It has officially been announced that the Queen’s funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19 at 11am.

Along with the date, further details have been revealed regarding the day and the lead-up as the country mourns the Queen.

Will the Queen’s funeral be a bank holiday?

Today, Saturday, September 10, King Charles III confirmed that the day of the queen’s funeral would be a bank holiday.

The new King approved the bank holiday as part of the Day of National Mourning.

Will schools close for the Queen’s funeral?

Schools will be closed on the day of the Queen’s funeral. This will allow youngsters to watch the televised service and pay their respects, Government sources have revealed.

What happens in the lead-up to the Queen’s funeral?

Plans have also been revealed for the lead-up to the Queen’s funeral.

The Queen’s oak coffin – which is currently lying at rest in the Ballroom at Balmoral Castle covered in a Royal Standard of Scotland with a wreath of flowers on top – will be taken by road to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on Sunday, on a slow six-hour journey by hearse, to allow mourners to gather in the towns and villages to pay their respects.

 

On Monday, September 12, the coffin, which will be at rest in the Throne Room, will be taken from Holyroodhouse in procession along the Royal Mile to St Giles’s Cathedral, before being taken by air by RAF plane to London on Tuesday.

The Queen's life in pictures

The Queen will lie in state for “four clear days” in Westminster Hall, arriving there in the afternoon of September 14, until 6.30am on the morning of her funeral, a senior palace official said.

Thousands will be able to file past to see the late monarch’s coffin, with further details about how the public can attend to be announced in the coming days.

A spokesman for the King said the monarch’s main focus will be leading the royal family and nation in mourning over the coming days.

“Whilst, in the next few days, the King will carry out all the necessary state duties, his main focus will be leading the Royal Family, the nation, the Realms and the Commonwealth in mourning Her Majesty The Queen. This will include meeting members of the public, to share in their grief,” the spokesman said.

Operation Unicorn

Among the details released were the plans for the Scottish elements – known as Operation Unicorn.

After the coffin moves on Sunday, it will rest in the Throne Room until the afternoon of Monday.

It will then travel in a procession to St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, along the Royal Mile with the King and other key royals following behind on foot, and Camilla, now Queen Consort, and other royals following by car.

The people of Scotland will be able to pay their respects when the coffin lies at rest for 24 hours in St Giles’ guarded by Vigils from The Royal Company of Archers, in what will be seen as a mini lying in state.

Continuous Vigils will be kept, including one by the King and members of the royal family at 7.20pm.

Mourners pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

When the Queen’s coffin is flown to London by RAF aircraft to RAF Northolt on Tuesday evening, it will be accompanied by the late monarch’s only daughter the Princess Royal, before being moved to rest at Buckingham Palace’s Bow Room.

A procession on September 14 will see the coffin, adorned with the Imperial State Crown, be transported on a gun carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster ready for the Lying in State in Westminster Hall.

The King, members of the royal family and senior staff of the late Queen and King’s households will walk slowly behind in a dignified silence without music in a route that will take 38 minutes.

Buckingham Palace declined to give details of which royals would join the procession, but it will likely be senior royals including the Queen’s children, as well as the Prince of Wales.

A palace official described it as a silent procession with no music playing, which would be “relatively small and personal” compared to vast ceremonial procession for the state funeral on the Monday.

After the coffin arrives at Westminster Hall, the Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service attended by the King and other royals, after which the lying-in-state will begin.

On the morning of the funeral, the coffin will be taken in a grand military procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, and afterwards taken by state hearse for a committal service in St George’s Chapel.