At today’s formal burial, King Charles III led senior royals in walking behind the casket of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
He led the procession from Westminster Hall, where the casket has been lying in state, to Westminster Abbey, where the funeral service will take place, together with his brothers and two sons, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex.
It was a moving reenactment of the moment children William and Harry, following the tragic death of their mother Princess Diana in a car accident in 1997, walked behind Princess Diana’s casket.
The Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, and Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, followed behind the State Gun Carriage that brought the Queen’s body to Westminster Abbey.
The bearing party included soldiers from the Grenadier Guards, the King’s Body Guards from the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard, and the Royal Company of Archers.
The Princess of Wales, her husband, and their two eldest children, Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven, joined the procession as it entered Westminster Abbey and walked side by side with them.
Their younger brother, Prince Louis, who is only four years old, was found to be too young to join. Due to their father’s new position as heir apparent, the young royals will likely be given a larger stage on rare occasions.
Alongside her husband, Prince Harry, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, joined in the procession by walking behind the coffin as it entered the church.
