Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Monday dwindled between moments of triumph and peace, moaning, emotion, and awesome majesty.
Inside the eye-catching gothic St. Georges chapel, the royal family, and government leaders said farewell to a monarch whose lifetime made her prevalent, the Queen was laid to rest on September,19, 2022.
In the abbey in 1953 the queen was crowned, and It was there that she married Prince Philip, in 1947.
The service contained touches referring to that history.
The hymn ‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’ was sung at her wedding to Philip back in 1947, and the choir’s anthem ‘O Taste and see how gracious the Lord is was composed for the coronation of the Queen in 1953.
Thunder of drums
The coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was carried out of Westminster Abbey by Grenadier Guardsmen.
The clamor settled as the moaners took their seats and calmed down a full hour before the service, then the silence dominated as foreign royalty slowly entered the abbey.
The coffin was streamed in procession from nearby Westminster Hall and the thunder of the approaching drums and sound of the massed pipes reverberated in the church as the parade marched outside.
Westminster Abbey’s tenor bell tolled every minute for 96 minutes, signifying the lifespan of Britain’s longest-reigning sovereign.
Each strike added to the anticipation, while the organ music, played in slight keys, grew louder and deeper as the bearer party approached.
As the coffin arrived at the Great West Door, the 2,000 congregants stood in a wave spreading towards the altar.
Eight Grenadier Guardsmen in scarlet jackets, with their bearskin hats off, ferried the coffin over the memorial stone of Winston Churchill, the first of Queen Elizabeth II’s 15 prime ministers during her tenure.
The late monarch’s eldest son, King Charles III, led the royal family following behind the coffin.
Prince William, now the heir to the throne, stayed close to his son Prince George, a nine-year-old boy who will one day take on his late great-grandmother’s duties.
William’s wife Catherine occasionally held the hand of their daughter Princess Charlotte, aged seven.
A promise well kept
The Prince of Wales sat beside his eldest son Prince George during Queen Elizabeth’s funeral service.
On the lead-lined, oak coffin lay a new wreath of flowers, with the message ‘In loving and devoted memory. Charles R’, to mean Rex, or king.
The coffin also bore the Royal Standard flag and the instruments of the state, the Imperial State Crown, the Orb, and the Sceptre.
These Crown Jewels were part of the coronation regalia when Queen Elizabeth II took her solemn oaths of service.
They glittered in the flickering light of the candles surrounding the coffin.
The service included sermon readings from the bible by Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland and the UK’s new prime minister Liz Truss, who was appointed by the Queen as her last British prime minister only two days before she passed away.
In his sermon, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby recalled how a young princess Elizabeth, aged 21, had pledged to serve her future subjects, in Britain and the Commonwealth, for life.
Justin Welby praised the queen’s life of duty and service to the UK and the Commonwealth.
“Rarely has a promise been so well kept,” he said.
In April 2020, when Covid-19 hit Britain and millions sunk into anxious isolation and lockdown, Queen Elizabeth II made a rare national broadcast to say ‘We will meet again’, chiming a line from a World War II song that kept hope burning in the darkest hours.
Welby ended his sermon by saying all who followed Queen Elizabeth II’s example could say those words with her.
Silence and peace
The State Funeral Service for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in London
As the prayers went on, the sun shone through the vast South rose window, bringing out the Royal vivid red, blue and yellow hues on the coffin.
After the final post note died out on the roof, a two-minute silence fell and was broken by trumpets Sounding a triumphant reveille.
The singing of the national anthem, now ‘God Save the King’, symbolizes the transfer to a new reign. King Charles stared straight ahead at his mother’s coffin, throughout the session.
The Queen’s Piper ended the state funeral with the traditional Scottish lament ‘Sleep, dearie, sleep’.
The bearer party then returned to take the coffin to the waiting procession on the slow march and drive to St. George’s Windsor Castle.
In several steps, they gradually turned with the coffin to face the Great West Door.
With each turn, the Imperial State Crown’s 2,868 diamonds, 269 pearls, 17 sapphires, and 11 emeralds sparkled anew, taking on different colors.
Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin, who served as the Queen’s Chaplin, told the media afterward
“It was beautiful”.
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“It captured her essence, her faith, and it felt as if we just said farewell not only to a mother but also to a woman of great esteem, and a woman who was loved.”
