Laid to rest with her
beloved Bertie
April 10, 2002
The Royal Family stood near the coffin in Westminster Abbey
The Queen Mother's coffin has been laid to rest in Windsor alongside her beloved husband King George VI.
Senior members of the Royal Family said their final farewells in a private service at St George's Chapel last night.
It followed a day of national mourning during which more than a million people turned out to pay their respects along the funeral route and many more observed two minutes' silence in the Queen Mother's honour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury paid tribute to her gifts of ‘strength, dignity and laughter’ at the funeral service in Westminster Abbey in London.
Dr George Carey told the congregation, and the many thousands listening to broadcasts across the world, that the Queen Mother was like the sun ‘bathing us in her warm glow’.
The Prince of Wales appeared to be on the brink of tears during the funeral service. He is still clearly grief stricken at the loss of his grandmother, who he treated as a close confidante.
Sad journey
A poem by an unknown author helped set the tone of thanksgiving for the Queen Mother's 101 remarkable years.
It read: ‘You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived.
‘You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.’
Around the UK, millions observed two minutes' silence at 11.30am - the moment the Queen Mother's coffin arrived at the abbey.
Supermarkets closed their doors, buses and trains were halted, and many offices and schools fell silent.
Westminster Abbey's Tenor Bell tolled for every year of the Queen Mother's life.
The Queen Mother's coffin then began the sad 23-mile journey to Windsor, accompanied by Prince Charles.
Hundreds of thousands of people lined the route, many throwing floral tributes as the black hearse carrying her coffin passed by.
members of the Royal household stood silently and with heads bowed as the coffin arrived at Windsor, right.
The Queen Mother was buried alongside her husband in St George's chapel. The ashes of their daughter Princess Margaret, who died in February, were interred at the same time in the Royal Vault.
Afterwards Prince Charles left for one of his grandmother's residences at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate where he has chosen to spend some time alone in reflection.
He is expected to spend a week there and to be joined by Camilla Parker Bowles who attended the funeral at the invitation of the Queen.
St George's chapel at Windsor opened to the public this morning and will stay open until Friday April 19 so that well-wishers can pay their final respects.
The Queen's wreath to her mother of white roses and sweet peas has been placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Westminster Abbey.
Poignant farewell to
the Queen Mother
April 9, 2002
Crowds lined the path of the funeral procession
Many thousands have joined the Royal Family in mourning the death of the Queen Mother at Westminster Abbey in London, as her coffin begins its final journey home to Windsor.
To the sound of 128 pipers, she was borne by gun carriage to the abbey - the scene of her wedding, her coronation and now her funeral.
Nine senior members of the Royal Family walked solemnly behind her coffin, led by the Massed Pipes and Drums, comprising 192 musicians from 13 regiments.
They included the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Princes William and Harry and the Princess Royal.
Watching their progress along the route from Westminster Hall were thousands of mourners from across the UK and abroad - some of whom had been camping for days to get the best view.
A 2,000-strong congregation including the Queen, Prime Minister Tony Blair, America's first lady Laura Bush and the Canadian and Australian Prime Ministers awaited them in the abbey for the funeral service. 'Strength, dignity and laughter'
Around the UK, millions observed two minutes' silence as the ceremony started at 11.30am. Some shops and offices closed as a mark of respect and many schools held special assemblies.
The Archbishop of Canterbury paid tribute to the Queen Mother's gifts of ‘strength, dignity and laughter’.
Dr George Carey said: ‘We come here to mourn but also to give thanks, to celebrate the person and her life - both filled with such a rich sense of fun and joy and the music of laughter.’
He talked of the ‘remarkable quality of her dealings with people - her ability to make all human encounters, however fleeting, feel both special and personal.’
A poem by an unknown author on the Order of Service set the tone of thanksgiving for the Queen Mother's long and remarkable life. It read: ‘You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived.
‘You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.’ Lancaster fly-past
After the funeral, a car carrying her coffin began the journey to Windsor Castle for the Royal Family's private interment of the Queen Mother, in a chapel alongside her husband and the ashes of her daughter Princess Margaret.
The Prince of Wales is accompanying his ‘beloved’ grandmother's coffin on its final journey.
Up to 400,000 people lined the streets to watch the solemn funeral procession, many throwing flowers tributes onto the hearse as it passed.
Two Second World War Spitfires and a Lancaster bomber from the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made a fly-past over Buckingham Palace.
Click for more pictures from the BBC
April 8, 2002
The Queen Mother's four grandsons in silent vigil The Queen Mother's four grandsons have staged a silent vigil around the four corners of her coffin in Westminster Hall in London.
Today's solemn tribute by Princes Charles, Andrew, Edward and the late Princess Margaret's son, Viscount Linley, was reminiscent of another royal vigil, on the same spot at Westminster Hall, for King George V in 1936.
The Prince of Wales, pictured right, wore the dress uniform of a Rear Admiral and the Duke of York that of a Royal Naval Commander.
The Earl of Wessex, who left the Royal Marines, and Lord Linley, who also does not hold military rank, wore black morning coats.
Other members of the Royal Family stood in the background as the grandsons took their positions around the 7ft-high catafalque, past which more than 100,000 public mourners have filed.
The flow of public mourners was briefly halted as the grandsons took their places.
The grandsons remained on silent guard for 20 minutes.
Other Royals present included Charles's sons Princes William and Harry, the Princess Royal and her husband Timothy Laurence, her son Peter Phillips and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
Prince Charles's companion Camilla Parker Bowles was also there.
At the end of the grandsons' vigil they were replaced by four members of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard.
The Prince of Wales later paid a second visit to Westminster Hall to pay further respects to his grandmother.
Charles quietly slipped in to the Great Hall and stood on the VIP dais at around 11pm.
