foreign so um oh say come on so foreign okay i think okay uh [Music] and as i look to the future i have no doubt at all that the uncertainty is change and the pace of that change will only seem to increase this is true for all of us young and old or amongst the more vulnerable in society who worry that they will be left behind the sheer rate of change seems to be sweeping away so much that is familiar and comforting but i don't think that we should be over anxious we can make sense of the future if we understand the lessons of the past [Music] leaving buckingham palace for the final time queen elizabeth ii will today depart her london home in a gun carriage at precisely 2 22 p.m local time princes william and harry along with king charles iii will walk behind the coffin as it proceeds to the palace of westminster home of the british parliament where the queen will lie in state for four days as world leaders and member of the members of the public flock to london to pay their respects welcome to live coverage from the washington post i'm libby casey we bring you reporting today from across london james homan rhonda colvin and sarah hewson are in our london studio and hannah jewell and lee powell are along the procession route at buckingham palace and in westminster sarah let's start with you what is the significance of leaving buckingham palace for the last time well libby buckingham palace was home for the queen for almost all of her 70-year reign from the year of her coronation until the covid pandemic struck and she relocated to windsor which was known as hms bubble i have to say it isn't a place that she held with great affection it was more of the office hq rather than a real home she felt much more at ease at windsor and balmoral but if you think of the queen if you think of the monarchy if you think of london you think of buckingham palace and so it will be hugely symbolic to see her today uh driven out of the gates of buckingham palace through the central arch beneath that famous balcony out through the central gate of buckingham palace atop a gun carriage of the king's horse king's royal horse troop artillery and leaving home for the very last time rhonda the queen's casket won't go alone today talk to us about this journey and who will be with her this part of the affairs that have been happening over the course of this week and until monday i think today is going to be a really important one when it comes to family we're going to see of course king charles iii following the casket on the gun carriage we're also going to see his sons william and harry and i think any images that come out of today they will be one for the history books because of course you'll remember both sons follow their mother's casket diana's casket and that was 25 years ago actually just a few days ago was 25 years ago when her funeral was held so this is an image we have not seen for over two decades of course and it's going to be incredibly symbolic other members of the family of course will be in that procession as well you'll likely see images throughout the day of them but today really is about family and it's a reminder to everyone that yes she was queen yes she you know made a record of being uh the longest serving monarch but she was also a mother and a grandmother and between last night's events the private ceremony with the family as well as what's happening today i think that those events will really underscore that part of her life sarah tell us more about the roles of who will be walking with the casket who will be driving along as well yeah and rhonda makes an interesting point there about the the private goodbye that was said last night at buckingham palace no cameras there as the family got their chance to say goodbye today they are handing her over to the public to say their goodbyes but walking behind the king his siblings the duke of york the earl of wessex and the princess royal princess anne prince william and prince harry will also be walking behind peter phillips princess anne's son her husband sir tim lawrence and also the duke of gloucester the queen's cousin so male members of the family walking behind the coffin in a car following on will be the queen consort camilla will be the princess of wales now kate prince william's wife uh will be countess of wessex sophie who had a very close relationship with the queen and also megan the duchess of sussex she will be joining those members of the family to follow on in this procession as they make their way from buckingham palace to westminster hall um let's go to james to talk about what's it like in london at this stage of mourning the queen's death yeah libby it's uh it really is a city that is transforming uh in anticipation for the queen's funeral on monday uh from our studio here we can see the queue forming of people who are waiting starting this afternoon to see the queen's casket the there are extra trains running overnight to bring people into the city when you ride the underground here you'll see a lot of people with flowers the flower stores are empty uh there has been a run on dubinet the queen's favorite cocktail she enjoyed it with gin it's sold out because everyone wants to enjoy the queen's favorite cocktail there's uh it really is a city that isn't uh is kind of sad in the way it was after princess diana died she was 96 years old after all but it is in a lot of ways a celebration of queen elizabeth's life rhonda i'd love to hear more from you about what you've heard and seen uh in the last couple of days you know what struck me is the stillness in this city yes it's filled with people and more to come the government is expecting large crowds they're not quite sure it's hard to track but they're feeling as if by monday you're going to see records broken in terms of how many people have gathered here but even right now as uh james has just pointed out there's the bridge behind us and we're seeing the line there you you almost sense of a sense of uh reverence and stillness here uh people of course know what's going to be happening on monday i think there's a lot of anticipation for that i'm also struck by some of the things i've heard from people who have been waiting either in front of buckingham palace yesterday or in some of the lines who talk about getting there so early in the morning just because they want to be a part of this and a lot of people talk about the fact that she was a mother she was a grandmother that that was a part that was very important to her that she was very humanized and they want to pay their respects just as if she was someone that they knew personally um so i think one of the things we're experiencing here is that it's also um inescapable you know exactly what's happening here right now and what is to come when we stepped off the the flight yesterday i noticed as soon as we walked into the airport was there there was the official notice uh from the palace saying uh that the queen had died uh there of course as james said flowers being sold everywhere um you get a sense that there is this collective grief all over the city but it is quite still and uh in reverence of the queen you know sarah we've been talking about what happens on monday and of course we can spell that out for our audience that monday uh is this state funeral service at westminster abbey and then ultimately that night will be a burial and so all of these events are building to that yeah and it's a really good point to make libby because in some ways this feels like a mini funeral doesn't it we've seen several processions now from balmoral to edinburgh from edinburgh to london yesterday from the airport at raf northolt back to buckingham palace and now this procession today and all building up towards monday we've still got full four full days where the queen will lie in state in westminster hall rhonda talked about the stillness and i i i've really picked up on that over the course of the last couple of days particularly last night i was outside buckingham palace when the queen's coffin arrived back in that hearse there was a silence in the air that i hadn't heard for some time because of the sheer quantity of people but they were standing there in the rain under umbrellas silently awaiting the arrival of that funeral cortege or the cortez bringing her back and the hearse came it was lit up from inside so that everybody could see the coffin and as the hearse was driven in through the gates of buckingham palace spontaneous applause broke out and three cheers for her majesty the queen and it was a a bit of a lump in your throat moment actually uh at that point because it's when it really became real for everyone standing there you've got a picture there of the mal i've just walked up the mall on my way here to the studio today crowds lining there a huge security operation for something on this scale the military starting to line up we are seeing detachments from the blues and royals regiment of the lifeguards who are making their way to buckingham palace and are on the forecourt of buckingham palace and then the gun carriage from the king's troop horse artillery they're just moving through that shop which will be bearing the queen on her way from buckingham palace to westminster hall and the military involvement in this libby is really important the queen was the boss the commander-in-chief and so all of these from all three of the armed forces taking part today more than 300 military personnel wanting to take part to say goodbye to the boss let's bring in henna joel who joins me from outside of buckingham palace hannah set the scene for us where you are well libby the sunshine just came out moments ago on this big crowd of mourners who have gathered here behind me and around the palace to pay their respects to the queen um of course last night when the queen arrived in her coffin in that procession to to get to buckingham palace which was her primary residence until this spring when she moved to balmoral there were people lining the streets who got to see her i spoke to some afterward and they said describe this this silence followed by this applause i spoke to a gentleman who's a taxi driver who had stopped his car to go and and catch that procession he just happened to have a fair near there he told me he said how how lucky he thought they were to have this queen and um and described his his his less than sure feelings about the new king he said he seemed fine but that i should ask him again in a year but kept stressing primarily how his feelings about the queen were so warm um and how lucky he said that britain was you know hannah a a little while ago sarah was pointing out to us that buckingham palace is like hq right it's sort of the place of business as well as a place of residence but that the queen's passions and the places she loved were really elsewhere but i'd love to hear more from you about the symbol of buckingham palace for the people uh because when any tourist goes to london that's the photo right they get is standing in front of buckingham palace and for londoners and and people in the uk what does that location mean that that might frankly be different than what it means to the royal family well this is the primary place that people come to gather when there is any sort of royal news it's where they put out the physical copy of an announcement of you know a birth where you have the the marriage ceremonies on the balcony where you have um many of the royal the working royal family members have their apartments and their offices and their staffs um it is it is this you know there's lots of palaces but this is the main one and that's why it has been so important um and it has been since actually queen victoria this was her primary residence um before that it had been sort of a lesser one but it's very central in this part of of london um in an easy place for tourists to come and visit they can see the changing of the guards they can see all these really classic iconic um royal british traditions um and today again it is so central to this process and hannah you know it's a choice for people to go and witness this and you know i love hearing about the the cabbie who happened to be there and so took advantage of the moment to go witness this moment in history that uh is both important to his nation but also perhaps personally important to him but how representative is this slice of people who've come out to witness this well you know those who come out are are obviously going to be those who stood in the rain last night who those who have been camping out hoping to see um to actually when they get to see the queen her coffin and to visit that and those really long queues these are obviously the people who really feel this the most deeply um i think that