago.
This national communion is however not without some stains.
Several dozen employees of King Charles at Clarence House, his residence when he was Prince of Wales until a week ago, have received redundancy notices, according to the
Guardian
.
House staff, employees of communication or management services and private secretaries, who hoped to be absorbed into the staff of Buckingham Palace, have been notified that they will have to leave their jobs.
It was Clive Alderton, Charles's personal secretary, who gave them this "
bad news
", in his words.
“
Everyone is completely livid
“, comments one of them, after working tirelessly for a week to ensure a smooth transition to the throne and many years for the heir.
Small shadows that we want to put on the charge of emotion and an extremely busy schedule of Charles since the death of the queen.