The hearse passed piles of flowers and other tributes as it led a seven-car convoy from Balmoral, where the queen died on Thursday aged 96, on a six-hour journey through Scottish towns to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The late Queen’s coffin was draped in the Royal Standard for Scotland and topped with a wreath made of flowers from the estate, including the sweet pea, one of the Queen’s favourites. The Queen’s coffin made a circuitous journey back to the capital. After being flown to London on Tuesday, the coffin will be moved from Buckingham Palace on Wednesday to the Houses of Parliament to lie in state until the state funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 19. The White House said Sunday that President Biden had formally accepted an invitation to attend the funeral and would be accompanied by first lady Jill Biden. The procession was a huge event for Scotland as the UK takes days to mourn its longest-reigning monarch, the only one most Britons have ever known. People came out hours early to grab a space from police barricades in Edinburgh. By afternoon, the crowds were 10 people deep in places. “I think she was always a constant in my life. She was the queen I was born under and she was always there,” said Angus Ruthven, a 54-year-old civil servant from Edinburgh. “I think it’s going to take a lot of adjustment not being here. It’s a very sudden thing.” Silence fell on the packed Royal Mile in Edinburgh as the hearse carrying the Queen arrived. But as the motorcade disappeared from sight, the crowd spontaneously broke into applause. The funeral procession of Queen Elizabeth II as it makes its way down the Royal Mile to Holyroodhouse on September 11, 2022, in Edinburgh, Scotland. JAMIE WILLIAMSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images When the hearse arrived at Holyroodhouse, members of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, wearing green tartan skins, carried the coffin past the Queen’s three youngest children – Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward – and into the throne room, where would remain until Monday afternoon so staff could pay their last respects. King Charles III and his Queen consort Camilla will travel to Edinburgh on Monday to take part in another official procession that will carry the Queen’s coffin to St. Peter’s Cathedral. Giles on the city’s Royal Mile. There the coffin will remain for 24 hours for the Scottish public to pay their respects before it is taken to London on Tuesday. The first village the group passed through was Ballater, where the residents count the royal family as neighbours. Hundreds of people watched in silence and some threw flowers in front of the hearse. “It meant so much to the people in this area. People were crying, it was amazing to see,” said Victoria Pacheco, hospice manager. In every Scottish town and village, the procession was met with subdued scenes of respect. People mostly stood in silence. some clapped politely, others pointed their phone cameras at passing cars. In Aberdeenshire, farmers lined the route with an honor guard of tractors. Along the way, the group passed through sites steeped in the history of the House of Windsor. These included Dyce, where in 1975 the Queen officially opened the UK’s first North Sea oil pipeline, and Fife, near the University of St. Andrews, where her grandson Prince William, now the Prince of Wales, studied and met his future wife, Catherine. Sunday’s official event came as the Queen’s eldest son was officially named the new monarch — King Charles III — in the remaining nations of the United Kingdom: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It came a day after a pomp-filled joining ceremony in England. “I am deeply aware of this great legacy and the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty that have now passed to me,” Charles said on Saturday. Shortly before the proclamation was read out on Sunday in Edinburgh, a protester appeared with a sign condemning imperialism and urging leaders to “abolish the monarchy”. She was picked up by the police. The reaction was mixed. One man yelled, “Let her go! It’s free speech!” while others shouted: “Have some respect!” However, there were shouts in Edinburgh when Joseph Morrow, Lord Lyon, King of Arms, concluded his proclamation with the words “God save the king!” Ann Hamilton, 48, said she thought the curling was “absolutely terrible”. “There are tens of thousands of people here today to pay their respects. For them to be here, to make things difficult, I think it was terrible. If they were so against it, they shouldn’t have come,” he said. But it was a sign of how some, including Britain’s former colonies, are grappling with the monarchy’s legacy. Earlier, proclamations were read in other parts of the Commonwealth, including Australia and New Zealand. Charles, even as he mourned his late mother, went to work at Buckingham Palace, meeting the chief secretary and other Commonwealth officials. Many in these nations struggle with affection for the queen and bitterness over their colonial heritage, which ranged from outright slavery to corporal punishment in African schools to looted artefacts held in British cultural institutions. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who had begun laying the foundations for an Australian democracy after an election in May, said on Sunday that now was the time not for change but to pay tribute to the late queen. India, a former British colony, observed a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast at all government buildings. Amidst the grief that has enveloped the House of Windsor, there have been hints of a possible family reconciliation. Prince William and his brother Harry, along with their respective wives, Catherine, Princess of Wales and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, delighted mourners near Windsor Castle with a joint surprise on Saturday. In Ballater, Reverend David Barr said locals regard the Royals as neighbours. “When she comes here and goes through these gates, I think the royal part of her is mostly left out,” he said. “And as she came in, she was able to be a wife, a loving wife, a loving mom, a loving grandmother and later a loving great-grandmother – and aunt – and be normal.” Elizabeth Taylor, from Aberdeen, was teary-eyed after the hearse carrying the Queen’s coffin passed through Ballater. “It was very emotional. It was respectful and showed what they thought of the Queen,” he said. “She certainly gave service to this country, even up until a few days before her death.” More
