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Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin leaves her Balmoral estate

  • By Philip Reeves and Robert Griffiths/NPR
The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, leaving Balmoral as it begins its journey to Edinburgh. Picture date: Sunday September 11, 2022. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, leaving Balmoral as it begins its journey to Edinburgh. Picture date: Sunday September 11, 2022. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

(Balmoral Castle, Scotland) – A cortege carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin left her estate in northern Scotland on Sunday morning, on the way to Edinburgh.

The convoy carrying the Queen began slowly snaking through the hills and forests of the Scottish highlands. The route takes her through villages and towns which are expected to be lined by her subjects.

Flowers and pictures of the late Queen Elizabeth II are placed outside of the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP via Getty Images

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II covered with the Royal Standard of Scotland and a flowers is driven away from Balmoral Castle in Ballater.

Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images

Gamekeepers from the summer retreat Balmoral, where the Queen died last week after 70 years on the throne, carried the late sovereign’s oak coffin from the castle’s ballroom to a hearse. The hearse drove out of the gates of Balmoral past piles of flowers left by the public.

It will drive more than 100 miles to the south in Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh at the royal Palace of Hollyroodhouse.

Police officers wait for Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

Peter Byrne /PA Images via Getty Images

Tomorrow she’ll be conveyed from the palace to nearby St Giles Cathedral, to lie at rest, before being flown to London on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the queen’s eldest son was formally proclaimed the new monarch — King Charles III — at an accession ceremony. “I am deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty, which have now passed to me” he said.

Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will travel by road through Scottish towns and villages on Sunday as it begins its final journey from her beloved Scottish retreat of Balmoral.

Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

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