All eyes are on London for the Queen’s state funeral.

VIPs, dignitaries and mourners have gathered in the capital to say a final farewell to the late monarch, who died at Balmoral in Scotland on September 8 aged 96.

Prime Minister Liz Truss and husband Hugh O’Leary arrived at Westminster Abbey a few minutes after her predecessor.

Ms Truss, who will read the Second Lesson during the service, was greeted by members of the clergy and shook their hands in turn before taking her seat in the abbey.

The Prince of Wales arrived at St James’s Palace moments after the Duke of Sussex.

William was seen travelling in a Range Rover with a police escort towards the palace shortly after 10.15am.

He had a reflective expression on his face as he travelled in the vehicle. His daughter Princess Charlotte was sat beside him in the car.

Former prime ministers Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Theresa May arrived at Westminster Abbey at the same time on Monday morning.

Mr Johnson was accompanied by wife Carrie, while Mrs May was with husband Philip and Mr Cameron walked in with wife Samantha.

Moments later former Labour prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair walked into the church, alongside wives Sarah and Cherie respectively.

The Duke of Sussex has travelled down The Mall with a police escort.

Harry was seen looking sombre as he was driven in a Range Rover from Wellington Arch, down Constitution Hill and on The Mall towards St James’s Palace.

Four vehicles with flags were seen driving ahead of Harry’s car.

The King and the Queen Consort will sit in the ornate Canada Club chairs in the front row of the south lantern.

Camilla will be seated next to the Princess Royal, then Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

Across the aisle will be the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and then Peter Phillips and Zara and Mike Tindall.

Directly behind the King will be the Duke of Sussex, with the Duchess of Sussex behind Camilla. Meghan will be sitting next to Princess Beatrice.

Heads of state, prime ministers and presidents, members of European royal families and key figures from public life are also among the 2,000 mourners gathering at the abbey for the service.

Much of the music at today’s State Funeral was selected for its special significance to HM Queen Elizabeth II, and many of the choices also have a long association with Westminster Abbey. pic.twitter.com/yZC5qKiko9

US President Joe Biden arrived at Westminster Abbey with his wife Jill shortly after 10am.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron could be seen moving slowly through the north lantern towards his seat in the south transept with his wife Brigitte.

He nodded and shared a few words with an usher as the line of dignitaries slowed to a stop as people were shown to their places.

The crowd around the edges of Parliament Square fell to a hush, as a contingent of the Scots Guards and Royal Navy filed past.

Many people lifted phones high above their heads to capture the scene, with an hour to go before the funeral begins.

In their wake came another large, brown bus bringing what appeared to be more guests, all dressed in black, to the gates at Westminster Abbey.

De zijvlaggen van het Koninklijk Paleis worden vandaag halfstok gehesen als eerbetoon aan Koningin Elizabeth II. #BelgianRoyalPalace #MonarchieBe pic.twitter.com/rybIEHFXyh

— Belgian Royal Palace (@MonarchieBe) September 19, 2022

The Belgium royal family have posted an image on Twitter of flags flying at half mast on the royal palace in Brussels in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.

Around 200 people attended a service of remembrance for the Queen at Hillsborough Fort in Co Down.

The service was addressed by Lady Downshire who said people across Northern Ireland would continue to support the King.

She said: “We know that the people of Hillsborough and Northern Ireland will continue to support the King Charles and his Queen Consort Camilla in the days ahead.”

The event concluded with the bugler of the Hillsborough Fort Guard playing, a lone piper sounding and the crowd singing God Save The King.

A Danish and Spanish contingent arrived in Chelsea in a convoy at 9.45am.

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who is now Europe’s longest reigning monarch, and King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, are expected to attend.

The Spanish royals waved as they passed by the small crowd of members of the public and media gathered on the pavement.

Stanley Matthews, 56, was watching proceedings on a big screen in Manchester with daughter Harriet, 27, and his son’s girlfriend Summer Jackson, 22.

He said: “I’m not sad. This is just a celebration of the Queen and everything she’s done.

Asked if the rain put them off watching the service outside, Miss Jackson said: “Not at all. I just want to be part of it. This is part of history.”

Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, right, has arrived for the Queen’s funeral.

One Metropolitan Police officer came straight from a shift that included a duty at the Queen’s lying in state to be on the funeral procession route with his family.

Darren O’Brien, 53, part of the Met’s parliamentary diplomatic and protection group, said it was “surreal” to be at Westminster Hall between 1.30 and 2am on Monday.

“You’re overcome by what you see,” he said, adding that people “pass you and the next minute they are crying”.