you know rhonda was describing how like how omnipresent this is all the windows on the the shops at selfridges and harrods and all these big stores have these big displays to the queen um and of course if you get further out of this this part of london things things do seem more normal but um i think that whoever you ask and whoever i've spoken to there's just sort of a even those who who don't aren't fond of you know a hereditary monarchy as a concept had this really warm feeling for the queen um and and so those who have and because actually this procession today makes it easier for people to to to come and see her as she goes by and to pay their last respects so it's sort of more accessible in that way and um so everyone who wants to certainly will be able to say goodbye um in one way or another thank you hannah let's bring in lee powell uh lee is outside westminster hall in london where the queen will lie in state what is happening where you are lee well good morning good early good afternoon early afternoon to you libby i am outside the palace of westminster let me orient you uh briefly to where i am and what's going to happen behind me behind me of course is the palace of westminster the house of parliament this is the seat of government here in great britain next to the building behind me which is a little bit obscured by some scaffolding you may see the ubiquitous construction happening of course as it always seems to to do is westminster hall and that is where the queen will be brought to lion state uh at this compound in this complex right below me uh but beneath this uh this platform is where the line the cue is going to be for people who have finally reached the point to enter westminster hall there is an immense uh tent a tent probably isn't the right word to do it justice an enormous white structure where there will be security uh airport style security for people who are coming to see the queen kind of this final stretch uh if you will of folks who have been in line who've been in that queue uh and it's a line that started last night in the rain and has continued this morning it is aligned the likes of which london has probably never seen and maybe the world has never seen take a look i'm blessed to say that i've got the golden ticket and i'm number 18 which is amazing to me and the bigger honors that i'm going to be the first american to go through my mom is british and she met my dad here when he was in the air force and immigrated to the states in the 60s i woke up to the news that i think the verbiage they were using is that the doctors were concerned about the queen's health and i knew my mom would be upset so i called her and said you want to go to lunch and while we were at lunch the news came across that the queen had passed and um having to tell her that was really tough i broke up and she broke down and then we were the only two idiots crying in a mexican restaurant in minnesota about a british monarch but uh i offered i said would you like to go over and she's 82.
And she said hmm let me think standing outside in a cold london rain for 25 i think i'll pass but she's she asked if i would come as her proxy you know and to be able to represent my mom is an honor just a small example of the people that are gathering in that queue now this line they are expecting some are projecting could stretch for five miles across the river thames all the way to a southwick park which would be the end of the line and that line is going to be on the south side of the river thames it's going to pass sites uh like the tate museum the eye of london that iconic ferris wheel past the tower bridge london bridge and then over another bridge here into westminster there are some projections that that line uh people could be waiting in that line for 30 to 35 hours and of course the queen will go on her the lying estate will begin the access will begin for that crowd starting at five o'clock local time uh here on wednesday and it will stretch until 6 30 early monday morning so a good stretch of days for people to be able to see the queen lying in state they're also setting up a system if you will for that line they're giving out wristbands people are going to be able to have a numbered system where they're going to be able to maybe step out of line go get something to to eat or drink use the facilities get back in line so they won't lose their place but all along they're going to be volunteers some thousand volunteers they have asked to help people in that queue restaurants museums other facilities are going to stay open longer to help people along the way giving out water tea through the day into the night and so on until people finally round that curve go across the bridge here into the final stretch that will be behind me to enter uh the uh and enter westminster hall and into that tent will be airport style security uh security screening of the people's of a person of everyone in terms of weapons or anything that they may have on them people being asked to only bring one small bag leave things behind like tents and chairs and really bulky things and to be respectful once they reach inside no photography allowed no video allowed and to remain respectful have a respectful tone about them as they go past the queen line and state for now we'll send it back to you thank you so much lee pal what an incredible uh logistical operation uh james home and let's go to you in our london studio uh i understand that you were able to witness some of the rehearsals for all of this uh last night we're seeing all of the military guard and everything with those sort of those iconic hats on that everyone from around the world associates with the united kingdom what did you see yeah it really is uh a lot of the streets are blocked off around the center of london uh the uh the the city uh is sort of closed off for this parade route and there are uh you know all the pomp and circumstance no one is as good at it as the british uh the the main drag of the parade is the british flag uh or the uk flag i'm sorry but there are also flags for all of the commonwealth countries along the route as well and there's so much attention to detail because they've had so many decades libby to plan this event uh you know even the the hearse where the queen's casket was last night was lit uh from the inside with these little spotlights and uh glass so that people who were standing on the street were able to see inside and that was a touch that the queen herself approved before her death and it really on a on a cold rainy night uh chilly not cold uh really was very special and it was a reminder that uh you know the queen was always able to just command the spotlight to be the center of attention she wore uh solid colors and prints so that people wouldn't stream to see her and the same was true last night as her casket continued its final journey to her final resting place well rhonda you've been tracking the worldwide reaction to the queen's death and king charles's ascension to the throne tell us about just how the world is reacting at this stage of the mourning process and and who we might be seeing in the coming days yeah uh this is something that i remember when we were on the air last week and and waiting for this announcement of her death we we talked about how significant this was for all of the world of course very significant here but she was a beloved figure historically around the world and we're seeing uh heads of state and other countries want to be here on monday we know that president biden and his wife will be coming they said they will be coming we aren't quite sure yet if there's going to be a bigger american delegation but for historical context when her father died king george elizabeth's father when he died truman was president and he sent a member of the cabinet and right now we may be seeing for the first time a u.s president pay his respects in person on monday so he of course will not be alone in sort of the global community that is coming here on monday and that also does bring some securities concerns as well think about it you don't usually have this many people and this many uh dignitaries or world leaders in one place i mean the olympics might be a comparison but the way things are looking and how many people who are already here that may not even be a good comparison so monday certainly will be a time where all of the world will be able to pay their respects sarah houston has there been anything quite like this on on the scale i mean i it's so helpful to have rhonda put that in context for us of just how massive of an operation this is and hearing from lee about just so many people lining up and the logistics of the lineup to be able to pay their respects give us a sense of this scale well two things in terms of of those arriving those heads of state arriving here in the uk it's been described to me as being like hosting 100 state visits all at once and in terms of the amount of people no london will be full full to capacity that is a huge logistical operation a huge security operation uh just as we're speaking the archbishop of canterbury justin welby has been out among the cues just behind our studio at lambeth palace just behind us and the queue snakes past it and the archbishop of canterbury has been praying with people in the queue and he described how much the queen would have loved this and how british it was two things the queen and queuing of course we love to queue and i'll add another one into the mix as well and that's the weather because it was terrible last night as the queen arrived back in westminster and it's always said that it doesn't rain on the queen and today when it really matters when she's going to be moved on that gun carriage through the procession the sun has come out james this is a moment for all sorts of world leaders to come and pay their respects um but you know it's also an interesting moment for the prime minister for example to figure out how she navigates this and there are some who have not been included uh how are the invitations worked out how is this process gone how do you know if you can come to pay your respects uh at uh in this moment or if you have to stand in line like that gentleman who was planning to you know camp out for days to just be able to pay his respects for a moment yeah one of the people who was standing on the street i overheard last night say uh the the sky is crying uh but which i thought was a good line uh but today there there is uh blue poking through the clouds uh more than 500 dignitaries were invited and the british have intentionally snubbed russia belarus and myanmar myanmar recently detained a former british ambassador russia and belarus obviously involved in the ukraine invasion uh belarus hosting russian troops otherwise every single country that has diplomatic relations with the united kingdom uh has been invited including iran and a lot of those countries will send ambassadors not necessarily heads of state but there are going to be more than 100 heads of state here and there are some interesting people who have rsvp'd including uh king juan carlos of spain who actually abdicated power in 2014 and has been in self-imposed exile in abu dhabi since 2020 because of being under investigation in his home country for tax fraud but he was friendly with the queen and he is going to come from abu dhabi to london for the funeral uh people like jair bolsonaro the populist leader of brazil coming as well uh it really is something that a lot of these world leaders don't want to miss uh they they are going to be descending on this city over the next few days sarah let's talk about what we will watch today and and this procession that we will see going along with the queen's casket you know you were talking about the members of the royal family who will be on foot walking along the casket and and they all have these big titles but translate for us who those people are because it is significant in seeing her children and some of her grandchildren with very significant roles in her life but also really in the public eye so translate for us who we will be seeing today so we're going to see the queen's son now the king charles and her three other children princess anne prince andrew and prince edward and then some of their children so their male children william and harry king charles's sons peter phillips princess anne's son and we will see tim lawrence princess anne's husband we will also see earl snowden now he is the queen's nephew and we'll see the duke of gloucester her cousin and her closest family but also among family members as well as family members we're also going to see members of her household so senior members of her staff in her household who have worked for her for