Tuesday 13 September 2022 07:10 PM The Queen lands back in London: Her Majesty's coffin begins journey to ... trends now

King Charles III and the Queen Consort, his warring sons Princes William and Harry and their wives Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are among senior members of the Royal Family who will receive the late Queen after she made her last journey from her beloved Scotland to her home of 70 years, Buckingham Palace - where she will spend one final night.

The RAF Globemaster C-17 plane carrying Her Majesty's coffin from Edinburgh landed at RAF Northolt in west London at around 6.55pm this evening, after she spent 24 hours in St Giles' Cathedral where tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

Prime Minister Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace were assembled on the tarmac at the military base alongside members of the Guard of Honour.

The bearer party will then carry the Queen from the aircraft to the waiting state hearse to begin the journey by road along the A40 towards Buckingham Palace.

When she arrives at the palace, a further guard of honour will be formed by the King's Guard as the coffin arrives at the Grand Entrance. There, she will be received by the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - who have reportedly called a truce in their feud - among other members of the Royal Family.

The Queen will stay in the Palace overnight before she is transported to the Palace of Westminster, where she will lie in state until Monday, September 19 - the day of her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at St George's Chapel in Windsor.

Earlier the sound of pipes filled the streets as Her Majesty's coffin - which was draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland and decorated with a large wreath - was carried out of St Giles' Cathedral by kilt-incl thje wearing pallbearers after 4.15pm into a hearse then driven up the Royal Mile.

A guard of honour by the King's Bodyguard for Scotland and pipers followed the Cortege towards Edinburgh Castle and on to Edinburgh Airport.

A sea of thousands of mourners - including young schoolgirls wearing tartan and waving Union flags - packed into the capital's tiny streets broke out into applause, while the Scottish flag, the Saltaire, flew at half-mask from the top of a building. The enormous crowd of men, women and children continued to clap for the monarch as the last company of soldiers followed the procession.

At Edinburgh Airport, the Queen was received by the Royal Regiment of Scotland with a royal salute, before a bearer party from the Royal Air Force carried the coffin onto the aircraft  accompanied by her daughter the Princess Royal. As the plane took off at around 5.40pm, the national anthem was played.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack were among the dignitaries present at the airport, including Scottish Parliament Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone and Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone.

The body of Elizabeth II had been lying in rest in its oak coffin overnight in the city's St Giles' Cathedral. Tens of thousands of people had paid their last respects there, with demand to come so high that the queue had to be closed after noon.

Meanwhile, people packed into the historic streets of the city for the third day in a row to see the coffin leave the cathedral.

Carried out of the church to the sound of a lone piper, the hearse carrying the Queen's coffin then departed for Edinburgh Airport. As it did, the crowd, who had gathered in numbers in the late afternoon sunshine, burst into applause.

The Princess Royal, accompanied by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, travelled behind her late mother in a separate car. Her journey mirrored that she made on Sunday, when she again travelled behind her mother as the Queen was brought down to the capital from Balmoral - where she had died peacefully on Thursday.

Honeymooners Steven and Elizabeth McCrite, from Orlando, Florida, were among those who paid their respects to the Queen during the period of lying in rest.

Mrs McCrite, 22, commented: 'It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, we're not going to be able to do it again.'

Support worker Bethany Walker, 21, said she came straight from her nightshift to queue to pay her respects to the Queen.

'It's a historic event and we want to be there. It's part of the history books,' she said.

Duncan Wilson Paisley came from Stirlingshire wearing full Highland dress to pay his respects.

Mr Wilson Paisley served in the Royal Highlanders for 25 years and said he felt a particular 'gratitude'to the Queen.

'She was a wonderful lady for whom everybody has the utmost respect,' he said.

Following the monarch's death last Thursday, her body was transported to the Scottish capital on Sunday, lying at the Palace of Holyroodhouse before being taken to St Giles' Cathedral on Monday.

There was a thanksgiving service at the church on Monday, attended by the King and other members of the royal family, before a motion of condolence was taken in the Scottish Parliament.

The new King then returned to St Giles' together with the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex, where they stood in silence in a vigil beside their mother's coffin.

People gathered in the rain along the A40 in hope of paying their respects to the Queen as she made her 'last journey' to Buckingham Palace.

On the roadside in Perivale, Beryl Dixon, 76, of Ealing, west London, arrived at about 5pm.

She said: 'I'm here to pay my respects on her last journey before she gets to Westminster. There was no way I was going to stand for 30 hours to walk passed the coffin.

'It was more important for me to see it, so this was the best for me. I did exactly the same thing for Diana.'

An 82-year-old man who watched the Queen's coronation at a cinema as a boy was among scores of people standing in the lashing rain waiting to catch site of the state hearse.

David Stringer, a retired bus driver, of nearby Greenford, who was standing by the A40 outside the Hoover Building in Perivale, west London, said: 'I saw her get coronated and now I am seeing her get buried. I lived in Epsom then and watched it at the Pathe News, as it was then, at the cinema.

'The thing I remember more than anything else was the state coach because afterwards my dad brought me a model of it. The other outstanding memory was when I was at school and the headmaster came in and said 'the King is dead', I remember that like it was yesterday.

'It's a great shame. I mean, I didn't think about her (the Queen) every day but I always knew she was there, and my life's coming to a close now and her time has finished. But it will be interesting to see what Charles will be like, this is my third monarch now.'

