Queen’s funeral: Flags fly at full-mast as mourning period endson September 20, 2022 at 7:22 am

Flags on British government buildings around the world will fly at full-mast once again, as the period of national mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II draws to a close.

The Queen was buried in a private ceremony in Windsor on Monday evening, following a state funeral in London and military procession to Windsor Castle.

But the Royal Family will continue to observe another week of mourning.

Senior royals are not expected to carry out any public duties during this time.

Flags at royal residences will remain at half-mast until 08:00 BST on 27 September – the day after their mourning period ends.

Buckingham Palace has said royal household staff, representatives of the household on official duties and troops committed to ceremonial duties will also observe the extended mourning period.

On Monday, world leaders and foreign royalty joined a 2,000-strong congregation at Westminster Abbey for the funeral, where the Dean of Westminster paid tribute to her “lifelong sense of duty”.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby spoke of the affection so many people felt for late monarch. “Few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen,” he added.

About 100 presidents and heads of government were in the abbey – including US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.

Royal families from around the globe were also invited – with kings, queens and emperors from Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia and Jordan present.

After the funeral, the Queen’s coffin was taken by gun carriage to Wellington Arch in London and then on to its final journey via funeral cortege, along a route that avoided motorways to allow as many as possible to pay their final respects.

Many thousands of people lined the streets to see the procession taking her coffin to to Windsor Castle and a committal service.

As a day of spectacle and mourning drew to a close, the UK’s longest-reigning monarch was laid to rest alongside her late husband the Duke of Edinburgh and in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, found inside St George’s Chapel in Windsor.

The scale of the funeral and mourning arrangements over the 10-day period, which included a miles-long queue snaking along the south bank of the River Thames to see the Queen’s lying-in-state, led to what police described as “probably the biggest operation we’re likely to launch in the UK”.

With thousands flocking into central London and dignitaries from around the world gathering to pay their respects, the funeral represented the “final and most complex phase” of the operation, the Metropolitan Police has said.

More than 3,000 officers from almost every force in the country were in London to help with the security for the funeral, including snipers stationed on rooftops and armed police, horseback teams and other specialist units patrolling the streets.

As of 17:00 BST on Monday, 67 arrests had been made as part of the operation for a range of offences.

London has also seen some travel disruption on Monday evening, with problems to trains in and out of London Paddington overnight leaving many passengers stranded in Reading.

No trains have been able to enter or leave the west London station since early on Monday because of damage to overhead electric wires.