Britain and leaders from around the world said a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral to honor her historic 70-year reign.
Summary
Britain and leaders from around the world said a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral to honor her historic 70-year reign.
- The late Queen’s son, King Charles III, his siblings, Princes William and Harry, and other royals solemnly processed through the streets of London behind the coffin for the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.
- Tens of thousands of Britons silently lined the streets to pay their respects to the late monarch.
- President Joe Biden and the other presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs have made only limited public appearances and kept low profiles to ensure the spotlight remains on the Queen.
- Over 2,000 dignitaries and members of the British public attended the Queen’s funeral, the first monarch’s funeral held at Westminster Abbey since 1760. The estimated 1 million mourners are protected by thousands of military personnel and 10,000 police in the largest policing operation in London’s history.
- After the funeral in Westminster Abbey, the Queen’s coffin processed through London to Windsor, where Elizabeth II will be laid to rest next to her late husband, Prince Philip, later Monday.
- The New York Times profiled the “everyday honorees” invited to the funeral alongside the crowned heads of Europe and other world leaders. These guests include an 88-year-old woman who records audiobooks for the blind, an anti-knife crime campaigner who survived a stabbing attack, and Britons who helped others in the pandemic or in their communities.
- POLITICO covered “The Queue,” the extraordinarily long line – possibly the longest in world history – of ordinary citizens who waited hours to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth.
- CNN published a tremendous photographic collage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
- FOX News wrote the recurring theme amongst the mourners was a sense of awe and gratitude for Queen Elizabeth’s “lifelong sense of duty.”
- The Wall Street Journal reported the plans for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral were “decades in the making,” including practice sessions in an airplane hanger to prepare for 10 days of “minutely choreographed pageantry.”
- The Telegraph covered how the world paid their respects to the late Queen. Paris renamed a metro station in her honor, dozens of world capitals lowered their flags to half-mast and some countries declared a federal holiday to mark the funeral.
Return to Freespoke 
© Dominic Moore, 2022