many years but also close personal staff who will have built up a very close relationship with her over the years and particularly during the coronavirus pandemic when they set up as i was describing earlier hms bubble trying to limit the risk to the queen and the late duke of edinburgh and a very close network of staff and they are of course incredibly devastated at what has happened here because she wasn't just their boss they felt like family as well and just to describe what we're seeing at the moment we're described to seeing a guard of honour forming up of the british army the royal navy and the royal air force as well and you're also seeing troops amassing on the forecourt of buckingham palace and you see the royal standard flying at full mast above buckingham palace that doesn't fly at half-mast that is signifying that the king is in residence and we saw some arrivals of members of the royal family at buckingham palace just a short time ago and that royal standard flying as it did for the queen and now as it does for the king and the union flag is flying at half-mast above all other buildings it is almost two o'clock uh in london you are looking at live images there at 2 22 local time so in just about 23 minutes we will see queen elizabeth ii depart her london home in this gun carriage that sarah has been describing for us and we will see that procession take place let's go to hannah jewell who's outside of buckingham palace today hannah you know i'd like to hear more about how king charles iii is handling this moment um talk to us first about his interactions with the british people and this moment and and you know how he is presenting himself he's had a lot of time to prepare for this so what choices has he made on how the people see him well a lot of time to prepare of course but still this very sudden change um in the attention that is paid to him in the scrutiny that is paid to him you saw very warm responses to his his remarks um the first time we heard from him speaking about his mother's passing in that pre-recorded interview or not interview rather his pre-recorded talks speaking about this that being very warmly received people people really being moved by his displays of affection and of grief um but on the other hand you see um actually this contrast to the way that his mother sort of handled more intense moments there's a few videos that have been going around here that um sort of um in fact the same uh gentleman i spoke about earlier who was watching the morning who who loved the queen said that he had seen a video in which um king charles got very frustrated that a pen wasn't working and he sort of swore and he got really flustered off can't and it was it was filmed it was this this uh this this thing on camera that happened you've seen a few moments like that which really sort of shows how good the queen was at not showing that kind of emotion and um a guy i talked to who had seen this video said he had raised his eyebrow at that full respect from the monarchy the king and all the rest had been in the military who obviously swear their allegiance to the king or the queen previously but um i think that there's so much scrutiny right now on the new king and his emotions in this moment well hannah the british press is notoriously brutal and opinionated are they treating the royal family gently this week in light of queen elizabeth's death i think it's so hard to say i mean in both ways right there is this really universal um uh love for the queen and these very warm remembrances not a lot of criticism obviously of her in this moment and in the midst of her funeral you then see these little moments like that um reporting on on the king we had the guardian newspaper reported that um actually his former staff may got noticed but they maybe get getting laid off as opposed to traveling with him and his new duties uh and a lot of outrage about that you see moments like that um happening and then of course the press has continued its its focus on harry and meghan here and a lot of scrutiny particularly on megan the duke and duchess of sussex and her behavior is she doing too much not enough and so on her movements you see a kind of continued sometimes quite vicious look at that so i'd say there's both of these things happening there's sort of a unanimous warm reporting remembering the queen um and and not a lot of room for criticism there obviously i almost find that in the u.s press is where you get more more critical discussions of the monarchy as a whole or the world press compared to what is being spoken about here hannah jewell reporting for us live let's go to the other end of this leigh pal outside of westminster palace so lee i know you've been following the journey of the queen's coffin starting all the way back in scotland what have you seen and heard well that's correct we did start this journey on sunday up in edinburgh seeing the queen come from her beloved estate balmoral down the highway across scotland into edinburgh and then on that street that royal mile lined by thousands of people maybe tens of thousands of people seeing the queen roll by in that hearse at our vantage point when that moment happened i can remember people holding up all of their cell phones taking pictures taking videos and then that hearse rolling by with the queen's coffin in the back one man said uh thank you man the queen commonly known here as ma'am and he's wanted to thank her and then as the hearse rolled by it was interesting just a round of applause that that was sustained that grew louder as the curse passed down the royal mile there in edinburgh so that was sunday tuesday yesterday she was flown to london by a royal air force brought to buckingham palace where she spent her final night of course in the bow room there and then today the procession starting in the minutes ahead i think the two numbers that you've heard constantly this morning here is 2 22 when that procession begins and then 38 that's 38 minutes how long it will take down from buckingham down the mall here into westminster but you know it's interesting the people i talked to in edinburgh who were forming that queue to see the queen sunday into monday they've estimated about 30 000 people ended up seeing her at st giles cathedral there in edinburgh i think there were basically three themes when you talk to folks in the line one was respect as people said that you know this is the least i can do i feel respect for the queen for all the years of service she spent 70 years in service and so the least i can do is stand in line for an hour or maybe all night long if that's if that's possible the other theme i heard was duty that as a british citizen they felt like it was their duty to be there one last goodbye to their queen for many people most people nearly everybody in that line the only queen the only monarch they had ever known given the length of her reign and the last theme was one of history that this was a historic moment one not to be seen anytime soon and that they basically had to be there really nowhere else they could be and if it took all night to stand in line and folks i talked to probably about 7 30 at that particular point in edinburgh where they're in the line said they were estimating two or three in the morning when they would finally reach that cathedral uh there in edinburgh st giles cathedral so it's an interesting point someone also made to me is that talking about longevity and the the moment in history it's the reality that this is the last queen that probably all of us will ever see in our lifetime here in the united kingdom given the line of succession there will be kings probably for the next century so it will be a very long time before we say have a quick have a queen and are able to say goodbye to a queen as london is today maybe we will send it back to you thank you so much to lee powell i bring in autumn brewington now she joins me from the washington post's london office she is opinions editor and author of a new washington post newsletter called post elizabeth and this follows the british monarchies transition autumn welcome so you were at buckingham palace last night what was it like no it was so respectful i was really struck by how people who had been standing in fairly chilly drizzle for about two hours and sort of chatting to each other as they waited um really kind of felt quiet as the coffin grew closer and when we saw the procession go by there was cheering and clapping for the queen but it was really kind of a muted just very respectful um people turning out to say thank you you know you've been looking at how the british people are reacting in these very early days to king charles iii and this transition so what have you learned so i think he's gotten definitely quite a lot of immediate sympathy hannah was talking a few minutes ago about that video which was the second pen incident that he's had in a few days and you know i think you hear a lot of people talking about uh give him a break his mother just died he's got you know a lot of stress what's going on here and other people started noticing well you know but he is showing us more emotion he's reacting in a way that people are not used to seeing from the sovereign because the queen was so good at sort of keeping her feelings and reactions to things to herself i thought an interesting thing about that video was really how camilla stayed calm and cool and you know that's really the role that she plays in their relationships she is steady and she you know helps him calm down when he gets upset about things autumn i notice the exact same things what we're talking about is this video of of king charles signing a book and he he really sort of freaks out a little bit because the pen leaks all over him and camilla just sort of calmly steps in and does her own thing but she also doesn't try to overly comfort him right she just i guess you would say keeps calm and carries on and there is this question autumn of of how much of this is the natural emotion that any son of a newly deceased mother would feel uh that any of us can relate to but there's also the question of just you know will this be a person who has to be sort of handled and is he able and ready to step into this role of of leadership and holding it together autumn so as you were saying exactly he's had decades to prepare for this but now the moment is here and so we're seeing this combination of the human reaction of they have lost a family member and at the same time he is in a very big role um i thought it was really touching the statement that princess anne released last night ended by noting the incredible duty of the monarchy that her brother now has to take on he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders but right away we're seeing that he's handling that pressure for the most part you know graciously smiling at people he's really interacting with people it's very new to you know so many generations now to see a sovereign just immediately interacting with people seven decades ago when the queen's father had passed you know people were mourning at a distance like they didn't have televised access that we had seeing him sign the oath of the session so it's really interesting sorry that would be a london siren nearby um it's really interesting to see sort of all the procedures that go into the change in rain and you need smiles just getting up close and shaking hands with people accepting their cheers all right thank you so much autumn brewington hannah jewell let's talk more about [Music] this question of support and love of the monarchy and if there are some people who are dissenting in this moment uh you know you so eloquently talked about how there's so much love for queen elizabeth but the views of the monarchy are conflicting well a big topic of discussion this week libby here in britain has been a number of arrests of those who actually have come and held up signs of these various processions not about the queen per se as her confidence gone by but about the monarchy we had a man in the sign that said not my king we've had um uh someone who heckled prince andrew while he was following um the coffin in in scotland um because of his obvious his sort of scandals and his um having uh had to step back under the queen as a working royal because of his um allegations of of sexual assault of a minor and his close collaboration with friendship with jeffrey epstein so you have moments like this people that want to speak out either against the monarchy king charles other members like prince andrew and these these people have actually faced arrest by the police some simply for holding up signs and and this is a big topic of discussion because it comes at a moment when there's a pretty new