Princess Anne stands shoulder-to-shoulder with her brothers: Queen’s daughter dons Navy uniform as she follows her mother’s coffin from Buckingham Palace

• The Queen has been moved to the Palace of Westminster where she will lie in state until Monday
• Princess Anne, Charles, William and Harry followed coffin on foot as it made its journey in front of mourners
• Comes after a service reserved for close family members took place at Buckingham Palace last night
• The late monarch’s funeral will be on Monday, September 19, with leaders from across the world attending 

Princess Anne donned a ceremonial Navy uniform as she marched behind the coffin of her mother as it left Buckingham Palace for the final time today.

She joined King Charles, and Princes William and Harry – along with the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex – following the coffin on foot as it left Buckingham Palace to make its 38-minute journey in front of thousands of mourners lining the streets in central London.  

Her Majesty spent her final night in the Bow Room of her London home, before being conveyed on a gun carriage to Westminster Hall where she will lie in state for four days until her funeral on Monday.

More than 1million people are expected to queue in central London for up to 35 hours to walk past her casket – but experts believe only 400,000 will make it inside meaning 600,000 people will be left disappointed. 

Procession: members of the royal family, including Princess Anne, left Buckingham Palace to march behind the Queen’s coffin today

The royals looked solemn during the procession, perhaps reflecting on the life of Her Majesty

Princess Anne (second left) marches behind the coffin of her mother as it left Buckingham Palace for the final time today

The Princess Royal donned her decorative royal navy uniform for the occasion

Alongside Anne, King Charles, Prince William, and Prince Edward also donned military garb

The Queen arrived at Buckingham Palace last night to tears and cheers from the huge crowds who stood in the pouring rain to welcome her home after her death at Balmoral last Thursday. The route from RAF Northolt to the palace was packed. There was a wave of lights as many raised their mobile phones in the air to film the hearse as it passed.

As the hearse drove through the gates, Charles could be seen bowing his head with Harry and Meghan stood solemnly behind the monarch. 

At 2.22pm exactly this afternoon, the Queen’s coffin was placed on a gun carriage and lead a procession down a packed Mall, along Whitehall and then into Parliament Square before entering the Palace of Westminster followed by her son, the new King, and her children and grandchildren.

The near 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall is where her father King George VI would lie in state in 1952 and where the public could pass the coffin of her mother, the Queen Mother, in 2002. 

Her Majesty’s coffin was adorned with a Royal Standard and the Imperial State Crown and pulled by a Gun Carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery during the procession

Thousands of people gathered to watch the Her Majesty leave Buckingham Palace for the final time today

Her Majesty’s closed coffin was placed on a catafalque – a raised platform, covered in the Royal Standard with the orb and sceptre placed on top

Her Majesty’s closed coffin was placed on a catafalque – a raised platform, covered in the Royal Standard with the orb and sceptre placed on top.

The Queen will lie in state for four and a half days. A round-the-clock vigil will be mounted under the catafalque by officers of the Household Division, the King’s Body Guards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, the King’s Body Guard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers and the King’s Body Guard the Yeomen of the Guard.

It will remain open 24 hours a day until at 6.30am on Monday. 

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the streets to pay their respects to the Queen.

The queue is expected to stretch for five miles, taking up to 30 hours to reach the front.

Once people have passed through Albert Embankment, they will be directed across Lambeth Bridge, into Victoria Tower Gardens  

Extra welfare facilities, including toilets and water fountains, have been placed sporadically along the route.  

The Queen’s coffin arrived at RAF Northolt in west London yesterday

The Queen’s Colour Squadron carrying Her Majesty the Queen’s coffin off the plane at RAF Northolt

The state hearse carried the Queen’s coffin into Buckingham Palace, where was received by the whole Royal Family

The Queen’s coffin arriving at Buckingham Palace as thousands of mourners applauded the late monarch

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth arrives at Buckingham Palace

The state hearse carries the Queen’s coffin through the gates of the palace as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause

Her Majesty spent her last night at Buckingham Palace yesterday, watched closely by a rota of former chaplains, before being moved today to allow hundreds of thousands of well-wishers to pay their respects.

Prayers and a service reserved for close family members took place shortly after the coffin arrived last night, with the King, Camilla, William and Kate and Harry and Meghan all in attendance.

Princess Anne, who has travelled with her mother’s coffin from Balmoral to Edinburgh, and from the Scottish capital back to London, was also present with husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. 

Peter Phillips, his sister Zara, Mike Tindall, the Duke of York and daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, along with their husbands Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank – were also among those gathered.

But Sarah Ferguson, ex-wife of Prince Andrew and who still lives with the duke, did not receive an invite because of their divorce. 

Ahead of Her Majesty’s arrival at Buckingham Palace yesterday,  Princess Anne released a statement about the death of her mother, which described how she was ‘fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother’s life’.

She said the love and respect shown to the Queen on her journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh and onto London had been ‘both humbling and uplifting’.

Anne also thanked the nation for the ‘support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles’ as he takes on his duties as King.

Statement: Princess Anne released this statement (pictured) today. She offered her ‘thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss’

Princess Anne’s statement was shared to the Royal Family’s Instagram account along with the above photograph, which was first released to mark the late monarch’s 90th birthday in 2016. The mother and daughter posed on a sofa in the White Drawing Room of Windsor Castle

She ended her statement with the words: ‘To my mother, The Queen, thank you.’ 

Her tribute was shared to the Royal Family’s Instagram account.

It was accompanied by a photo of Anne and the Queen, which was first released to mark the late monarch’s 90th birthday in 2016. 

The mother and daughter posed on a sofa in the White Drawing Room of Windsor Castle.

The princess was in Scotland when the Queen was taken ill, and stayed at her bedside at Balmoral Castle, as senior royals rushed to say their final farewells. 

Anne took on the duty of accompanying her mother’s body back to London, as the Queen left Scotland for the last time bound for RAF Northolt on Tuesday.   

Earlier this week, Anne made history when she became the first royal woman to take part in the ‘Vigil of Princes’ – standing vigil by her mother’s coffin alongside her brothers King Charles, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. 

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