King Charles III awaits late Queen’s Casket in London
Newslooks- LONDON
King Charles III has returned to London from Northern Ireland, where his visit in the wake of his mother’s death drew a rare moment of unity.
The king is to meet Queen Elizabeth II’s casket at Buckingham Palace, where it will spend the night at the queen’s London home.
Plans call for the casket to be taken Wednesday on a horse-drawn gun carriage to the Houses of Parliament, where the queen’s body will lie in state for four days before Monday’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Earlier Tuesday, the speaker of Northern Ireland’s Assembly delivered a message of condolence to Charles and paid tribute to the late queen. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but the region with a contested British and Irish identity is deeply divided over the monarchy.
The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left the monarch’s beloved Scotland and landed Tuesday evening in London, where crowds have gathered along the route it will take to Buckingham Palace.
Her son, King Charles III, returned to London from Northern Ireland, where his visit drew a rare moment of unity from politicians in a region with a contested British and Irish identity that is deeply divided over the monarchy.
The military C-17 Globemaster carrying the monarch’s casket touched down at RAF Northolt, an air force base west of the city, about an hour after it left Edinburgh. U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and a military honor guard were among those greeting the coffin at the base.
The queen’s body is making a final journey from Balmoral Castle in northern Scotland, where the monarch died Sept. 8 at age 96 after 70 years on the throne.
It will travel past thousands of people who gathered in the rain along the road to pay their last respects. Charles and other members of immediate family will meet the coffin at Buckingham Palace, where it will spend a final night at the queen’s London home. It will be taken by horse-drawn gun carriage Wednesday to the Houses of Parliament to lie in state for four days before Monday’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Earlier, the flag-draped oak coffin was carried from St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh to the strain of bagpipes. Crowds lining the Royal Mile through the historic heart of Edinburgh broke into applause as the coffin, accompanied by the queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, was driven to Edinburgh Airport.
The Scottish government said 33,000 people filed silently past the coffin in the 24 hours after it was brought to Edinburgh from Balmoral.
