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Queen's state funeral in pictures: UK's longest-reigning monarch laid to rest in historic service

The Queen is being reunited with her beloved husband the Duke of Edinburgh as she is laid to rest in a historic state funeral.

Crowds of mourners have flocked to London, Windsor and royal sites throughout the UK on the national bank holiday, with the service set to draw millions of TV viewers across the globe.

Officials declared that viewing areas were all completely full by 9.30am as hundreds of thousands of mourners descended on the capital to observe the coffin being carried by gun carriage through central London.

The Royal Family were among the 2,000 people gathered at Westminster Abbey to remember the late monarch on Monday morning, before a committal service at Windsor Castle.

The day marks the climax of what is being regarded as the biggest security operation the UK has ever seen, surpassing the operation for the Platinum Jubilee weekend and the London 2012 Olympics, which saw up to 10,000 police officers on duty per day.

The Royal Family walked in procession behind the Queen’s coffin as it is carried through the Gothic church by the military bearer party.

King Charles and the Queen Consort walked immediately behind the coffin, followed by the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, and the Prince and Princess of Wales.

George and Charlotte joined their parents side-by-side in formation, followed by their uncle and aunt the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and other members of the Royal Family.

Charles was left close to tears during a state funeral service at Westminster Abbey, where the Archbishop of Canterbury described the Queen as having touched “a multitude of lives”.

Tens of thousands watched the ceremonial procession from the Abbey to Wellington Arch – a rare spectacle of thousands of sailors, soldiers and airmen accompanying the former head of the Armed Forces or lining the route.

For the coffin’s journey to the outskirts of Windsor – a town the Queen knew well and where she will be laid to rest – the public’s appreciation of the late monarch mirrored the scenes in the capital.

The hearse was strewn with flowers across it and at the outskirts of Windsor a procession was formed featuring soldiers on foot from the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals and Life Guards with mounted members of the Household Cavalry regiment.

The Long Walk too was filled with mourners eager to pay their respects to their Queen who was a staple of Windsor and was in turn loved and respected by the town.

During a committal service at St George's Chapel, she was then laid to rest following 70 years of service after family, friends and the nation said a fond farewell to the late monarch.

The Imperial State Crown, Orb and Sceptre, were removed from the Queen’s coffin and placed onto the altar of St George’s Chapel by the Dean of Windsor.

The final hymn was sung as the King prepared to drape the Queen’s Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin.

The Queen’s coffin was then lowered into the Royal Vault as the Dean of Windsor recited Psalm 103, which includes the traditional line: “Go forth upon thy journey from this world, O Christian soul."