ALL of Queen's four children offer emotional vigil to their beloved mother at St. Giles' Cathedral
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND: Hours after the Queen's coffin was carried over Edinburgh's Royal Mile in a somber procession, her four children arranged a moving vigil around it on Monday, September 12. At St. Giles' Cathedral, King Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, and Princess Anne participated in the first of several 'Vigils of the Princes' by standing guard at the coffin's four corners for around ten minutes. The royals stood in a mournful guard around the coffin, everyone maintaining a sad expression and bowed heads.
Sophie Wessex, the spouse of Princess Anne, and the Queen Consort Camilla were also present during the moving royal vigil. Charles was wearing a kilt made of the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan and white heather in his lapel from Balmoral as they stood guard. As people walked by the casket, Andrew was dressed in a morning suit, while Anne, the first woman in history to participate in such a ceremony, and Edward were dressed in military uniforms. Throughout the vigil, Edward and Anne had their eyes glued on the ground, while Andrew had his eyes closed for a while. The new King continued to hold his hands together while gazing down at the ground.
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Meanwhile, The Royal Company of Archers' four uniformed guardsmen, wearing long-feathered caps and carrying quivers and arrows, stood next to the four royals. The coffin will remain at St Giles' for 24 hours before being transported to London to lie in state. The vigil came after walking the Royal Mile, where the King and his siblings, in a moving show of respect for the late Queen, walked behind the hearse carying the monarch's casket from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral. Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward, the Queen's four children, all looked visibly grief-stricken as they followed the hearse transporting the Queen's oak casket.
The Queen's children were escorted the parade at a sedate walking speed, with Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence following after them. The children were positioned according to age, with the oldest Charles leading Anne, Andrew, and Edward. Following in a car were Camilla and Sophie. But the new Prince of Wales, William, and his younger brother, Prince Harry, did not take part in the procession.
According to Daily Mail, the procession traveled from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the sovereign’s official Edinburgh home, to St Giles Cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving for the life of the late monarch was held. After this, the Queen's casket will be transported to London by air on Tuesday, September 13 and the Queen will lie in state at Westminster Hall beginning on Wednesday, September 14 before her funeral on Monday, September 19.