Kings, queens and royalty from around the world mourned the Queen Mother Elizabeth at her funeral today in Westminster Abbey as huge crowds stood outside, honoring a woman beloved for her kindness and dedication to duty.

In a great display of regal pageantry, 192 bagpipers and drummers of royal regiments escorted the royal matriarch's coffin to the ancient abbey as people across Britain and around the world mourned her death March 30 at the age of 101.

The shrill lament of the bagpipes was punctuated by the staccato beat of drums. The 13th century abbey's great Tenor Bell was rung 101 times to mark the age of the queen mother, its mournful tones echoing across the surrounding squares and streets crowded with mourners.

The Queen Mother's coffin, draped in her personal flag and topped with her crown, was carried to the abbey on a gun carriage pulled by six black horses of the Royal Horse Artillery. The same gun carried the coffin of her husband King George VI at his funeral in 1952.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and other senior members of the British royal family, many of them in uniform, walked behind the coffin.

Along the funeral route, tens of thousands of people stood silent, their heads bowed in remembrance, some dabbing away tears, as the coffin passed. Royal guards in red jackets and black bearskin hats, sailors and Royal Marines in deep blue and Royal Air Force troops in light blue lined the route.

People began gathering well before dawn despite strong winds, freezing temperatures and a gray sky. The most ardent admirers camped on sidewalks during the night, including a few who had been waiting since the weekend.