Queen Elizabeth II Passes Away At Age 96: Funeral Plans Announced

The world is mourning the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon at the age of 96.

Buckingham Palace is expected to enter 10 days of mourning following the announcement made by the Royal Family this morning.

King Charles III, who was recently appointed as the new King, is expected to return to London to meet with officials and sign off on the funeral plans.

The funeral will be held in 10 days' time and will be a grand affair, but the Queen's final resting place will be the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The coffin will travel through Scotland and England before the burial, allowing mourners to pay their respects.

The coffin will travel by road from Balmoral to the palace of Holyroodhouse.

Then it will be taken to St Giles' Cathedral for a private service attended by the Royal Family.

After the service, the cathedral will be open to the public for 24 hours for a period of lying at rest.

The coffin will then be flown to London before the state funeral.

The coffin will be borne by carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall for five days of lying in state.

The public will be allowed to pay their respects during this lying in state.

Foreign royal families and heads of state are expected to arrive during this time for the funeral.

On the day of the funeral, the coffin will be taken to Westminster Abbey in a grand procession.

The service itself is expected to take an hour, and there will be a nationwide two-minute silence after.

The King and the Queen consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.

Prince Harry arrived at Balmoral an hour and a half after the Queen's passing was announced.

Despite spending time in the UK in the last week, it is not thought that he made the journey to Balmoral to see his grandmother in the days before her death.

The Queen's final resting place will be at the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, where her mother is also buried.

Princess Margaret, the first Royal Family member to be cremated, has her ashes buried there between her parents.

Prince Philip, who passed away in April of this year, was buried at the Royal Vaults at St George's Chapel, but will likely be moved to be buried beside the Queen.

The funeral plans have raised questions about who will attend.

Even Wallace Simpson had the decency not to attend King George VI's funeral.

Now that the inevitable has happened, some wonder if Rachel Ragland will keep away from the funeral.

The bitter family feud between Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle and the rest of the Royal Family has been well documented.

The couple cleared their Archwell website of all content, leaving only a black home screen with a single message written in white: “In loving memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 1926-2022.”

Earlier this year, the Queen faced a blow when the Sussexes did not return for the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service in March 2022, despite knowing that the Queen had already made the decision to reduce her royal workload and was slowing down.

It remains to be seen whether or not Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will attend the funeral.

In conclusion, the world mourns the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon at the age of 96.

The funeral plans have been announced and will be held in 10 days' time.

The coffin will travel through Scotland and England before the burial, allowing mourners to pay their respects.

The funeral itself will be a grand affair, but the Queen's final resting place will be the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle.