OTTAWA – The date of Canada’s national memorial service for Queen Elizabeth II is up in the air as officials anxiously await public confirmation of when her state funeral will be held in London.
Canadian Heritage reports that the national ceremony will begin with a memorial parade consisting of members of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP officers along with a 96-gun salute — one for each year of her life — and a CF-18 Flypast.
It will be followed by a service at Christ Anglican Cathedral in downtown Ottawa, which will be attended by government officials and other dignitaries and will be nationally televised for all Canadians.
While planning for the actual ceremony has been underway for years, Beth Bretzlaff, rector of Christ Church Cathedral and dean of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, said the devil is in the details. And the biggest detail missing now is the date.
“We don’t know when he’ll be in England yet,” Bretzlaff said in an interview. “So everything rests on them.”
Protocol calls for 10 days of mourning after the queen’s death, but the rules surrounding the actual funeral are not as rigid. British officials are expected to announce the date shortly.
Britain’s longest-serving monarch and Canadian head of state died on Thursday.
Despite the uncertainty, Bretzlaff said preparations are moving forward.
“There are a lot of details, especially around the service elements,” he said. “Who does what and how do people line up and where do they go and who sits where. You also have the music and all the people who might be involved, let alone the guests.”
The Church of Christ is not new to such ceremonies. It hosted a similar national memorial for the Queen’s late husband Prince Philip last year and another for the Queen Mother in 2002.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip actually worshiped in the 750-seat cathedral on two occasions in 1957 and 1961.
“And in one of those cases, the power went out,” Bretzlaff said. “The service continued, but there was no organ. They sang without music and lit the candles. It was rather an intimate relationship with the queen herself in this place.’
While preparations for the celebration are underway, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of the federal cabinet and Privy Council are expected to meet in the coming days to formally announce the accession of King Charles III as Canada’s head of state.
Trudeau is also signing the book of condolence for the queen on Friday night after returning to Ottawa from a three-day cabinet meeting in Vancouver and is expected to attend the state funeral in London.
The condolence book at Rideau Hall is available to Canadians mourning the Queen’s death, and an online version is available from Canadian Heritage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 9, 2022.
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