Mr O’Brien, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, who served in the Army for over five years and participated in 18 Trooping the Colour events, said being at the hall gave him a “much closer attachment” to the funeral.

Speaking at Constitution Hill, he added that it was “the right thing to come down and pay my respects”.

In Manchester, despite rain, some people gathered in Cathedral Gardens to watch the funeral on a big screen.

Rebecah Watson, 38, from Manchester, was joined by her mother Penny Stanworth, 69.

She said: “We just wanted to experience it with other people and not be sat at home on our own.

“We’re going to have to deal with the rain. If people have been in a queue for 14 hours I think we can cope with this.”

The Queen Consort’s son, food critic Tom Parker-Bowles, has arrived at Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s state funeral.

The catafalque in the Abbey where the Queen’s coffin will rest was covered with a dusky blue fabric with a subtle pattern of flowers and birds.

The cloth is reserved only for state funerals.

Organ music echoed around as guests chatted to one another, holding their pristine orders of service, which were printed with a royal coat of arms on the front.

Diplomatic cars belonging to Jordan and Sweden drove through the police cordon in Chelsea at 9.30am.

King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, of Jordan, and King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden are among foreign royals to attend.

Westminster Abbey’s tenor bell has begun tolling once a minute for 96 minutes – one for each year of the Queen’s life.

The Abbey’s tenor bell has begun tolling once a minute for 96 minutes, reflecting the years of HM Queen Elizabeth’s life. The tenor bell is the largest of the Abbey’s ten bells and is traditionally tolled upon the death of a member of the Royal Family. pic.twitter.com/0oZjU9tVAI

Ambulance service crews and paramedics are dotted across central London and Westminster as thousands of people line the streets ahead of the Queen’s funeral.

One medic told the PA News agency it has been a “nice” morning so far.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has arrived at Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s funeral.

King Philippe of Belgium and his wife Queen Mathilde arrived in Chelsea in a diplomatic vehicle ahead of the funeral.

The King was dressed in ceremonial uniform with a gold collar.

Meanwhile, with the vast majority of roads closed or blocked off in central London, large buses with darkened windows have been the few modes of transport criss-crossing the streets around Westminster Abbey.

As of 9.30am, some buses that appeared to have been transporting military officers in ceremonial dress could be seen in and around Parliament Square and Birdcage Walk.

A piper plays a lament aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, moored in Leith, Edinburgh, ahead of the Queen’s funeral.

The Princess of Wales’ parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, have arrived for the Queen’s funeral.

How to watch on television

The BBC’s special programming will air from 8am until 5pm on BBC One and iPlayer, with BSL signed coverage on BBC Two.

ITV’s programming will start at 9.30am, and all the day’s programming – from 6am to midnight – will be broadcast simultaneously on the main channel and five digital channels and the ITV Hub, the first time the broadcaster has done so.

Some well-wishers’ journeys began at 2am as they travelled to London to watch the Queen’s funeral.

Christine Birch, 61, her husband Stephen Birch, 58, and friend Margaret Frost, 68, left Bakewell, Derbyshire, in the early hours of Monday to pay their respects to the late monarch from Constitution Hill by Buckingham Palace.

An emotional Mrs Birch said: “It’s strange to come down to London for something so sad, because normally we come to all the celebrations.

“It’s going to be very emotional for everyone.

“I think it’s very important that the whole country has come together for this.

“The least we could all do is to make an effort to pay our respects.

“She’s given her entire life for all of us.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Queen’s funeral will be a day for reflection and respect.

Speaking ahead of the service at Westminster Abbey, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “The whole world, I think, will be wanting to pay their respects.”

Sir Keir said he believes the events of the past 10 days will help bring people together.

Tonight Britain fell silent to remember the extraordinary life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Thank you Ma’am, for your steadying, guiding influence throughout your historic reign. pic.twitter.com/gLy9pyXy1v

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 18, 2022

“The public have been incredible – to see those queues, to see people everywhere across London,” he said.

“It showed the United Kingdom for what it really is, this fantastic country able to convene and bring people together.”

He added: “In politics recently we have spent so much of our time on the divisive, the divisions, and actually, you know what, when the nations gets the chance it comes together. In the last 10 days that has been incredible.”

Funeral flowers in Westminster Abbey feature myrtle – which was used in the Queen’s wedding bouquet as is royal tradition.

The huge white and green displays of blooms included asiatic lilies, gladioli, alstroemeria, eustoma and foliage of English oak, weeping birch and the sprigs of myrtle.

Around the coffin will stand the four tall yellow candles that usually rest around the grave of the unknown warrior at the entrance to the church.

