The coffin headed to Wellington Arch at the corner of Hyde Park, before being transferred into a hearse for the journey to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.Ī televised committal ceremony will take place in the chapel at 4pm followed by a private interment service attended by senior royals. Read more: Queen's funeral - royals from around the world arrive to pay respectsĬharles and his siblings walked behind the coffin as it left Westminster Abbey following the state funeral, while other royals travelled by car. The Queen’s coffin was draped in the Royal Standard, with the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, and a wreath of flowers requested by the King. It said Parliament Square had been dusted with sand to “ease the passage of the gun carriage taking the coffin'.

This short novel from Ryan, whose previous books have twice been longlisted for the Booker Prize, charts the early life of Saoirse Aylward, a much-loved child of the fierce Eileen and a father who died in a car wreck days after her birth. The roads have been covered with sand to ensure the state gun carriage taking the Queen’s coffin can move easily, according to the Guardian. The daughter of a single mother grows up in a family of formidable women in rural Ireland. (Getty) Why is there so much sand on London's streets for the Queen's funeral? The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan Published by Viking Publication date: FebruGenres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Cultural, Historical, Literary Your Local Book Store, Amazon The week Saoirse Aylward is born her father is killed in an accident, leaving her mother, Eileen alone to raise her.

The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II.

The queen of dirt