Around 26,000 people filed past the late monarch's coffin at St Giles' Cathedral in the 24 hours since it was carried 1,200 yards up the Royal Mile from the Palace of Holyroodhouse during a solemn military procession led by King Charles III and his grief-stricken siblings.

The Scottish Government said that the queue to view the late monarch - which wound down the Royal Mile, up George IV Bridge and past the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street - had closed at around 1pm and that further efforts were made to ensure all those already waiting would be able to pay their respects before the lying at rest in Edinburgh ended at 3pm.

Mourners described being 'overwhelmed with the power and emotion of the occasion' with many wiping away tears as they briefly stood in prayer looking at the coffin. Most bowed or curtseyed when they arrived. Dozens came to queue after travelling from England. Some came from London, believing that it would be easier to see her in Scotland with 30-hour queues predicted in the English capital.

Corey Burgher joined the very back of the queue with his stepdaughter Giovanna Giambastiani at 2.30am. He said: 'We wanted to say our goodbyes to the boss. I'm in the military, I work on the submarines. Was surprised how much the news hit me. I didn't know her personally, but I met her when I was a kid. I got quite emotional about it, it was quite a shock.' 

Dawn Legge, from Manchester said: 'I needed to come. We needed to pay our respects and mourn our Queen before we want to celebrate our King'. Catherine Gray, from London, said with tears in her eyes that she had made the 800-mile round trip because she felt 'weird' without Her Majesty in her life. She said seeing the coffin was 'surreal' and 'one of the most emotional moments of my life'.

And one man in the Edinburgh queue said this morning: 'If she could do 70 years, I can do 12 hours'. 

Hundreds filed past the casket last night when King Charles III and his three siblings staged a silent 10-minute vigil at the four corners of Her Majesty's oak coffin. 

Mitch Stevenson, who queued for just under five hours with his sister, made it into the cathedral at just after 1am. He said: 'It was a very important occasion for us - we lost our mum earlier this year and she would have loved to have been able to go, so we went for her memory also'.

Luke McIlwain, 34, joined the queue with his partner Felicity Baines, 31, at just after 3am. He said: 'It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. We might never see another Queen'. He said it was very cold, adding: 'We wanted to join the line overnight to avoid the crowds - unsuccessfully'.

Mourners raced to central Edinburgh early this morning to pay their respects.

Those wanting to see the Queen's coffin must first obtain a coloured wristband in George Square before they join the queue.

At 7am numbers had dwindled overnight so members of the public were able to walk to the cathedral doors almost uninterrupted.

But by 9am a steady flow footfall had grown but mourners had to wait no more than an hour.

Among those queuing were Tom and Jane Baker from York. Tom, 42, a security guard, explained: 'We really wanted to pay our respects and it's not that much longer to drive to Edinburgh than it is to London so we drove up last night. We stayed in a little hotel outside the city but we're here now and hopefully we'll get to take part in the vigil shortly.

'The Queen has always been there for me. I was a Cub Scout, a Scout and I served in the British Army. This is the least I can do to serve my Queen.'

Jane, 38, added: 'The Queen was a wonderful woman. Christmas Day will not be the same without the Queen's Speech.'

People traveled from across Scotland, the UK and the Commonwealth to offer prayers to the Queen as she lay at rest.

Council workers Janet Mattheson and Danielle Gartland-Quinn got up early to did the monarch farewell before going to work this morning.

Janet, 55, from Edinburgh told MailOnline: 'It felt very peaceful to be so close to the Queen and to see her for the last time.

'There is a feeling of quiet serenity in the church. It was very moving to see her coffin with the crown.'

Danielle, 29, from Edinburgh, added: 'It was very peaceful.'

Friends Jenny Baker and Cathie Paterson had traveled from the west coast of Scotland to pay their respects for the last time.

Jenny, 74, from Loch Lomond told MailOnline: 'We are royalists and have always supported the monarchy.

'So we decided to get up early this morning and vibe to pay our respects. She has been such a constant presence in our lives we wanted to say goodbye. She is being really well looked after and that was great to see.'

Cathie, 82, from the Isle of Lewis, said: 'I have always followed the royal family and do I felt I had to come and pay my respects to the Queen. We are in Scotland but we will always fly the Union Jack.'

Amanda Rawlins and her family learned of the Queen's death as the flew to London from Melbourne, Australia.

Amanda, 52, told MailOnline: 'We were on the plane to London when we learned that the Queen had died. So we decided we wanted to come to Edinburgh to pay our respects to our monarch. We felt that this was a moment in history and we wanted to witness it first hand.

'I was very impressed by the vigil - the sense of tradition, respect and love. It was so moving.'

Amanda was accompanied by her husband Shaun Kempton, 49 and children Ruby, 14, and Max, 12.

Sharon Baum, 53, and her partner Alison Evans, 50, were at the front of the queue yesterday, as members of the public paid personal tributes to the beloved monarch. 

The couple queued up for nearly 11 hours and told MailOnline of their extraordinary experience on an historic day at St Giles' Cathedral. 

Mrs Baum, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire said: 'It was really serene and peaceful and solemn. 

'We feel so privileged to be allowed to see it and do what we did. 

'We felt like we were involved in a little bit of history. 

'You can't prepare yourself for how you

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