Prince Andrew has once again joined his brother King Charles in a procession behind their mother’s coffin.
The disgraced Duke of York, who stepped back from his royal duties amid outrage at his relationship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, followed the Queen’s casket on foot as it was carried down The Mall.
Andrew has made few public appearances since settling a sex abuse case in New York, but today marks his second major outing during the national mourning period.
He wore a black morning suit for the procession, having been barred from wearing his military uniform after the late Queen stripped him of his titles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
The duke endured a difficult start to the historic week, when he was loudly heckled in Edinburgh as he walked behind his mother’s coffin on the Royal Mile.
But it appears he was saved any further blushes today as he joined the new King, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, and his nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry, for the solemn walk to Westminster Hall, where Her Majesty will lie in state for four days.
Thousands of mourners flocked to see the moving sight of the Queen departing Buckingham Palace where she spent so much of her working life at the heart of the nation.
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Tearful wellwishers outside Parliament applauded once the procession had passed through the gates into the Palace of Westminster.
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The Queen’s coffin was transported on the George Gun Carriage, which carried King George VI’s coffin from Sandringham Church to Wolferton Station in February 1952 and was used during the funeral of the Queen Mother in 2002.
The journey from the palace to the ancient Westminster Hall, where King Charles I was tried, passed landmarks the Queen knew well, including Horse Guards Parade, the Cenotaph and Downing Street.
Accompanied by her family, the Queen is effectively being handed over to the nation for her lying in state.
The bearer party who carried the Queen’s coffin into Westminster Hall and provided an escort are soldiers who were flown back from Iraq to take part in the procession.
The Guardsmen are from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards whose Company Commander is the Queen.
Her coffin was flanked by her equerries – military men who had served the monarch by organising her diary of events and providing a helping hand when she was handed a present.
Flanking them were the Grenadier Guardsmen who have their special tie with the late monarch.
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