Guard of honour for monarch and mother: Charles leads Queen's children in vigil as mourners line streets to see coffin

12 September 2022, 20:01 | Updated: 13 September 2022, 04:52

King Charles III led the royals in an emotional Vigil of the Princes as mourners began filing past the Queen's coffin.

The Queen's four children gathered around her coffin on Monday in a poignant evening vigil inside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. 

After a short procession, King Charles III, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward stood on one of the four corners of the oak coffin with their heads bowed in a traditional ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes.  

Charles kept his hands joined and looked towards the floor as members of the public walked past.

His brother Andrew kept his eyes closed for a period of time during the vigil while the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex had their eyes fixed towards the floor.

They stood alongside four suited members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were standing guard dressed in long-feathered hats and armed with arrows and quivers, while Camilla, the Queen Consort, watched on from a distance.

The tradition has been honoured since the death of King George V in 1936, with Princess Anne becoming the first female royal to take part. 

While Charles, Anne and Edward all appeared in military uniform, Andrew wore only a morning suit, having been banned from wearing uniform on public occasions following his exile from public life amid the fallout from his role in the Jeffrey Epstien scandal.

Respectful well-wishers desperate to pay their respects were overcome with emotion as they solemnly walked past Her Majesty's coffin, having queued for hours through the streets of the Scottish capital.

The Queen will lie in state there for 24 hours before she is flown to London ahead of the funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.

The King and Queen Consort arrived at the Scottish Parliament at around 5.45pm after holding an audience with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Charles was joined by his siblings the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex for the ceremony. 

The Duke of Sussex and his brother the Prince of Wales did not expected to attend the ceremony.

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The first people to view the late Queen's coffin at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, where it will lie for 24 hours, have spoken about their experience.

George Higgins, a former soldier in the Scots Guards, was at the front of the queue, with hundreds of well-wishers behind him lining George IV bridge.

The 61-year-old has been queuing since 7am, shortly after he finished an overnight shift as a security guard at the University of Edinburgh.

He said: "I've been here since 6.45am, I came straight here after a night shift at work. I took my clothes to work, got changed and came straight here. I'm going back on shift at 9.30pm tonight, so I'm going to be very tired. But it's worth it, with her service to the country, to us, to people and to the Commonwealth, the least I can do is give her a couple of days of my time to say farewell.

"It's a real privilege to be here. I can't believe I'm actually first. I have actually got to pinch myself. It's just luck."

Karen Whitehouse left her home in Loweswater, Cumbria, at 2am to start queuing to pay her respects to the late monarch in the Scottish capital.

Speaking about her moment with the royal coffin, the 64-year-old said: "It was surreal. It was very quiet, everyone was very still. It was like they were all statues. I can't believe I've done it and I was that close. I paid my respects, it was just beautiful."

Monday was the first time the monarch had been seen with his mother's coffin since she died at Balmoral on Thursday.

She was taken to the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Sunday evening before travelling the 1,200 yards to the service of remembrance. On Tuesday, the coffin will be taken to London.

King Charles walked solemnly in step with his younger brothers and sister behind the Queen on the march.

The Crown of Scotland was then placed upon the coffin, which was draped with the Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a wreath of flowers consisting of white Spray Roses, white Freesias, white button chrysanthemums, dried white heather from Balmoral, spray eryngium, foliage, rosemary, hebe, and pittosporum.

It is the oldest of Britain's royal regalia, made in 1540 for King James V from a crown first made 37 years earlier. Weighing 3lbs 10oz, it contains 2lbs of Scottish gold, 42 gems and precious stones and almost 70 Scottish pearls.

Her Majesty herself held the crown in the same church in the weeks after her coronation in 1953.