Britain Continues To Mourn
To the somber lament of a lone bagpiper, the Queen Mother Elizabeth's coffin was carried from a small stone chapel at Windsor Castle into a hearse Tuesday and driven through mourning villages to London.
Clad in black with heads bowed, her staff lined Windsor's gravel driveway as the coffin was carried out of the Royal Chapel of All Saints, where it had lain for the past two days.
Her personal piper, Jim Motherwell, played a lament called "The Dark Island" in tribute to her Scottish roots, as the coffin, draped in the Queen Mother's personal flag, was placed inside a black hearse.
Small groups of people gathered in villages along the route as the hearse, flanked by police motorcycles, drove the 25 miles to London.
In the city, hundreds of people lined The Mall and gathered quietly outside the gates of Buckingham Palace to watch the procession pass and pay tribute to the popular former queen, who died Saturday at the age of 101.
"To see the coffin, draped in the Queen Mother's own standard, was quite an emotional experience. She was so regal but at the same time so down to earth," said Jennifer Pressley, 38, who waited for more than three hours to see the convoy.
At St. James's Palace the coffin was carried into the Queen's Chapel — mirroring scenes seven weeks ago when the body of Elizabeth's daughter Princess Margaret was brought to London. It will remain at the palace until Friday, when it will be moved to Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament to lie in state. The public will be able to pay their respects before a funeral service at Westminster Abbey on April 9.
Republicans suggest this is the beginning of the end for the royal House of Windsor.
Others counter that the death of the 101-year-old "Queen Mum," who won over her subjects by staying in London during the German blitz during World War II, may actually help the buffeted House of Windsor by allowing it to modernize at last.
"It's the end of an era," Jon Temple of Republic, an independent lobby group campaigning for an elected head of state in Britain, said Tuesday.
"With hindsight it may turn out that it was the Queen Mother who was holding the whole show together rather than her daughter. I think we're looking at probably five to 10 years (left for the monarchy)," he told Reuters.
Anthony Holden, writing in the Observer weekly, agreed: "Not since the 1870s has there been such a whiff of republicanism in the air, and the passing of the Queen Mother will do nothing to dispel it. Quite the reverse."
Even the right-leaning Daily Mail dared pose the question "What comes next?"
"There is a sore need for someone to emerge in the coming years with that extraordinary ability to combine majesty, approachability and joie de vivre," it said.
The Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday that 1,700 members of the army, navy and air force would take part in the funeral procession. The coffin will be carried on a gun carriage of the King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery.
Britain's state broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corp., hit back Tuesday at criticism of its coverage of the queen mother's death.
Criticism has centered on BBC1's breaking news coverage Saturday night, during which presenter Peter Sissons wore a burgundy tie. Some media reported that the network had barred the wearing of black ties as a sign of mourning, a claim denied by the BBC Tuesday.