As the bulk of the congregation filled the seats, there was buzz of chatter and excitement ahead of the solemn occasion. An hour or so before the start of the service, the Abbey’s Falconer carried his Harris falcon, Rufus, though one of the side rooms.

The 15-year-old hooded bird has been patrolling the church since Thursday in a bid to control the number of pigeons.

Falconer Wayne Davis, from Corby Northamptonshire and who has been helping the Abbey since 1998, said: “It’s surreal. I’ve never witnessed anything like this. I’ve been involved in the Olympics, Wimbledon but this is different. We’ve been proactive. I’ve been up in the roof controlling the pigeons. He usually has bells on but they’re too noisy so I’ve had to take me them off today.”

All public viewing areas for the Queen’s funeral procession are full, London’s City Hall said.

Thousands of mourners have lined Constitution Hill in central London in anticipation of the Queen’s funeral procession passing by.

Members of the public streamed out of nearby Green Park tube station early on Monday morning in a bid to secure a spot on the road close to Buckingham Palace.

On the other side of barriers, police officers in dress uniform lined the length of the thoroughfare linking the palace with Wellington Arch.

Some individuals in the crowd wore medals, others waved Union Jack flags, many clutched thermos flasks and waited on picnic blankets and stools.

Important update for those looking to watch Her Majesty The Queen’s State Funeral and procession from the viewing areas in central London. pic.twitter.com/1GS8Incmnw

— London Gov (@LDN_gov) September 19, 2022

One sign being carried bore the message: “She left her soul in bonnie Scotland to remain the monarch of every glen.”

The Italian president Sergio Mattarella was among the last to arrive in Chelsea in a chauffeur-driven Maserati with the number plate ITA 1.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella now, arriving in the embassy’s Maserati, licence plates ITA 1. pic.twitter.com/0xxlEFpUZ1

Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers had gathered on the pavement to spot the heads of state assembling.

Crowds are growing in London, with around 95 minutes until proceedings get under way.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill tweeted: “Today I respectfully join leaders from Britain, Ireland & the international community at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as she is laid to rest.

“It is a sad day for her family who mourn her loss, and all those of a British identity from across our community who grieve also.”

Today I respectfully join leaders from Britain, Ireland & the international community at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as she is laid to rest. It is a sad day for her family who mourn her loss, and all those of a British identity from across our community who grieve also.

— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) September 19, 2022

A service of remembrance is taking place at Royal Hillsborough Fort in Co Down ahead of the Queen’s funeral.

The service features the Hillsborough Fort Guard, a ceremonial unit of warders dressed in navy tunics and white breeches.

Bugler Andrew Carlisle, who wears a scarlet tunic, sounded the call to begin the ceremony.

20,000 people came to Hillsborough Castle in County Down yesterday to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II. pic.twitter.com/TvwISCZzj6

The Co Down village is home to Hillsborough Castle, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, and has been the focus of much of the outpouring of grief in the region since the death of the Queen.

Tens of thousands of people have visited Royal Hillsborough in the last 10 days, with many leaving floral tributes at the front of the castle gates.

A large screen has been erected on the lawn of St Malachy’s Parish Church where people will gather later to watch the funeral live.

At Westminster Abbey, the King and the Queen Consort will be sitting in the ornate Canada Club chairs, with Camilla next to the Princess Royal, then Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, then the Duke of York and then the Earl and Countess of Wessex in the front row of the south lantern.

Across the aisle will be the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and then Peter Phillips and Zara and Mike Tindall.

Directly behind the King will be the Duke of Sussex with the Duchess of Sussex behind Camilla. Meghan will be sitting next to Princess Beatrice.

US President Joe Biden will be 14 rows back on the south transept behind the Polish leader and in front of the Czech Republic. The First Lady will be next to Switzerland. Directly across the aisle from Mr Biden’s place the seat was labelled the Republic of Korea.

In the front of the south transept will be Realms governors general and then commonwealth counties followed by other nations including the US.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has been pictured arriving for the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has also arrived.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at the Royal Hospital Chelsea ahead of the Queen’s funeral in Westminster.

Mr Albanese is due to take the bus to Westminster Abbey with fellow world leaders.

Albo has arrived. Australian PM @AlboMP sweeps into the cordon in his Jag. World leaders are still arriving with only two hours to go until the Queen’s funeral. pic.twitter.com/spxfbgnNNx

Thousands of mourners are expected to miss the Queen’s funeral due to rail disruption.

All lines between Paddington in west London and Reading in Berkshire are blocked because of damage to overhead electric wires, Network Rail said.