Dressed in a black suit and black tie, he spent around 20 minutes in sombre silence as he looked over his grandmother's coffin.
Black Rod, Sir Michael Willcocks, said more than 160,000 people had paid their respects at Westminster Hall so far, with well-wishers passing through at a rate of 5,000 per hour currently.
Queen pays tribute to her mother April 8, 2002
The Queen has made a personal broadcast to the nation to thank the public for their ‘deeply moving’ tributes to her mother.
She said the outpouring of affection over the last few days had been ‘overwhelming’.
‘I have drawn great comfort from so many individual acts of kindness and respect,’ she told the nation.
She revealed her sadness in an address recorded at Windsor Castle during which the Queen gave thanks for her mother's long and eventful life.
‘She had an infectious zest for living, and this remained with her until the very end,’ the Queen said.
But she said she hoped that tomorrow's ceremony would blend with a wider sense of thanksgiving for her mother's life and for the times in which she lived.
Her death had, she added, left a ‘void’ in the family's life.
April 5, 2002
Royal family members follow the coffin Three generations of the Royal Family joined a procession carrying the Queen Mother's coffin through London today.
The procession from St James's Palace to Westminster Hall, where the Queen Mother is now lying in state, lasted for 30 minutes.
It was the biggest event of its kind for 50 years.
Police estimated 250,000 members of the public lined the streets to watch in respectful silence.
The teenage princes William and Harry were bare-headed and dressed in morning suits, in contrast to other family members in their military uniforms.
In a break with tradition, the Princess Royal joined the male members of the family and up to 1,700 troops marching the route.
The coffin was draped in the Queen Mother's personal standard and surmounted by her diamond-encrusted crown.
It was topped with a single wreath of white roses and freesias from the Queen, and accompanied by a card reading 'In Loving Memory, Lilibet'.
The Queen, pictured left, did not join the procession but went to Westminster Hall for the prayer service marking the beginning of the lying-in-state.
With Prince Philip she led the royal procession into the hall, followed by the Prince of Wales with Princes William and Harry and other family members.
MPs, headed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, members of the House of Lords and many other VIPs, including Commonwealth representatives, were also at the hall.
A choir from Westminster Abbey and the Chapels Royal sang a short psalm as the coffin was carried into Westminster Hall by eight pall bearers from the Irish Guards.
A specially-written prayer was read out by the Archbishop of Canterbury, giving thanks for the Queen Mother's life and praising her ‘unwearied service’ and ‘loyalty’.
After the procession, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family were driven to Windsor Castle.
The Queen was clearly moved by an outbreak of applause by people lining the roadside as her car passed by.
The crowds, which had begun gathering overnight, were 15-deep in places by the time of the parade.
Members of the public said the procession was ‘dignified and honourable’.
The Queen Mother will lie in state until Tuesday
The coffin will lie in state in Westminster Hall until Tuesday, when it will be taken to Westminster Abbey for the funeral.
By late this afternoon, there was a two-and-a-half mile queue of mourners waiting to pay personal tribute to the Queen Mother.
The queue snaked from Westminster Hall over Lambeth Bridge and along the other side of the Thames.
Visitors began gathering outside the hall in the early morning, ready to pay their respects when it opened just after 2pm.
Grandsons in Queen Mother vigil April 4, 2002
Prince Andrew views the public tributes
Prince Andrew has confirmed that the Queen Mother's four grandsons will mount a vigil around her coffin while it lies in state.
The Duke of York revealed the plan as he visited the walls of her former home Clarence House in London to see for himself flowers and tributes which had been left by members of the public.
He said he and his brothers, Princes Charles and Edward, along with their cousin Lord Linley wanted to pay their respects by standing silently around their grandmother's coffin when it was placed at Westminster.
The solemn tribute by the Queen Mother's grandsons is expected to take place on the eve of the funeral on Tuesday, before the public are allowed in.
It will echo a similar vigil held by George V's sons on his death in 1936. ‘We stood there for 20 minutes in the dim candlelight and the great silence,’ King George VI later wrote.
‘I felt close to my father and all that he had stood for.’ In a clear reference to history, Prince Andrew said: ‘It's been done before and we think it's right that we should mark it in this way.’ Spoke movingly
He also said the Prince of Wales ‘did us proud’ when he spoke movingly of their grandmother on Monday.
‘I thought it was absolutely fantastic and words other than his are probably inappropriate.
’We each had an individual and unique relationship with our grandmother. She was very, very special.’
Earlier Prince Andrew visited St James's Palace and spent some time in the Queen's Chapel, where the Queen Mother's coffin is resting, before moving on to sign the book of condolence.
He then spoke to well-wishers who had gathered outside before walking down the Mall to Clarence House.
William and Harry to join April 4, 2002 Princes William and Harry will walk behind their great-grandmother's coffin when it is drawn through the streets of the capital in a spectacular military procession on Friday.
In a break with royal tradition, the Princess Royal will also join them in a ceremony usually reserved for male family members.
Fourteen senior members of the Royal Family will walk behind the coffin on its 28-minute journey from the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace in central London to Westminster Hall.
The sight of Prince William, 19, and his 17-year-old brother Prince Harry, walking behind as mourners is certain to stir memories of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral procession five years ago.
funeral cortege
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
1900 - 2002
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Poignant farewell to Queen Mother
Grandsons in silent vigil
Queen pays tribute to her mother
Grandsons in Queen Mother vigil
William and Harry to join funeral cortege
House of Commons celebrates life
Troops prepare royal procession
Tributes from around the world
Highland lament for Queen Mother
'My magical grandmother'
Queen Mother's final journey begins
Gun salutes for Queen Mother
Palace announces funeral details
Princes fly home to pay their respects
The Queen Mother is dead
Copyright (c) 2000-2002 Sue Kelly