Leaders pay tribute to Elizabeth

Leaders pay tribute to Elizabeth

Huge state funeral to draw 500 guests

Queen Elizabeth II 's grandchildren (clockwise from front centre) the Prince of Wales, Peter Phillips, James, Viscount Severn, Princess Eugenie, the Duke of Sussex, Princess Beatrice, Lady Louise Windsor and Zara Tindall hold a vigil beside the coffin of their grandmother in Westminster Hall. POOL/Reuters
Queen Elizabeth II 's grandchildren (clockwise from front centre) the Prince of Wales, Peter Phillips, James, Viscount Severn, Princess Eugenie, the Duke of Sussex, Princess Beatrice, Lady Louise Windsor and Zara Tindall hold a vigil beside the coffin of their grandmother in Westminster Hall. POOL/Reuters

LONDON: World leaders on Sunday convened in London to pay their respects to the coffin of Queen Elizabeth in London. Among them, US President Joe Biden was one of hundreds of thousands of people who filed past the late British monarch as she lay in state before her funeral, which happens today.

Mr Biden yesterday joined King Charles and scores of other world leaders and royals from around the globe for a reception ahead of the grand state funeral.

Elizabeth's body has been lying in state at the historic Westminster Hall since Wednesday, and people from all walks of life and from around the world have been filing past in a constant, emotional stream, many queuing overnight and some for up to 24 hours.

"Her legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world," Mr Biden said in a message following news of the queen's death on Sept 8 at the age of 96.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who was seen curtsying to the coffin, are among dignitaries who have already paid their respects.

Britain has hosted a series of poignant, carefully choreographed ceremonies in the 10 days that have followed Elizabeth's death, reflecting the traditions and pageantry of the British royal family whose lineage stretches back almost 1,000 years.

On Saturday evening, the queen's eight grandchildren, including Charles's sons Princes William and Harry, held a solemn vigil at her coffin's side, following a similar observance by her children the previous day. "You were our matriarch, our guide, our loving hand on our backs leading us through this world," Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of Prince Andrew, the queen's second son and Duke of York, said. "Goodbye dear grannie, it has been the honour of our lives to have been your granddaughters and we're so very proud of you."

Camilla, wife of the new King Charles and now Queen Consort, said the smile of the late queen was "unforgettable", in a message of tribute to the late monarch released yesterday. "She's been part of our lives for ever. I'm 75 now and I can't remember anyone except the queen being there," Camilla said.

The royals and the British government are now looking ahead to today's funeral at Westminster Abbey, the site of coronations, weddings and burials of English and then British kings and queens since William I in 1066. London's police force has described the ceremony as the biggest security operation it has ever undertaken.

Some 500 guests representing nearly 200 countries and territories will be attending -- presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens and sultans among their number -- and huge crowds are expected to throng the streets. Britain has not held a state funeral on the scale planned for the queen since that for World War Two leader Winston Churchill. Reuters

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