LONDON, Sept 14, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham 
Palace on Wednesday for the final time as her coffin began its journey to 
Westminster Hall, where the late monarch will lie in state.

     The queen's coffin, draped in the royal standard and topped with the 
Imperial State Crown, was borne on a horse-drawn gun carriage out of the 
front gates of her London residence at 2:22 pm (1322 GMT).

     Big Ben tolled and guns were fired at one-minute intervals from Hyde 
Park as a military band played funeral marches from Beethoven, Mendelssohn 
and Chopin to accompany the procession to Westminster.

     The queen's eldest son and successor King Charles III, his heir Prince 
William and youngest son Prince Harry followed the coffin on foot as it made 
the one-mile (1.6-kilometre) journey.

     Crowds lined the route, watching in silence, as the cortege passed.