law in um in england actually a policing law which gives the police more breadth and more room to arrest those who they deem are causing a public nuisance and obviously this is such a subjective thing and you've seen these sort of quite violent arrests happening and a lot of attention to those a lot of people including those who support the royal family including those who who um who would think such protest was inappropriate nevertheless being quite horrified by these moments um this new law doesn't apply in scotland but in scotland too they were arrested and charged with with um under under charges of disrupting public order and things like that there's been a lot of backlash to that a lot of worry and it really brings the monarchy from this space of something you know more distance distant and and symbolic and and something to be enjoyed from afar and when you start arresting people for for dissenting out that there's very different feelings about that in a constitutional monarchy of course um and so this is this is really being condemned by many mps um and and and regular people there were people in england who decided to hold up blank signs um along a parade route and they asked or not afraid rather professional route and um we're told that they would not be arrested but if they had written something like not my king on it that they would be so this is sort of a sort of subplot going on this week the relationship of the police policing the monarchy politics all of this is swirling around at once um thank you so much hannah james homan let's go to you in our london studio for more on this issue of protests and how they're being handled yeah last night libby in parliament square i came across 20 people who were holding signs that said not my king and uh it was uh it was quite a scene because there were only about 20 protesters but there were 10 london police officers who were all kind of basically telling them to disperse uh but not arresting them and then there were about a hundred onlookers and then there were four legal observers wearing a green vest that said legal observer uh so it was it was quite a standoff uh but ultimately you know the the overwhelming majority of londoners and there is some self-selection the people who are showing up to wait in line 30 hours to see the queen are going to be uh royalists uh but the you know king charles has seen a huge uh expected bounce in his approval rating uh there was a poll released yesterday by yougov that showed more than 65 percent of uh member of uk subjects now expect that he will be a good king which is more than double what it was in july uh so the the challenge for the monarchy is if they crack down on these small protests like 20 some people standing in parliament square it ends up drawing attention uh to to a relatively small population and so it does feel like there are people who are sort of testing the limits of this law and the authorities are trying to kind of stay back a little bit there was one man who was arrested and then unarrested by the police because this is a very sensitive issue and as hannah was noting it's also a new largely untested nuisance law fascinating rhonda you know we're going to see this procession begin quite soon at 2 22 local time 9 22 here on the east coast what will you be watching today what will you be keeping your eye out for as we witness this i think i'll be watching some of the images that emerge both live and then things that are captured still moments of harry and william that's a big question mark right now that's something that i know uh people are talking about here as well as back in the states is what's that relationship like we of course know from you know reporting where uh harry and megan gave that interview to oprah that there is a strain and that may be key to charles next move and how popular he is here harry's presence and absence at some of these events this past week have been closely watched people are monitoring it and i think people do want some sort of reconciliation um as james noted about that yougov poll uh that's more than double than some of the previous polling charles has had before and there was actually one last year when queen elizabeth was still living uh that ranked him about number 11 in terms of popularity of royals and he was under less visible royals so that kind of gave you a sense of how he was uh how he was viewed before this um so it does remain an open question what his uh reign is going to look like but i really do think harry is going to be key to that even though harry doesn't have those royal duties anymore just his presence or absence is going to be something closely watched and likely will be a part of charles's reign sarah houston the processional will start at 222 where you are in london what do we know about that chosen time well buckingham palace hasn't confirmed the significance of 222 but there are various different theories at libby one is that 222 marks the 70th anniversary of the queen's succession to the throne so february 2022-222 another is that the timing of it is significant because after the king's death in 1956 the sebastopol bell in windsor which only rings on the event of the death of a sovereign finished ringing 56 times one for every year of his life at 2 22 p.m so there's a couple of theories there's also a biblical reference that may be uh relevant but i wonder if there might also be a logistical and practical reason because there is a very specific marching time 75 steps per minute specifically reserved for funerals and that is in order to keep pace with the gun carriage we saw it at the queen mother's funeral back in 2002 and so you work that back it's 38 minutes between buckingham palace and westminster hall arriving at westminster hall for three o'clock sarah let's look at the parade route or you know it's so strange we're thinking of it almost like a parade of course it's a processional not a parade but but it has that same feeling of people lining uh the male and lining the area and and witnessing this moment so forgive me for calling it that let's take a look at the map of the processional route and i want you to talk about it for us and and where the queen's coffin will go by yes and just briefly on that libby i think you'll write in some ways when you compare it to a parade because i'm watching these images and it reminds me of trooping the color which is held was held of course every year to mark the queen's birthday official birthday in june and had an atmosphere of celebration of course it is playing a much more somber role here but yes looking at that route from buckingham palace so the queen's coffin is in the bow room in buckingham palace it's a room you may well have seen in photographs it's a circular room with big windows marble columns it is a room that has been used to welcome visiting heads of state for example she will then be carried down the steps to the grand entrance that is where heads of state will be welcomed you'll have seen those red carpet arrivals there through the quadrangle the center arch with that famous balcony where we last saw her during the platinum doobly celebrations above it through the central gate here you are there's the center arch and you can see through to the quadrangle and just where that window is that is where the grand entrance is so she'll come through the center gate round the victoria memorial and up the mall where we've seen the crowds we've seen the union flags looking down towards buckingham palace and from the mao horse guards parade horse guards arch and then to white hall and that is where many government departments are based up parliament street around parliament square where we've just seen the guard of honour of representatives of the three armed forces and the band of the royal marines amassing into palace yard and then the palace of westminster james you walked this processional route last night yeah and you know it is it it's striking just this is a mother who's died but she is also not just the mother of a family and uh the royal family but the mother of a nation and uh you know obviously intense intense interest uh i i was struck by the uh the fact that she spent the night in the bow room as sarah just mentioned because that is where she delivers her annual christmas message from uh and that's a part of every uh everyone's tradition here uh in the afternoon on christmas day uh to to turn on the television and and see uh the queen speak to them and give sort of an update on the year uh and it was originally a library that was turned into this sort of special reception room and you heard in chatting with people along the barricades uh last night how the queen has sort of narrated their life she's such a huge part of the their identity as as members of the commonwealth in the realm and so they feel like they're losing a mother too sarah tell us what we're seeing now we are coming in on to 2 at the time of departure what are we watching so inside buckingham palace now the bearer party from the queen's company the first battalion grenadier guards will be carrying the coffin from the bow room downstairs towards that grand entrance to be placed on the gun carriage we're seeing representatives there from the lifeguards and the blues and royals of the household cavalry forming up on the forecourt of buckingham palace sarah what is the gun carriage yes so the gun carriage is known as the george gun and it was used to carry the queen's father george vi his coffin was taken from sandringham where he died to wolferton station to begin his journey and it also he was used for the funeral of the queen mother back in 2002 it's going to be carried by the king's troop royal horse artillery and they will also be responsible for the royal salute in hyde park which is taking place at the same time and big ben will be tolling every minute of this procession when we see hyde park sarah there'll be these minute guns firing every minute throughout this procession so i imagine that this can be heard from miles around yeah and i think we are just about to get our first sighting libby off the gun carriage led by the king's troop war horse artillery making its way through the central arch of buckingham palace onto the forecourt you can see these gates that anyone who's visited london and buckingham palace will have looked through to get a glimpse of what is going on behind and today we're seeing the private become public the mother of four children but also the mother of the nation being brought out there the queen's coffin adorned with the royal standard and the imperial state crown placed on top of it sarah we see the queen's children including of course king charles iii and also grandchildren some of them very famous faces to us in the procession following the coffin and the gun carriage yes and these scenes are extremely powerful as the queen's family follow closely behind taking up their public duties amid their own private grief so we see the king king charles iii newly ascended to the throne and his siblings princess anne prince andrew and prince edward prince andrew not in military uniform no longer a working member of the royal family and we see harry there uh in the next round and children yeah so sorry so sorry to sarah also not in military that's right that's right so you know that has to be one of the many difficult elements of this transition for harry because he was so attached to and devoted to his military service it was part of what sort of helped give him his own identity absolutely it's it's often been described as the heir prince william and despair prince harry and in the military he found a role and he found a home and he has been stripped of his military titles having lost left the royal family he still remains a member of the military family he is much loved among the military but he and prince andrew the duke of york the only two members of the royal family aside from the duke of edinburgh now late duke of edinburgh to have seen active service harry in afghanistan andrew in the falklands but they are not wearing military uniform as the decision was taken that only working members of the royal family should do of course certainly some irony to that uh you have to point out sarah yes uh you know we yeah we see charles there it is he i mean he almost blends in with the rest of the family doesn't he yes and prince charles as he was served in the air force served in the navy for a period of five years until 1976.
