Sharjah24 – AFP: Britain said farewell to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday at a historic state funeral attended by world leaders, before a ceremonial journey past hundreds of thousands of mourners to her final place of rest.
Huge crowds gathered in London to watch as the queen's flag-draped coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, her orb and sceptre, was carried slowly to a gun carriage from parliament's Westminster Hall where it had lain in state since Wednesday.
To the tune of pipes and drums, the gun carriage -- used at every state funeral since Queen Victoria's in 1901 -- was then drawn by 142 junior enlisted sailors in the Royal Navy to Westminster Abbey.
The thousand-year-old church's tenor bell tolled 96 times at one-minute intervals -- one for every year of her life -- and stopped a minute before the service began at 11:00 am (1000 GMT).
In his funeral sermon, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby praised the queen's life of duty and service to the UK and the Commonwealth.
"People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer," he told the 2,000 guests, who included US President Joe Biden and Japan's Emperor Naruhito.
The coffin was then borne, to the rhythmic strains of funeral marches, on a three-hour journey through the streets of London to Windsor Castle, west of the capital.
All along the route, a sea of arms were raised aloft, clutching mobile phones, to record the choreographed display of military precision.
The last chants of "God save the queen" were heard as onlookers scattered flowers on the road, and muffled church bells rang in the distance.
A private burial took place late Monday in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, conducted by the Dean of Windsor, the official website of the royal family said.
"The Queen was buried together with the Duke of Edinburgh," a statement said, referring to her husband of 73 years Prince Philip who died last year.
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