Here's How To Watch The Queen's Funeral & The Guest List Is Packed With Leaders & Royals
Queen Elizabeth II's funeral will be one of the biggest in modern history — and while you probably didn't get an invite, you can still be part of it from home.
The actual funeral will take place on Monday, September 19, and you can watch it from anywhere in the world by checking out the BBC livestream or visiting the website.
The funeral itself will get started at 11 a.m. local time (6 a.m. Eastern or 3 a.m. Pacific), according to the plan released by Buckingham Palace and shared by the BBC.
When is the queen's funeral?
Everything will kick off early in the day at 6:30 a.m., when Westminster Hall will stop accepting people to see the queen lying in state.
A few hours later, around 10:45 a.m., the queen's body will be taken via carriage from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, which is more or less, across the street. You can expect a procession with many of marching military members and gun salutes at this point.
Senior members of the royal family will also be part of the escort, including King Charles III, his sons Prince William and Prince Harry, and his siblings Prince Edward, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne. Expect to see them, along with others like Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and Catherine Middleton, the Princess of Wales, throughout the ceremony on Monday.
The state funeral will happen at Westminster Abbey from 11 a.m.-12 p.m., with various religious leaders and U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, expected to be part of it.
The funeral will wrap up with two minutes of silence at 11:55 a.m. local time.
The guest list for the queen's funeral
Westminster Abbey has room for about 2,000 people, and the guest list is expected to be very impressive.
Among those who are said to be attending:
- U.S. President Joe Biden
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with First Nation leaders
- New Zealander Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
- Māori King Kiingi Tūheitia
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
- Kenyan President William Ruto
- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
- French President Emmanuel Macron
- Finnish President Sauli Niinistö
- President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
- Italian President Sergio Mattarella
- Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako
- King Abdullah II of Jordan
- Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin
- King Felipe VI & Queen Letizia of Spain
- King Philippe & Queen Mathilde of Belgium
- Queen Margrethe of Denmark
- King Willem-Alexander & Queen Maxima of the Netherlands
- King Harald & Queen Sonja of Norway
- Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman
- King Carl XVI Gustaf & Queen Silvia of Sweden
- King Tupou VI of Tonga
And that's not even the full list! There will be other world leaders and royals from around the world at the funeral.
You'll also see plenty of big and small names from the U.K.'s royal family.
No former U.S. presidents were invited, and the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Myanmar were not asked to attend, Reuters reports.
Burying the queen
Once the funeral is over, we're in for a bunch of processions.
First, the queen's coffin will be carried out of Westminster Abbey and through Wellington Arch. It'll be swapped onto a hearse at the arch at 1 p.m., then it will head to Windsor Castle by about 3 p.m., still according to the BBC.
You can then expect another procession to take her body to St. George's Chapel, where there will be a committal service at 4 p.m.
The service will end with officials taking the queen's orb, sceptre and crown off the coffin, and she will then be lowered into the burial chamber. Her late husband, Prince Philip, is already buried there.
You can watch that committal service from home, although the actual moment when they buried her will come at 7:30 p.m., and that will not be broadcast.
Once the queen is buried, the book will be closed on "Operation London Bridge" and the U.K. will move on with its new monarch, King Charles III.
This article's left-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
