Tearful mourners line London streets to watch Queen's coffin leave Buckingham Palace

Tearful mourners have lined the streets to watch the Queen's coffin leave Buckingham Palace.

People flocked to see Her Majesty departing the official residence where she spent so much of her working life.

It was so busy that viewing areas were declared full ahead of the procession.

A gun carriage that had borne the coffins of the Queen's mother and father carried the late monarch to Westminster Hall – a procession through the heart of the capital watched by tens of thousands.

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In bright summer sunshine, funeral marches played by military bands added to the solemn mood that left some mourners weeping, while others held up their camera phones to record the historic moment.

The King led the Royal Family as they walked behind the coffin, draped with a Royal Standard and adorned with the Imperial State Crown, and pulled on a gun carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.

The new monarch walked in line with the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.

Behind the King were the Queen’s grandsons in a line – Peter Phillips, the Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales – who were followed by the late monarch’s son-in-law Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin, and her nephew the Earl of Snowdown.

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The crowds were treated to the spectacle of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment processing past along with soldiers from the Life Guards and Blues and Royals on foot.

At Horse Guards Parade, crowds of mourners, many in tears, applauded as the Queen’s coffin and procession entered the vast ceremonial parade ground, with the bells of Big Ben continuing to sound every minute.

Royal family members saluted as they made their way past the Cenotaph while Harry bowed his head.

The Queen’s coffin was transported on the George Gun Carriage.

The bearer party which carried the Queen’s coffin into Westminster Hall, and provided an escort, were soldiers flown back from Iraq to take part in the ceremony.

Before the lying in state began a brief service for the reception of the coffin was held, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, giving the opening prayer.

The first vigil was mounted by four officers from the Household Division – two each from the Blues and Royals and Life Guards – and at some point the Queen’s children will take part in the ancient ceremony over the four days the Queen lies in state.

The Queen’s lying in state in Westminster Hall opened to the public at 5pm on Wednesday and will be open 24 hours a day until it closes at 6.30am on Monday 19 September – the day of the monarch's funeral.