His brother edward had a brief stint in the royal marines it is seen as almost a right of passage for members of the royal family to serve within the armed forces because charles is now head of the armed forces he has now taken over his mother's role as commander-in-chief and it is symbolic that there is such a role for the military today as they say goodbye to her for one last time you can just see there some of the emotion of people in the crowd watching on we're also seeing peter phillips princess anne's son there standing next to prince harry now at the duke of york at the duke of edinburgh's funeral rather peter phillips stood between princes william and harry relations particularly strained at that time following on from the interview with oprah winfrey now we see the two brothers standing side by side rhonda you've made the important point that there was the private ceremony last night and that this is really a moment of transition i mean we see the family having this uh very traditional procession as they follow the casket of queen elizabeth i mean is so regimented and so uh you know to a note as how it is supposed to be right um so rhonda can you talk to us about this transition from the personal to this very public tradition that's right there was a service just for family last night at uh buckingham palace and and now we're seeing them of course uh escort their mother uh to the public lying in state and that's symbolic in itself that these are the last moments they have with her to themselves and they are passing her off to a public who saw her as a very beloved figure i mean it's so interesting to watch all of these images this one the one a few days ago throughout the whole process actually there's so much symbolism going on uh that you you it's almost breathtaking to watch because it's just it's historical it's also a family narrative playing out but yes this is uh this opportunity for this family to have their last few steps with their mother with themselves and and now the public will be able to pay their last respects james it is so regimented yeah and in the coming days the the children the four children of the queen obviously will have more opportunities to be around their mother and indeed prince andrew is being allowed to don his military uniform uh as part of standing vigil at his mother's casket during this viewing process that's going to begin later this afternoon and go until monday morning uh it is uh it there was a photographer who was able to catch some pictures of uh basically the private ceremony inside through the windows last night and it was a very different vibe uh from the images that uh than we see in public charles really did look like he had the weight of the world upon him uh that he he looked sort of more sorrowful and there was an image of him at the palace walking down the stairs by himself and sort of looking down again it's a reminder he's just lost his mother uh you know that the old cliche as heavy as the head that wears the crown and we see the the crown there and now it is charles who wears that crown as uh his kingdom faces a host of pretty significant challenges uh and he has been you know this is his uh he's technically been the prince of wales but london is uh is really his hometown and uh he has just we see him there uh come from northern ireland yesterday uh the first uh time uh in years that uh sovereign has visited uh and he will be in wales tomorrow uh and he obviously was in scotland on monday and so this is a whirlwind for him of grief and it's very public grief because he has to uh he's allowing himself uh he needs the stoicism that his mother taught by example but also needs to channel the grief of the kingdom sarah there will be a car following along as well that holds the queen consort camilla also now the princess of wales catherine as well as meghan markle sophie why will they be traveling separately and why is it significant that they can be part of this procession that way well this is very much about bringing the family together to say goodbye to their mother and their grandmother and megan as harry's wife is part of the royal family no matter what else has gone before this is time for a family to come together and we saw that in windsor at the weekend when we saw william and harry and their wives reunited once known as the fab four we saw them together again for the first time and that in some ways was it was a test for how how it would be received how it would go and now we see them together again for this procession and again at the funeral and just to describe some of of what you're seeing now at libby there's a dismounted detachment of the lifeguards in the household cavalry featuring about 50 soldiers but also alongside the coffin of the pallbearers and all of those have a connection to the queen they were service aquarius to the queen that is a military aid to the queen all of them have worked for her at some point during their careers and there are other connections among those who are taking part today one whose grandmother took part in the coronation service for the queen back in 1953 as a maid of honor and had the responsibility of escorting the queen on her first journey as the monarch and now 70 years later her grandson escorting her on her last what a remarkable full circle rhonda princess anne is one of those processing behind the coffin of her mother of course her three brothers are doing that as well but she really stands out there in that sea of mourners as a woman libby we had a connection problem with you uh but but i believe you just brought up uh princess royal anne yes uh just to give people at home some uh background on her because she is sort of a quiet figure in all of this we're paying attention to the brothers and the sons but she plays an incredible role in the royal family she's known as one of the busiest working royals actually she's a patron of hundreds of charities um but i one thing that fascinates me about her is that she might have been the the pre harry and meghan she is the second child of queen elizabeth and prince philip but when she had the the couple's first grand child she didn't want royal titles for them she wanted them to be their own person and that's also why she's known as princess royal as well is that she felt a need to establish her own way in life so what she is known for is actually being an equestrian she's a decorated equestrian she's the first royal to have competed in the olympics and so that's sort of uh the lane in life that she created for herself separate from the royal family um so that's what i mean by her wanting this identity outside of the palace and and that being comparable to what harry desired but she is a very hard working royal and i'm interested to see if uh in the coming weeks or years really uh how she will be with charles she's said to be close to him and she may be very helpful to him now and in the future especially with her history of wanting to create her own identity she might be a part of shaping the monarchy's future in the way that some of the lesser royals are able to go and find their own selves apart from being in this family but she's such an interesting person in all of this that i think has we haven't talked about her enough actually and she also was the person the child who accompanied the casket of queen elizabeth back from scotland to london so that was certainly a role that i'm sure was special for her and may also signal the closeness that she had with her mother our colleague hannah jewell is outside of buckingham palace uh hannah uh the procession going by uh what is it like where you are now well here outside buckingham palace the crowds were totally silent as soon as this procession began um watching respectfully completely silently until you heard this music it was a very sort of stunning scene and then followed by all the royals obviously the coffin followed by the children and the grandchildren you could hear a pin drop other than this music um but once they were fully out of sight there was a round of applause that went up among the people who were still here and they're continuing to gather and and and chat and and hang out outside the palace here um and you sort of get a sense that even those who may not be able to make it to the lying in stage they're expected to that not everyone who wants to do that will be able to do that along this route today they might get to see this glimpse of the coffin of the entire royal family and those who miss both of these things but are in this part of london certainly will be able to hear the gun salute that we can hear from this position happening in hyde park every minute you hear that gun go off so it's certainly a presence whether or not you're on the um on the route today autumn brewington as we watch the family we can only wonder what is going on in their minds they have uh you know such a sort of a stoic and professional face on really as they make this procession from buckingham palace to westminster hall it was 25 years ago that we saw the funeral procession for princess diana um how is this different or similar to that moment so there are some similarities in that you know we're seeing the royal family walking behind the gun carriage but at the same time this is really so many events this week have been about honoring the queen's legacy and so many people have said you know the different things that the queen has meant to them really just trying to encompass her 70-year reign and one of the things that prince sorry king charles started trying to stress from the very beginning i think he called his mother's life you know well-lived it was a destiny fulfilled and when you really think about sort of what they're doing prince harry has said that after his he said in more recent years how uncomfortable he was walking behind his mother's coffin in exactly this sort of procession but i think this is you know meant to be a work of honor and respect for his grandmother this is a different situation a country is saying goodbye to a beloved queen that has led it for more than seven decades people are they're mourning but they're also celebrating her what is this moment like for prince harry uh prince william you know they they are now grown men they were children when their mother died right right and you know so uh we were talking earlier about um the uniforms the different things that people were wearing and right now harry and his uncle prince andrew both of whom had served [Music] not wearing uniforms because they are not working members of the royal family uh when prince harry spokesman put out a statement about this yesterday he included a line saying that he hoped the focus would stay on the queen and not on harry's clothes like i think they're really trying to keep the attention on the life and legacy of the queen and you know harry is harry's an adult who intends to continue living abroad um he has a memoir coming out you know everyone is now curious whether it will still be on time if there are any changes um this is really you know they're all adults now and really just trying to honor their grandmother and former commander-in-chief sarah at diana's funeral the queen made what was seen by many as a remarkable gesture although of course to the rest of us it doesn't seem like something that would take much effort but it was widely noted she bowed to diana as her coffin went by and this of course is coming from a queen no one everyone bows to the queen the queen bows to no one um that was such an important moment for the queen what did it mean a small but highly significant gesture at libby from the queen and a show of respect for diana and a recognition of the feelings of the nation and all around the world at that moment it was a very difficult time for the royal family as they came to terms with the loss of diana the mother of william and harry and the queen in a rare moment where her judgment was not seen as being in step with the public mood remaining at balmoral when the public wanted to see her to hear from her she of course felt very strongly that she was doing the right thing by looking after diana's two young sons and she was very hurt by the criticism of her but she did return to london she made an unprecedented live broadcast on the eve of the funeral and then she bowed her head as you said as diana's coffin went past a very small gesture that spoke volumes sarah tell us about where the coffin is right now tell us about the significance of this processional route to the royal family but also to the people of london in the united kingdom [Music] well the procession is still on the mall um which is that very very famous straight avenue leading down to buckingham palace it is the place where all ceremonial begins from buckingham palace heading up the mao and it is a place that so many viewers will recognize anyone who's been to london will recognize anyone who has seen pictures of royal weddings of the jubilee celebrations and it is just turning now towards horse guards parade you can see