The state gun carriage bearing the Queen’s coffin passes along The Mall

LONDON witnessed pageantry not seen in the capital for more than half a century as it said goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at her funeral service.

Her coffin was drawn through the streets of central London on a gun carriage, flanked by members of regiments from throughout the Commonwealth, and surrounded by members of the Royal Navy.

Crowds had started to gather at The Mall from early on Monday morning, designated a bank holiday by the new King at his accession ceremony.

They had come together for the nervous, solemn wait to say farewell and pay their respects to a monarch who had reigned the longest in British history. Green Park and the Mall – where the Tribune was one of a select group of local newspapers given a media allocate space – was closed two hours before the service began a short distance away in Westminster Abbey.

The 96-year-old’s coffin had been lying in state across the road at Westminster Hall for five days until the early hours of Monday.

Bianca Cecilia in Constitution Hill

Gun salutes could be heard rippling through the air from nearby Hyde Park, as soldiers were moved about and rotated while the service went on, to make sure that they were in the right position for when the procession began, to take the Queen on her final journey through the streets of London.

Her coffin was later carried to Wellington Arch, near Hyde Park Corner, to be taken by car to Windsor. Officers and soldiers in ceremonial dress lined the route.

The low, muffled, thudding drumbeat could be heard first before the crowds opposite the Palace could see those escorting the coffin.

Several filed past, with music from the bands of the Royal Marines.

Other regiments included the Gurkhas. Even despite all the preparation, the procession inevitably fell behind. One sergeant had to shout at his soldiers to “stop drifting left” as they neared Victoria Memorial.

Then, after legions had marched past, suddenly the Household Cavalry emerged into view, behind them the sailors – a practice adopted after an incident at Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1905, and atop the gun carriage the coffin – tiny, light bouncing off the jewels on it, covered in the Royal Standard. Members of the royal family walked behind it, past the thousands lining The Mall.

The crowds did not know how to react.

Some applauded, meaning a ripple that began a mile away near Admiralty Arch arrived. Others stared ahead, solemn.

And as soon as it arrived, it had gone, around the corner, only to pause for a moment in front of dozens of staff from Buckingham Palace that had filed out to pay their respects.

Bianca Cecilia, a dancer from Soho who had donned a crown and Union Jack, said: “It actually gave me goosebumps.

“It feels like a once in a lifetime experience. I know she couldn’t live forever, but she has always been there.”