Queen concludes final journey to be laid at rest at Windsor

After an epic journey by road and air since she passed away peacefully aged 96 in Scotland on September 8, Queen Elizabeth II's coffin concluded its final journey to Windsor Castle for a Committal Service and private burial at St. George's Chapel on Monday evening.

The roughly 40-km route by road from Westminster Abbey in London, the site of a grand state funeral attended by thousands earlier in the day, to Windsor included the coffin processing by state gun carriage and then in the state hearse, a customised Jaguar, to the steps of the chapel. Thousands lined the streets on the route of this final procession, which Buckingham Palace said had been drawn up with the public in mind, and the Order of Service for the Committal Service was discussed with the late monarch over a number of years.

We have come together to commit into the hands of God the soul of his servant Queen Elizabeth, said the Dean of Windsor, who led the service. "In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope. As, with grateful hearts, we reflect on these and all the many other ways in which her long life has been a blessing to us, we pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal, he said.

Much of the music at the Committal Service has been composed by Sir William Harris, who served as the Organist at St. George's Chapel between 1933 and 1961 and much of the Queen's childhood. The young Princess Elizabeth is said to have often visited the Organ Loft to watch him play, and it is believed he taught her to play the piano. The conclusion of the Committal Service will mark the end of the public aspect of the Queen's funeral, as the royal family gather for a private ceremony for her burial next to her late husband, Prince Philip, in the King George VI Memorial Chapel later on Monday evening.