the flags of the commonwealth and turning to horse guards parade horse guards parade is where the trooping the colour takes place for the queen's official birthday and will make its way to white tall and the palace of westminster and you may notice among some of the military bands taking part in this procession their drums are shrouded in black and they are muffled in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion and i was describing earlier the marching pace 75 steps per minute reserved exclusively for a funeral process procession but for those of us watching we have never seen anything quite like this before the death of a monarch and the queen's funeral taking place at westminster abbey itself a break with tradition it is the place where her coronation took place and where every british monarch's coronation was held for a thousand years but most funerals took place in windsor in saint george's chapel there that the queen deciding that her funeral should be in that larger much more public space i think we there just saw the princess of wales yeah just to catch a glimpse that's right and the queen concerned wales and the queen consort in that car following on from that procession but it is going to be the first state funeral at westminster abbey since george ii back in 1760 so although we're seeing some very traditional elements there are ways in which the queen who has her mark all over what we're seeing today very much involved in all of these plans that have been carefully crafted over decades she made that decision to have her funeral take place in that much bigger space of westminster abbey to allow more people to play their part in it you know james coming in it is such a great now and i want to hear about that in a moment sarah but first i just want to remark on what um sort of an unrelatable moment this is for so many of us because the family is just solemnity was a wonderful word that sarah used james but the family is keeping solemn but they are staring straight forward and it's almost like they are in a different world than the people lining the mal and the other roots of the procession there's no acknowledgment of the crowds there's no interaction with the crowds this is not a moment where they go and greet them or wave it's hard to imagine what that experience is like it's both so private and yet so overwhelmingly public stoicism is one of the great british virtues and we see that on display here it very much is the the stiff upper lip uh following the tradition uh and and you're right in that sense it is not a parade it really is this procession and it it must be hard to walk with blinders on and i'm sure they can't help but notice the outpouring of public support and the large crowds and the presence uh but they they are marching straight ahead and uh and and that has to be challenging and it also it's you know none of them are really showing any in any kind of real or authentic emotion and that is very much by design sarah tell us about the horse guards parade well this is a a ceremonial site where the military would gather for the trooping the color parade as i was describing which takes place on the queen's official birthday her actual birthday in april but she was given an official birthday in the summer months in which there would be a very public celebration and so parade featuring the military members of the royal family and carriages but a very different atmosphere to what we're seeing today an atmosphere of celebration formality yes but celebration and today this very very somber occasion and you were just discussing with james about the members of the royal family looking straight ahead and and this is where we see duty coming before everything else a lesson instilled in her children by the queen that they have a duty to serve and today they are serving their late mother the queen rhonda we saw images of the crowds clapping that's right and uh you know uh from what we've been hearing from people who've been standing in lines all day all morning they want to be a part of this they want to be involved they felt that she was a part of their lives just as if she was a member of the family and i think you're seeing that reflected in the the size of the crowd and and how big the crowd will grow over the next few days too um but on the great points that uh sarah and james have just been talking about about how the family looks right now i just it's striking to to look at their faces because you you can almost sense that they are doing this for her yes there may be some internal battles they'll have to deal with and of course questions about the future of the monarchy but because she had that spirit of getting on with it you almost see that that's what they're doing here and not betraying any sort of feeling and you you just also have to wonder what's going on in their minds of course she's queen but as a member of the family as the matriarch you know that's going to change the family's dynamic most likely it does in any family so so you wonder if their thoughts about how is their life together going to be without her sarah let's talk about the crown that sits on the coffin of queen elizabeth yes the imperial state crown worn by the queen at the state opening of parliament it was sitting atop her coffin now that and the ord and scepter that will be placed on the coffin known as the instruments of state hugely symbolic also incredibly heavy um as the queen herself described when she had to put on those very heavy urban robes and the imperial state crown it's it's one of the crown jewels of the united kingdom and it symbolizes the sovereignty of the monarch and his current version was made in 1937 although it's existed in various different forms since the 15th century it's not used during the coronation but it is worn by the monarch after their coronation it has nearly 3 000 precious stones in it wow and we're just seeing the procession turning on to whitehall the home of many government departments and passing by downing street the residence of the prime minister yes james describe to us more uh this this route and the significance of it in in in governmental life yeah i mean this is the heart of government and uh the white hall isn't just downing street is is where the prime minister lives and works uh the chancellor of the ex-checker essentially their secretary of the treasury but more powerful uh rishi sunak uh is the is there that there was obviously just this contested leadership race uh on the right among the tories the conservatives that liz trust won over uh who had been in remains the uh chancellor of the ex-checker uh in the new government uh and so this is the you know it's a civil service system here even more so than in the united states and these are uh the places where all the major decisions of government are made uh the before the the this procession turned uh there they passed by the entrance to uh the churchill war rooms uh which is a popular tourist destination now but during world war ii was uh where winston churchill would uh take shelter away from uh bombing raids by the nazis during world war ii uh during the blitz and uh you know that was something that queen elizabeth then princess lived through and it was all taking place in in these same buildings during elizabeth's reign you know we they just went by 10 downing street a moment ago or the turn for for downing street there was a ira attempt on margaret thatcher's life that nearly succeeded so there's a lot of history right there at the end of the uh this avenue that they've been coming through there's a large memorial to the soldiers of the great war that was before they had the sense to number them and then world war ii as well what does it mean sarah to have the procession go by those memorials to the wars well the cenotaph the central memorial to world war ii is somewhere where we saw the queen every year on remembrance sunday come to mark that moment it was seen by her as a sacred duty and it is only of late that we have seen her not able to attend last year on that occasion charles took that duty on her behalf and that a sign of her declining health because for her as a member of the wartime generation to stand and pay her respects and lay a wreath was very important indeed [Music] you're watching live coverage of the procession for queen elizabeth ii it's now on white hall we will soon get to westminster hall and sarah tell us about what we expect to see after they arrive there [Music] so they will arrive at the north door of westminster hall and the bearer party will carry the queen's coffin up the steps into westminster hall and to a catapult a raised plinth which will be shrouded in purple inside westminster hall and there will then be a service for the reception of the coffin led by the archbishop of canterbury justin welby and the dean of westminster a service of around 20 minutes starting with the singing of assam and continuing with prayers and at the end of that service those present will depart and it will not be very long before westminster hall is then opened up to the public and we have this lying in state of her majesty the queen 24 hours a day right up until monday morning ahead of the state funeral we expect the casket of queen elizabeth to arrive at westminster hall in moments this ceremony the lying and state service for the reception of the coffin to begin quite soon let's go to lee powell who is there as they approach parliament square lee i know you are on the far side of that tell us about the significance of westminster believe we are just outside the palace of westminster uh in the orient you if you uh over my uh right hand shoulder so that you the left of your screen is westminster hall it's a west uh the palace of westminster is a massive complex of course it's the seat of government for the united kingdom and westminster hall in fact is the oldest existing part of the palace of westminster i'm going to refer to some notes here there's so much history to pack in uh in that space it's 925 years old erected in 1097 at one time it was the largest hall in europe inside and i'm sure we will see shots of this momentarily and over the coming days kind of a medieval timber architecture theme with these great beams in the ceiling and this giant open space there until the 19th century it was used for judicial purposes there were state trials impeachment trials trials like for the for guy fox king charles the first churchman thomas moore who in fact was executed by henry viii and of course henry viii had a coronation banquet there um the significance of what we're about to see in more modern times in 1952 king george vi which of course is the father of queen elizabeth the second lion state there 300 000 filed past his coffin in 2002 the queen mother uh lion state and 200 000 filed by uh the last non-royal to get the honor of lying in state in westminster hall was in 1965 winston churchill so you can get the significance of of this moment of the lying state inside westminster hall and as we said earlier the projections for the numbers of people who will come over the next five days to see the queen lying in state i've heard anywhere from four hundred thousand seven hundred fifty thousand possibly up to a million people may file by the queen as she lies the state in in the coffin there uh it ends monday morning and at 10 30 monday morning the coffin moves again uh a very short distance to westminster abbey which is just across the street here all in the same basic complex and that of course is where the state funeral will be held later monday so it's a interesting that right now the most people in this in this area are media with the backdrop you see behind me i see a lot of police and other personnel kind of waiting at the ready down below the street along that corridor along that line where people will start to come by at five o'clock when they open the doors for that five day procession that five day period where people can pay their respects to the queen lying in state much of the building if you can probably see behind me is obscured in some scaffolding including westminster hall doing some kind of reconstruction some renovation work given that it's almost a thousand years old parts of the building reaching that level so undoubtedly a nonstop a continuing work job to keep things in repair but a very significant space an iconic space behind me of course with westminster pal the palace of westminster westminster hall and that iconic limestone that kind of goldish brownish color if you the light hits it just right and that's a sweeping uh gothic architecture uh that you see that we all know with the big ben the tower clock is part of this as well so the procession is coming closer to this point we've