Ardent monarchist Anita Atkinson was amid huge crowds who witnessed ‘a moment in history’ as Queen Elizabeth II leave Buckingham Palace for the final time on Wednesday afternoon.
County Durham’s royal superfan arrived at the mall at dawn to guarantee her place ahead of the historic procession to Westminster Hall where Her Majesty will lie in state until her funeral on Monday.
A gun carriage that had borne the coffins of the Queen’s parents carried the late monarch through the heart of the capital as tens of thousands of people lined the route.
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.
King Charles III 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.
Ms Atkinson, 56, who has been collecting royal memorabilia all her life and has around 12,000 items at her converted dairy farm in Weardale, said: “It was spectacle, a moment in history that I hope I will never forget.
“The procession was spectacular. I saw it right close up. I could not have been any closer.
“I was right on the barrier and had been there since 6.20am. The crowds just built up and built up and built up.”
During the procession King Charles III 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.
Royal family members saluted as they made their way past the Cenotaph while Harry bowed his head.
The Duke of York turned his eyes to the right to look upon the Cenotaph as the procession made its way past.
The Queen had arrived at her former home on Tuesday evening in gloom and rain but for her departure from the palace was bathed in bright sunshine.
Ms Atkinson said: “Witnessing it for me was important.
“For some reason I have to be here. I have researched the Queen and her history. For the last 45 years I have given talks and I needed to be here to close things down.
“My allegiance has already passed to King Charles III but I need to close this chapter and to see every bit including this procession, the lying in state and the funeral.
“Then the new reign really starts for me.”
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