London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jan 09, 2026

Queen Elizabeth II: A day-by-day guide from now to the funeral

Queen Elizabeth II: A day-by-day guide from now to the funeral

The Queen's coffin is in Balmoral, but soon will embark on its journey to the nation's capital ahead of her state funeral on Monday 19 September.

People will be given the chance to pay their respects to the Queen, as her body will be placed in the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Westminster Hall for people to see her coffin - a tradition known as lying in state.

King Charles III will also embark on a tour of all four nations that make up the UK.

Here is your guide to what will happen, day by day.


The Queen's oak coffin, which sits in the ballroom at Balmoral Castle, will be transported by her gamekeepers to a waiting hearse.

Her body will depart Balmoral at around 10:00, proceeding slowly on the six-hour journey to Edinburgh along more than 175 miles (280km) by road.

The coffin will arrive at the Palace of Holyroodhouse - the official residence of the British monarch in the Scottish capital - and lie in the Throne Room.

In London, the King will meet with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth at Buckingham Palace. He will later host in the palace's Bow Room the High Commissioners from the countries of which he is head of state.


King Charles will begin the day with a visit to Westminster Hall, where both Houses of Parliament will meet to express their condolences.

Accompanied by Camilla, the Queen Consort, the King will travel by air to Edinburgh. It is part of Operation Spring Tide, the codename for his first trip around around all four nations of the United Kingdom as king.

In the afternoon, the Queen's coffin will travel by procession to St Giles' Cathedral, accompanied by the King and members of the Royal Family.

The Queen's body will lie in rest at St Giles' and members of the public will be able to view her coffin, which will remain under continuous vigil for 24 hours.

The King will then return to Holyrood, where he will have an audience with the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. He and the Queen Consort will then attend the Scottish Parliament where they will receive a Motion of Condolence.

In the evening, King Charles will hold a Vigil with members of the Royal Family at St Giles' Cathedral.


Princess Anne, the Queen's only daughter, will accompany the Queen's coffin from St Giles' Cathedral to Edinburgh airport, and then by plane to RAF Northolt.

The Queen's final flight from Scotland to London is expected to arrive shortly before 19:00.

From there it will travel to Buckingham Palace, the official residence of British monarchs in London since 1837. The coffin's arrival at the palace will be witnessed by King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, before it goes to rest in the Bow Room.

Before that, the King and Camilla will visit to Belfast in Northern Ireland. They will then travel on to Hillsborough Castle to view an exhibition on the Queen's long association with Northern Ireland.

King Charles will then meet with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harrris MP, as well as other party leaders. He will also receive a message of condolence led by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

After a meeting with religious leaders, King Charles and Camilla will attend a prayer service at St Anne's Cathedral, and then return to London.


The Queen's body will travel in a public procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall shortly after 14:00.

Her coffin will be carried on a gun carriage of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, and will be accompanied by a military parade as well as members of the Royal Family.

King Charles will lead the procession behind the carriage, which will be draped in the Royal Standard.

Crowds will be able to watch as it makes the journey along Queen's Gardens, The Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard.

The journey is expected to last around 40 minutes.

There will also be large television screens set up for the occasion especially in the capital's Royal Parks.

Once in Westminster Hall, the coffin will rest on a raised platform known as a catafalque and topped with the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre.

Each corner of the platform will be guarded 24-hours-a-day by soldiers from units that serve the Royal Household.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will conduct a short service attended by King Charles and other members of the Royal Family, before the Hall is opened to the public.


The day marks the first of four full days that the Queen's body will lie in state in Westminster Hall, where she will remain until the morning of the state funeral.

The closed coffin will be placed upon a raised platform and the public will be able to file past and pay their respects.

Details will be released later on how people can take part, but it is expected that hundreds of thousands of mourners will be able to pay their respects in the 11th-Century building, the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster and the heart of the British government.

Lying in state is a traditional formality given to the sovereign, the current or past Queen Consort, and sometimes political leaders - although no former prime minister has laid in state since Winston Churchill in 1965.


The Queen's coffin will lie in state for the second full day in Westminster Hall, where people will be able to pay their respects.

The King and Camilla will travel to Wales, marking the final of his visits to all four nations of the United Kingdom as king.


The Queen's coffin will lie in state for the third full day in Westminster Hall.


The Queen's coffin will lie in state for the fourth full day in Westminster Hall.


During the morning the Queen's lying in state will end, and the coffin will be taken in procession to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, which is a Bank Holiday in the UK.

Among the guests that will join members of her family will be senior UK politicians and heads of state from across the world.

Following the funeral, the coffin will travel in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, from where it will travel to Windsor.

The state hearse will then take the coffin along the Long Walk to St George's Chapel in Windsor Chapel, where a committal service will take place.


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
Apple Escalates Legal Fight by Appealing £1.5 Billion UK Ruling Over App Store Fees
UK Debt Levels Sit Mid-Range Among Advanced Economies Despite Rising Pressures
UK Plans Royal Diplomacy with King Charles and Prince William to Reinvigorate Trade Talks with US
King Charles and Prince William Poised for Separate 2026 US Visits to Reinforce UK-US Trade and Diplomatic Ties
Apple Moves to Appeal UK Ruling Ordering £1.5 Billion in Customer Overcharge Damages
King Charles’s 2025 Christmas Message Tops UK Television Ratings on Christmas Day
The Battle Over the Internet Explodes: The United States Bars European Officials and Ignites a Diplomatic Crisis
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Join Royal Family at Sandringham Christmas Service
Fine Wine Investors Find Little Cheer in Third Year of Falls
UK Mortgage Rates Edge Lower as Bank of England Base Rate Cut Filters Through Lending Market
U.S. Supermarket Gives Customers Free Groceries for Christmas After Computer Glitch
Air India ‘Finds’ a Plane That Vanished 13 Years Ago
Caviar and Foie Gras? China Is Becoming a Luxury Food Powerhouse
Hong Kong Climbs to Second Globally in 2025 Tourism Rankings Behind Bangkok
×