heard some guns in the background and of course this moment this place will become the center of all activity in the coming days as people start to see the queen lying at rest as they gather members of the public already across the river thames lining the river getting a good view in fact of westminster the palace of westminster of the big bend the clock tower as they're in the line making their way to this site just beyond me behind me to reach the point where they will be scanned go through security finally reach that moment they've all been waited for waiting for to see the queen lying at rest lady back to you they're turning into the palace of westminster now that lee was just so eloquently describing uh sarah let's go to you uh for what we're seeing in this moment turning into the palace of westminster at the almost the conclusion of this procession the queen's final journey from buckingham palace to westminster hall where she will remain until monday the day of her funeral sarah and lee was describing please go ahead the history of westminster hall lee was describing the history of of westminster hall and the restoration work that has been taking place around there and we saw the resplendent site of big ben the bell that has been tolling every minute of this procession and big ben itself the elizabeth housed in the elizabeth tower named after the queen to mark her diamond jubilee has been shrouded in scaffolding itself since 2017 and that had just been finished earlier on this year which in itself is so symbolic ready for this moment to honor the queen so the bearer party will begin to assemble now alongside the coffin and carry her majesty into westminster hall sarah as the coffin lies in state and people can pay their respects over the next few days what does the royal family do well we are expecting to have a vigil similar to that that we saw at st giles cathedral in edinburgh by members of the royal family standing at the four corners of her coffin and we're expecting that to take place on friday evening and there will be a continuous vigil around her coffin by his majesty's bodyguard of the honorable corps of gentlemen at arms and by members of the military and they will each keep watch for a period of 20 minutes six paces the bear party getting their instructions shall we have a listen [Applause] [Music] repair turn inwards turn prepare to turn turn march oh [Music] [Music] the casket of queen elizabeth ii arriving at westminster hall her family behind her for this final procession from buckingham palace to westminster we will see a service for the reception of the coffin taking place now this afternoon london time this morning here on the east coast of the united states we'll be bringing this all to you live today and our washington post team will be back with you on monday for the funeral services [Music] oh [Music] after the service for the reception of the coffin for her majesty the queen elizabeth ii we will see the queen's body lying in state for four days and it's a chance for members of the public and world leaders to come and pay their respects the service coming up will be led by justin welby the archbishop of canterbury [Music] jesus [Music] sarah as the coffin moves into place in westminster hall what meaning does this have to the british people [Music] well yes as you say libby the queen's coffin [Music] with the royal standard and the imperial state crown and a wreath of flowers being placed on the cataphile the raised platform here in westminster hall [Music] where she will now remain until monday ahead of her state funeral she will lie in state to allow members of the public to come and pay their respects and thank her majesty for her 70 years of service [Music] the bearer party descending the steps [Music] having conducted their last duty for their commander-in-chief watched by their new commander-in-chief king charles iii and we see sarah the family reunited they're the ones who drove and the ones who walked the queen consort standing close to king charles iii now at this point yes so the party that took part in the procession on foot and those who were driven in the state limousines all standing behind the queen's coffin now at the start of this service for the reception of the coffin a 20-minute service we're hearing now the choir of westminster abbey and the choir of his majesty's chapel royals james's palace singing psalm 139 o lord thou has searched me out and known me thou knowest my down sitting and my uprising thou understand us my thoughts long before we can only begin to imagine the thoughts of the queen's children and grandchildren in particular her son charles as he takes on this this responsibility this duty now the archbishop of canterbury justin welby oh god the maker and redeemer of all mankind grant us with thy servant queen elizabeth and all the faithful departed the sure benefits of thy son's saving passion and glorious resurrection that in the last day when all things are gathered up in christ we may with them enjoy the fullness of thy promises through jesus christ our lord amen let not your heart be troubled ye believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there ye may be also and whether i go ye know and the way ye know thomas saith unto him from buckingham palace her last time there to westminster hall of course you see william and kate harry and megan everyone focused on those four young people two of them sarah of course destined uh for being in the same position as queen elizabeth and prince philip someday and the others chosing choosing a very different and personal path and we see there the king talking uh with the archbishop yes uh a word with the archbishop as they depart and i think this moment will be an emotional one for members of the royal family they have had their moment of private mourning last night in buckingham palace and now they leave her to lion state in westminster hall for the public to have their chance to say goodbye and the next time that members of the royal family will have their own private moment will be with the queen will be in windsor at a private internment service at the conclusion of her funeral on monday so these state limousines they're waiting to take members of the royal family away from westminster hall they will be returning here on friday for what is known as the vigil of the princes a tradition that was started in 1936 the king and the queen consult there departing the vigil of the princes a tradition started after the death of king george v where we will see members of the royal family stand guard around the queen's coffin as we did in st giles's cathedral in edinburgh so the convoy of limousines then departing the palace of westminster to return to buckingham palace big ben there they're all standard they're flying the royal end sign above the king's car and you're now seeing that procession route in reverse heading down whitehall and we can just hear the sound there of the gun salute beginning the gun salute by the king's troop raw horse artillery taking place in hyde park in london in honour of her majesty as the royal family make their way back to buckingham palace that vigil is now underway sarah what will the coming days be like for people there in the uk and specifically in london as uh as this vigil takes place well it is going to be very busy indeed we are looking out of our window here and we can see the queue now snaking over lambeth bridge and then they just have a short walk to the palace of westminster the doors of westminster hall expected to open two members of the public at five o'clock this evening london time 12 o'clock eastern time and throughout the evening through the night and for the next four days members of the public will stream through those doors to walk past the coffin of her majesty the queen and pay their respects to the monarch who sat on the throne for 70 years having just marked her platinum jubilee james uh the crowd has certainly thinned out from where you know just a few moments ago really uh when we saw the procession with the queen's casket heading to westminster hall now the family makes their way back yeah libby the uh procession back in the motorcade is certainly going a lot faster than the uh slow march uh along that same mile and a half uh parade route uh it it it is a moment that now people are really queuing up to go see uh the queen one final time uh you know in this age of social media and cell phones there everyone is taking pictures along the the route and all over the city but when they go inside to westminster to see their majesty one last time they will not be allowed to take pictures and that really does set the tone for the sort of formality and solemnity that will mark the coming days hannah jewell is outside buckingham palace and hannah the procession passed right by you departing of course from buckingham for the final time the queen's last time being there what was it like well it was really a sense of a historic moment this being the queen's official residence for so long and the official headquarters and residents of the monarch since 1837 to see her depart for the last time and then just now moments ago seeing the royals i believe that was the royals returning to buckingham palace where it is actually unclear yet it is now king charles's official residence but whether he will spend most of his time there is is unknown he's said to prefer clarence house windsor some of the other of the many royal residences but in any case buckingham palace behind me remains this important headquarters the place the scene of so many weddings on the pictures on the balcony official announcements of births and so on it will continue to be this most important royal residence for that reason it's actually undergoing about 10 years worth of renovations right now which might be reason for the king to have his primary residence be elsewhere but just seeing all the royals return just now without the queen and the questions that they bring with them about the future of this family and their role in british society and hannah yes indeed it was the royal family returning right behind you i mean one can only imagine hannah what this moment feels like just such an intense public experience just now as they marched in this incredibly regimented and structured way behind the casket not really acknowledging the crowds or anything else taking the casket to westminster hall and you can see that there on your screen and now a bit of privacy going back before they return to the vigil later on hannah yeah well as we've discussed the seeing particularly harry and william walk side by side so reminiscent of their mother's funeral seeing them make that long walk again as adults and next to each other was hugely symbolic and somber and but just now as they they were all returned to the palace there were some cheers i heard from those who have still stuck around um to see them and get a glimpse of the royals um a different mood than earlier just now when the queen last left for the last time to silence followed by some applause lee powell is standing outside of westminster hall lee what is the atmosphere like in the crowd there well libby we have yet to see the crowd filter through those doors that's going to happen at five o'clock london time so in a bit what you may hear behind me or around me is the the tolling of bells from the church as that service ends but this is going to be a place where the world is going to be watching for the next five days all the attention is going to be on the spot just behind me as those as that queue makes its way across the river thames through the security and into westminster hall which is just over my right hand shoulder to the left of your screen here at the palace of westminster i think what can't be understated is just the enormous task that the city of london is going to have in the days ahead accommodating a crowd that could be up to a million people that will perhaps see the queen at any point going later this week and into the weekend they are expecting an overwhelming amount of people perhaps a crowd a number of people that the city has has never seen and so the that has the city leadership the police department the people involved with the transport with the london underground with the railway system all very concerned about how they're going to be able to accommodate this number of people in a space that is an old city that is has some tight spaces tight streets tight quarters in a place like london so that is going to be a real test in the next uh four or five days for the city of london can they accommodate a crowd this size i will say that coming both from edinburgh and now here in london they've obviously had time to prepare for this and plan for