Queen Elizabeth dies: Queen’s funeral set for Sept. 19; William, Harry greet crowds at Windsor

Queen Elizabeth II will lie in state for four days before her state funeral, which will be held at 11 a.m. local time on Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey in London, Buckingham Palace announced Saturday.

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The coffin of the longest-reigning monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, who died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96, will depart for Edinburgh Airport on Tuesday and will be flown to London, the BBC reported. Princess Anne, the queen’s only daughter, will be on board the flight, the news outlet reported.

Meanwhile, her grandsons, William and Harry, along with their wives, walked on the grounds of Windsor Castle to meet the crowds, marking the first joint public appearance of the royal couples since Elizabeth’s death on Thursday, the BBC reported. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, joined Prince William and his wife Catherine at Windsor Castle to view floral tributes left by the public in honor of the late queen, according to The Associated Press.

On Monday, Elizabeth’s body will be taken to St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. King Charles III and members of the royal family will take part in the procession that will take the coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the church.

The coffin will remain at the cathedral “to allow the people of Scotland to pay their respects,” Buckingham Palace said.

Elizabeth’s coffin is currently in the ballroom at Balmoral Castle, the palace said.

The casket will be topped with the Imperial State Crown, orb and scepter, according to the BBC.

On Wednesday at 2:22 p.m., the queen’s coffin will be conveyed by gun carriage in a silent procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster.

The last member of the royal family to lie in state in the hall was the Queen Mother in 2002, when more than 200,000 people viewed her coffin, the BBC reported.

In a short statement posted on social media, Prince William said that while the world has lost a leader, “I, however, have lost a grandmother.”

“I knew this day would come,” William said. “But it will be some time before the reality of life without Grannie will truly feel real.”

“I will honor her memory by supporting my father, the King, in every way I can.”

William and Catherine, the new Prince and Princess of Wales, along with his brother Prince Harry and Meghan, viewed floral tributes outside the grounds of Windsor Castle before shaking hands with people lined up behind barriers at Windsor Castle.

The Prince of Wales, now the heir apparent to the throne, invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to join him and his wife to view the tributes, CNN reported.

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