The day of farewell to Queen Elizabeth II is approaching.
More than 4 billion spectators
are estimated to watch the Queen's funeral worldwide on Monday.
Around 2,200 guests
are expected at Westminster Abbey, including 100 heads of state and crowned heads, the world's elite, anonymous people decorated for their community involvement... Hundreds of thousands of visitors will gather behind
36 kilometers of barriers
in London to watch the parade of 138 young sailors who will pull with ropes the team mounted on a gun carriage carrying the Queen's coffin, as is customary at state funerals.
Members of the royal family – with, following the order of precedence, the four children of Elizabeth II, then Princes William and Harry – will walk behind the coffin to the west door of Westminster Abbey where it will be then installed on a platform erected in the choir.
From then on, the funeral of the century will begin.
Read alsoDeath of Elizabeth II: the emotion of a nation
The first state funeral since Churchill
Bigger even than the 2012 Olympics or the recent Platinum Jubilee weekend, Queen Elizabeth II's funeral will be the biggest event ever policed in London.
The authorities expect, in fact, more than a million people in the capital on Monday.
The state funeral, the first since the death of Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place Monday at Westminster Abbey at 11:30 a.m. (French time).
The Dean of Westminster, David Hoyle, will lead the ceremony and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Church of England of which the monarch is head, will deliver the sermon.
Read alsoDeath of Elizabeth II: the story of the queen's biographer
More than 2,200 guests, including Biden and Macron
US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Emperor of Japan, and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected.
China will be represented by Vice President Wang Qishan.
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima and Princess Beatrix, King Philippe of the Belgians, King Harald V of Norway and Prince Albert II of Monaco will all be present.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark, a distant cousin of Queen Elizabeth and now the only reigning queen in Europe, will also be there.
The King of Spain Felipe VI will be there, but also his father Juan Carlos I, who abdicated in 2014 and now lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates.
Read alsoDeath of Elizabeth II: the lessons of a queen
Among the other expected leaders, we should see in London on Monday the presidents Sergio Mattarella (Italy), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), Isaac Herzog (Israel) or even Yoon Suk-yeol (South Korea).
Pope Francis will not attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
He will be represented by the Vatican Foreign Minister, Bishop Paul Gallagher.
As for the leaders of Russia, Afghanistan, Burma, Syria and North Korea, they were not invited.
Last resting place
After the funeral, the coffin will be returned at 12:15 p.m. to the gun carriage and parade through the British capital, to Wellington's Arch at Hyde Park Corner.
There it will be loaded into a hearse.
Arrived in Windsor, about thirty kilometers away, the hearse will go to the chapel of Saint-Georges via the Long Walk, a spectacular alley crossing the estate to the castle.
After a religious service around 4 p.m. with 800 guests, a final private ceremony will take place in the presence only of close members of the royal family, after which the queen will be buried at 7:30 p.m.
The Queen's coffin will rest in the annex of King George VI's Chapel, where the Queen's father and mother are already buried, along with the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret.
The remains of Prince Philip, which rests for the moment in the royal vault, will be moved to the annex of the chapel to join his wife.
A long queue
While waiting for the very last official ceremonies, the public wanted to honor the queen one last time.
More than a simple testimony of emotion, it is a question of witnessing a "moment of history", at the "end of an era".
To be able to say that we have experienced this.
“The tail”, which winds for miles before being able to meditate around the coffin, becomes an event in itself: it brings to its climax a very British art, that of politely waiting one's turn.
It will exceed 24 hours this weekend.
Proof of the immense emotion aroused by the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8.