this seen lots of law enforcement lots of police lots of other volunteers people in bright yellow reflective vests directing people here and there all these police cordons these metal barricades fencing set up so clearly they have a plan that they've developed in the years past and are now implementing that plan to accommodate just this mass of people one last thing i will leave you with is looking ahead at the weather forecast in the coming days we had the torrential downpour of course last night as the queen made her way to buckingham palace through the streets of london the forecast the good news is the forecast looks very good it's going to cool off a little bit highs in the low 60s at night temperatures in the mid to high 40s so it will be a little nippy a little chilly in the evening for folks who are in that queue standing visual as the line advances through the night into the day but there's no rain in the forecast so that at least is good news for the coming days ahead for this massive crowd that's a could number 400 a thousand 750 000 perhaps a million uh that will come to see the queen lying in state at westminster hall right behind me libby will send it back to you thank you so much lee powell autumn brewington let's go to you autumn brewington the author of a newsletter called post elizabeth so appropriate for this moment autumn you know i'm interested in your reflections and thoughts on this duality of this very public moment a chance for the people to pay their respects in westminster hall and yet it is so solemn it's it's so formal and it has this almost ancient tradition to it as we look at the elaborate ceremonial uniforms and this tradition of standing vigil uh talk to us about the modern moment for people in the uk perhaps people from around the world who've gone there to see the queen in person and this very ancient tradition i think you exactly nailed it that we are looking at traditions that go back so many hundreds of years and we are seeing them in this modern moment when people are holding up their cell phones and recognizing this is a historical thing but also we're approaching it in our very 21st century you know digital age um some of that duality that we were talking about earlier i think was really on display at the end of the service and after we had seen you know members of the royal family walking very conscious of their duty just focused on the procession starting to look i think a bit more emotional really in westminster hall and now there is this time when the royal family so real people who live lives on very public display um they have you know a little bit of time away from the proceedings they're not expected back for the visual differences until friday and the public now has a chance to go by the queen's coffin um but it's really this mix of real people living their lives sort of in the public eye and the combination of this moment of saying goodbye to both a family member and a monarch and i think the people who are coming you know i've been talking to people around london i've encountered tourists from egypt from northern ireland one a 34 year old man from alexandria egypt said to me the other day this is a global story right now and you know it's interesting when someone who's not a journalist tells you this is the global story and he said people everywhere are interested in this i really think that this is a case of britain has lost its queen but the world has lost the queen a moment ago we saw prime minister liz trust also kira starmer a politician leader of the opposition the leader of the labour party autumn what does it mean to have them present in this moment i think we're now also seeing you know the royal family the queen is she was the head of state we're now seeing other elements of the british government like other high-ranking officials just sort of pointing out it's not the royal family occupies a very symbolic ceremonial role but now um the elected officials people who actually sort of are part of the day-to-day workings of government kind of a reminder of how this is a constitutional monarchy thank you so much autumn brewington author of post elizabeth the newsletter that you can sign up for thank you so rhonda colvin you know as we watch these images from westminster hall and we see these governmental leaders from the first minister of scotland to the prime minister there is a very different scene outside the window where you are so tell us about what you are seeing and what it's been like to sort of overlook what's happening in london today well since we've started today we've seen the lines over the bridge and they're still there of course and as projections say it's going to be like this over the course of the next few days i'm also seeing people on the ground walking around it's more congested than it was when we got here so things are certainly busier and this marks that public phase of the uh funeral proceedings and memorial proceedings that london is undertaking this week and there's a there's footage of that right now what i'm talking about on the ground you see a lot more people out i see a lot of people dressed in black as well and you just sensed this sense of community a community in reverence of the queen a community having a collective grieving together talking with each other i know in some of the lines people have struck up conversations about the times they may have had a close brush with the queen or their different reflections of her this morning i heard one woman interviewed of why she came and she said i had to be here for her she never embarrassed any of us and i i kind of laughed at that for a minute but i thought queen elizabeth was around for so long that you would think that there was you know some moment we would be talking about right now uh so many of our world leaders today have gaffes and and that ends up being something talked about when they pass away but with her she was you know the personification of the royals of britain uh and and she held that duty close to her heart it's just very evident in her life and so people are coming out because they they want to uh remember that and want to market in their own ways i'm also thinking about how when she was coronated in in 53 tv had just you know kind of been uh invented and of course back then there wasn't the technology we enjoy today and many of the people walking around behind us could easily see this and experience this on their phones on their laptops at home without the crowds but they're choosing to be here and i really think that's a mark of uh how this community feels about the queen james let's talk about what is to come in the days ahead in the hours ahead yeah so in the hours ahead these cues that are forming uh behind us will get their chance to see the queen she's in this oak coffin that was built more than 30 years ago weighs thousands of pounds is lined with lead is specially designed so that it can hold some of the crown jewels and the crown on top uh and up to a million people uh are descending on london hundreds of thousands of them may wait in line for tens of hours to get one last glimpse and that really is going to be the the center of attention here in london until monday when there will be what is expected to be a funeral for the ages and sarah houston let's talk more about uh these moments and what these moments will mean for the opportunity of the british people um and also what it would be like in london because this period goes on for so many days does life come to a standstill will people be watching and sort of streaming the vigil as they sort of check in about their daily lives and will monday really be the significant day for everyone's eyes and focus to turn to the final goodbye to queen elizabeth look i think for anyone living working in london the next few days will certainly not be easy the government advice has been for people to stay at home if they can work from home if they can because as james was describing that the pressure the strain that this puts on transport networks on policing police drafted in from all around the country leave cancelled in order to secure this lying in state for her majesty given the sheer quantity of people expected to attend and you know we're already seeing the first of those but this goes on for more than four days 24 hours a day and will be hugely significant to those who attend not all of them because they are monarchists because they would normally consider themselves to be even fans of the royal family but because they want to be a part of history something that they will never have seen in their lifetimes and they want to be a part of that moment that collective process of mourning that is taking place and to be there to say goodbye to the queen we've just seen the choir of westminster abbey making their way out what a remarkable experience for those young people sarah yes sarah what a remarkable experience for those young people to be a part of this moment of history and paying homage and for them yeah and for their parents watching you can only imagine what they must be feeling watching as as their children take part in such a moment a momentous moment in the history of this nation sarah what are we doing while i'm talking to you we've had a readout yeah we've had a readout of a call between president biden and king charles iii which took place this morning before this procession took place and before we had the service in westminster hall let me just get it for you it says president joseph r biden jr spoke today with king charles iii to offer his condolences on the passing of queen elizabeth ii the president recalled fondly the queen's kindness and hospitality including when she hosted him and the first lady at windsor castle last june you'll remember the president and first lady traveled to windsor after they'd been attending the g7 summit in cornwall in the southwest of the united kingdom in the summer president biden also conveyed the great admiration of the american people for the queen whose dignity and constancy deepened the enduring friendship and special relationship between the united states and the united kingdom president biden conveyed his wish to continue a close relationship with the king and indeed president biden one of the first world leaders to confirm that he would be attending the funeral there was some confusion as to whether all world leaders will be made to travel to the funeral on a bus in order to facilitate getting everyone around the capital it has now been clarified that the beast will be in attendance as well and uh sarah you know all eyes will be on this moment i just want you to in our final moment give us a sense of the scale of this we've seen nothing like this perhaps ever no none of us in our lifetime we had uh lying in state for winston churchill the former prime minister but many of us won't remember that many of us won't have been alive and not on this scale not just because this is the lying in state for a monarch but this is the lying in state for a monarch who reigned for 70 years none of us have few of us have seen a world without the queen as head of state and so these rituals these proceedings that we're seeing unfolding over the course of this 10 12 day period between the death of the queen and her funeral symbolic of of her significance to the nation and that end of the elizabethan era the second elizabethan era and the passing into a new era the caroline era as it is known the era of king charles and that is a great unknown for many and i think what we've been hearing from the king over the coming days is efforts to reassure that there will be continuity that he will follow in his mother's footsteps but stepping into those shoes well they are very big shoes to step into and i think he is all too aware of that when he talks about that great weight of responsibility and the prime minister there on that screen as sarah hewson wraps this coverage up for us thank you for joining us today as queen elizabeth ii begins these four days of lying in state thousands are expected in london including president biden and other leaders from around the world coming to pay their respects to britain's departed monarch and we will bring you uninterrupted coverage of monday's state funeral beginning at 5 30 a.m eastern time as the focus shifts to westminster abbey and then to windsor where the queen will reach her final resting place we will be along the route and we'll be live from our westminster studio guiding you through it every step of the way i'm libby casey a special thanks to our team in london james homan rhonda colvin sarah hewson lee powell and hannah jewell of course also autumn brewington and others have been joining 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