London comes to standstill to pay its final respects

HUGE crowds lined the route from Buckingham Palace to Parliament from early this morning to pay their final respects to Queen Elizabeth II.

- Robert Jobson, Rachael Burford, Nicholas Cecil and David Bond

Under pristine Union Flags bedecking The Mall, they gathered, turning into Horse Guards Road, down Whitehall and into Parliament Street.

In a spectacular display, the capital welcomed mourners into its historic heart to say a final farewell.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to queue for hours, possibly for more than a day, to file past the Queen's coffin in Parliament's Westminster Hall.

The coffin was this afternoon being borne in procession on a Gun Carriage of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, where the Queen will lie in state in the medieval hall until the morning of the state funeral on Monday.

The Imperial State Crown and a wreath of flowers were being placed on top of the coffin before the departure of the cortege at 2.22pm under the carefully rehearsed funeral plans.

The King was due to follow the coffin on foot, joined by his sons the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex, as well as the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex.

Anne's son Peter Phillips and her husband Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence were also set to walk in the procession, as well as the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Snowdon.