A stern-looking This afternoon, Prince Andrew followed the coffin of his mother, the Queen, from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall while wearing medals pinned to a morning suit.
In contrast to other family members, including King Charles III and William, the Prince of Wales, the disgraced Duke of York and Prince Harry were not permitted to wear their military uniforms to the service.
As the coffin exited the Palace at precisely 2.22 p.m., the thousands-strong throng went silent as a muffled, black-draped drum was beaten at 75 beats per minute.
The casket was draped with the Royal Standard, the Imperial State Crown was placed on a velvet cushion with a floral wreath on top, and it was transported by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Beginning with Beethoven’s Funeral March No. 1, the Band of the Scots Guards and the Band of the Grenadier Guards play funeral marches throughout the procession.
The pace and route have been meticulously planned to ensure that the procession arrives at Westminster Hall precisely at 3 p.m.
As the procession progressed along The Mall in central London, the sun was shining and crowd members threw yellow roses into the road as the gun carriage passed them.
A stern-looking This afternoon, Prince Andrew (right) donned medals pinned to his morning suit as he followed the coffin of his mother, the Queen, from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. The Duke of York accompanied his brothers, Prince Edward and King Charles III, and his sister, Princess Anne, on foot.
The thousands-strong throng fell silent as a muffled, black-draped drum was struck at 75 beats per minute.
During the parade for the Lying-in-State of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex follow behind the coffin.
The King, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, and the Earl of Wessex walked directly behind the coffin, followed by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Sussex, and Peter Phillips.
In the rear were Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earl of Snowdon.
This past week, a protester heckled Andrew as he followed his mother’s casket through Edinburgh.
The young man was captured on camera yelling, “Andrew, you’re a sick old man!” as the disgraced Duke of York, 62, passed behind the hearse carrying his mother.
Others continued to yell “God Save the King” as the heckler was pushed to the ground by outraged mourners a few seconds later captured on film.
A police officer then assisted the child in standing and dragged him away as people mourning the late queen continued to shove him.
As he was carried away from the road, he cried “disgusting” and “I’ve done nothing wrong” as Prince Andrew, King Charles, Princess Anne, and Prince Edward walked behind the hearse bearing the Queen’s body.
Andrew, a veteran of the Falklands War who was exiled from public life as a result of his role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, was not permitted to wear military attire and instead wore a morning suit.
The prince will be required to wear civilian attire for all other public events commemorating his mother’s death, with the exception of the final vigil in Westminster Hall, when he will reportedly wear a uniform out of respect for the Queen.
Andrew gave up his HRH status and was stripped of all his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, due to his friendship with Epstein and allegations made by one of the paedophile’s’sex slaves’ Virginia Roberts that the royal sexually abused her when she was a minor under American law – claims that resulted in a multimillion-pound out of court settlement with no admission of liability. The Duke of York has refuted the charges repeatedly.
More will follow.