At Paddington, passengers are being redirected to alternative routes including via Marylebone and Waterloo.

Station staff offered those waiting free tea and coffee with disruption expected until 10am.

The royal family’s official Twitter account has posted a tribute video to the Queen.

Today people from across the UK, Commonwealth and around the world will pay tribute to the extraordinary life and reign of Her Majesty The Queen. pic.twitter.com/yuFxoo6Gdu

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 19, 2022

Press photographer Yui Mok, from the PA news agency, said he felt “very emotional” after leaving Westminster Hall.

He said: “Having photographed the entire duration of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state in Westminster Hall – capturing the very first members of the public to the last to pay their respects – I turned off my cameras, gave a bow and walked out of the hall feeling very emotional.”

Having photographed the entire duration of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state in Westminster Hall – capturing the very first members of the public to the last to pay their respects – I turned off my cameras, gave a bow and walked out of the hall feeling very emotional. #Queue pic.twitter.com/5qDmSiDrir

The president of Kenya, William Ruto, tweeted at 8.38am to save he has arrived in the capital for the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Arrived in London, United Kingdom to attend the burial of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. pic.twitter.com/ffLUVYjbCA

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) September 19, 2022

Meanwhile, a car registered to the European Commission has arrived at the police cordon at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is due to attend the funeral.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and equalities minister Nadhim Zahawi, right, has been pictured arriving for the Queen’s funeral.

A car with Polish number plates has also arrived at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea as world leaders continue to gather before travelling to Westminster Abbey.

Polish President Andrzej Duda is scheduled to attend with his wife, Agata.

On Sunday afternoon, President Duda met Liz Truss in Downing Street to discuss future Polish-UK cooperation and the conflict in Ukraine.

The George V metro station in Paris has been renamed for Elizabeth II for the day.

Le groupe RATP rend hommage à la reine d’Angleterre en renommant pour la journée la station George V en Elizabeth II. pic.twitter.com/QfcJzV8LpL

Along The Mall, thousands of people have already lined the route along the barriers ahead of the procession.

Near the Queen Victoria memorial, two people have draped Union flags over the barrier.

Police officers are stationed at points at the barriers all around the memorial while security staff are manning crossing points for media.

At 8.20am, security allowed members of the public through to the barriers on the anti-clockwise section of the memorial before they plan to shut down The Mall at 9am.

People were seen rushing to get a spot on the barriers, some carrying camping chairs, with the majority dressed in black.

A man paints the scene near Horse Guards in London.

A car registered to the German embassy has arrived at the security cordon around the Royal Hospital Chelsea as world leaders continue to meet before travelling to Westminster Abbey.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is understood to be attending the Queen’s funeral.

Other delegations to have arrived recently include Slovenia, Croatia, Nigeria and Malawi.

Crowds are starting to grow in the capital amid final preparations for the Queen’s funeral, with proceedings set to start at 10.44am.

A car registered to the Irish embassy was among a group of diplomatic cars to arrive in Chelsea with a police motorbike escort.

Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin is one of the dignitaries expected to attend the funeral.

Pranav Bhanot and Nancy O’Neill arrived at Westminster Abbey just after 8am.

A long-serving nurse, Ms O’Neill was recognised for her efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Bhanot, from Chigwell in Essex, helped deliver 1,200 free meals during the pandemic.

Both are attending the funeral after being named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

The doors of Westminster Abbey opened at 8am, ahead of the arrival of the first mourners for the Queen’s funeral.

The King’s Guards trooped through the Abbey’s gates, with two soldiers stationed at the metal gates awaiting the start of proceedings.

The world’s media has gathered outside Westminster Abbey ahead of the Queen’s funeral later this morning.

Access in and around central London is tightly controlled as TV and radio crews prepare to broadcast to millions if not billions of people around the world.

A massive scaffold has been erected in front of the Abbey for the media, awaiting the first members of the congregation, who are expected to arrive after 8am.

Let us pray for the Royal Family as they gather today to commend Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II into the hands of our loving and faithful God.

We come together to give thanks for a long life, lived in service to her people and her Saviour, Jesus Christ.

— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) September 19, 2022

Police officers prepare on The Mall in London ahead of the Queen’s state funeral:

Members of the armed services walking down Horseferry Road to get into position:

Shortly after 7.30am, dignitaries began to arrive at the Royal Hospital in diplomatic cars with dark windows.

The first vehicle to cross the police cordon was registered to Sudan.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military leader, is expected to attend the Queen’s funeral.

Merci Votre Majesté. pic.twitter.com/rza9r8KLA6

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