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Queen Elizabeth II’s State Funeral – What To Expect

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The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at London’s Westminster Abbey on Monday will be the culmination of decades of meticulous planning.

Here is how the day will unfold:

– Return to the abbey –
The last time Westminster Abbey was used for a monarch’s funeral was for King George II in 1760.

Since then, the preferred church has been St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle but Elizabeth opted for a larger venue.

On the morning of the funeral, the lying in state – begun at Westminster Hall in parliament on Wednesday – will continue until 6:30 am (0530 GMT).

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At 6:30 am, the doors will close in preparation for the transfer of the coffin to the nearby abbey.

– Gun carriage –
Shortly after 10:35 am, a bearer party will lift the coffin from the catafalque, a raised platform, and carry it to the state gun carriage which will be waiting outside the North Door of Westminster Hall.

The state gun carriage is a field gun carriage held by the Royal Navy since 1901, when it was withdrawn from active service for the funeral of Queen Victoria.

It was also used for the funerals of kings Edward VII, George V, the queen’s father George VI, wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was the last viceroy of British-ruled India.

READ ALSO: Queen Elizabeth: Britain Created Lopsidedness In Nigeria – First Republic Minister

It will be drawn by 142 junior enlisted sailors – naval ratings – rather than horses and will set off at 10:44 am.

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The queen’s eldest son and successor, King Charles III, will lead members of the royal family walking behind the coffin to the West Gate of Westminster Abbey, arriving at 10:52 am.

The funeral, conducted by the Dean of Westminster, David Hoyle, with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby giving the sermon, will start at 11:00 am.

Towards the end of the service at around 11:55 am, the Last Post bugle call will sound, followed by a two-minute silence.

London Heathrow Airport said flights would be stopped into and out of the airport 15 minutes before and after the silence.

The service will close with the national anthem and a Lament, a musical expression of grief, at around noon.

– Major security operation –
Westminster Abbey can hold up to 2,200 people.

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Those present in the congregation will include family members, Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss, senior politicians, former premiers, and more than 100 kings, queens and heads of states and other VIPs.

Invitations are expected to be sent to representatives of all countries with which Britain has diplomatic relations.

The palace has not released a formal guest list.

Russia and Belarus have not been invited because of the war in Ukraine, diplomatic sources said this week.

Military-run Myanmar and isolated North Korea have also not been invited, with no attendance either by representatives from Syria, Venezuela or Taliban-run Afghanistan.

– Journey to Windsor –
At 12:15 pm, the coffin will be drawn on the gun carriage, followed on foot by members of the royal family led by the king, to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner near Buckingham Palace, from where it will continue to Windsor by royal hearse.

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READ ALSO: Putin Won’t Attend Queen Elizabeth’s Funeral – Kremlin

The hearse will arrive at Windsor at 3:06 pm and make its way to the castle via the Long Walk avenue, again with flights stopped, as the castle is on the flight path into and out of Heathrow.

The king and senior members of the royal family will join the procession on foot from the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle at around 3:40 pm before the cortege halts at the chapel at 3:53 pm.

The televised committal service starts at 4:00 pm.

Monday’s committal service is expected to be attended by at least 800 people, most of whom will not have been at the abbey.

They will include past and present staff members who worked for the queen.

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At the end of the service the coffin will be lowered into the Royal Vault as the queen’s piper plays a lament from the doorway and the Archbishop of Canterbury pronounces the blessing.

“God Save the King” will be sung and the service ends.

– Final resting place –
A private burial service will be held at 7:30 pm.

The queen’s final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, which is an annexe to the main chapel, alongside her husband Prince Philip.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Professor Under Fire Over Tweets On Queen Elizabeth II

The queen’s mother and father – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the queen mother – were interred there with the ashes of her younger sister Princess Margaret.

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8-year-old Survives As Bus Carrying 46 Pilgrims Crashes In South Africa

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A bus crash led to the death of 45 passengers in South Africa on Thursday.

The bus, which crashed through a barrier of a bridge, caught fire after it fell off a bridge approximately 300km north of Johannesburg in the Northeastern Limpopo province.

BBC reports that only an eight-year-old child survived the accident with multiple injuries.

READ ALSO: Nigeria Ranks 109 In World Hungry Nations – Peter Obi Laments

The passengers were said to be pilgrims travelling from Botswana’s capital Gaborone to an Easter service in the town of Moria.

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The vehicle lost control and went off a bridge on the Mmamatlakala mountain pass between Mokopane and Marken, around 300km (190 miles) north of Johannesburg, according to South African public broadcaster SABC.

Speaking with reporters after visiting the scene, Sindisiwe Chikunga, South Africa’s Minister of Transportation, said the government will carry out an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

READ ALSO: FG To Review Oil Firms’ Plans On Gas Flaring

Chikunga said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.

“We continue to urge responsible driving at all times with heightened alertness as more people are on our roads this Easter weekend.”

In his Easter message to South Africans, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on citizens to “do our best to make this a safe Easter.”

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Man Stabs Four To Death In US

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Four people, including a teenage girl, were killed and at least five injured after a man went on a stabbing spree at multiple addresses in the US state of Illinois, police have said.

The stabbings took place on Wednesday afternoon, Rockford City Police said in a statement, adding that a 22-year-old suspect was taken into custody.

The statement did not say anything about a possible motive.

Rockford is located about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.

READ ALSO: Gender Balancing: Tellthatstory Empowers Women In African Storytelling

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Those killed included a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman, and two men aged 49 and 22, according to the police.

The police statement said that five people had been wounded, but US media later cited the police saying seven were wounded.

Details later

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[JUST IN] Okuama Killings: Army Declares Eight Persons Wanted [FULL LIST]

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The Nigerian Army has declared Eight persons wanted in connection with the killing of 17 soldiers in the Okuama community in Delta state.

The Nigerian Army disclosed this on its official X account on Thursday.

The persons declared wanted include seven men and one woman.

Full list:

They are Akevwru Daniel Omotegbono, Prof Ekpekpo Arthur, Andaowei Dennis Bakriki, Igoli Ebi (female), Akata Malawa David, Sinclear Oliki, Clement Ikolo Oghenerukevwe and Reuben Baru.

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Okuama killings: Background
The suspected mastermind of the bloodbath, a militant leader, and his gang members, who are currently on the run, seem to have their operational stamping ground at Igbomotoru, a riverside community in the Southern-Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

However, the Nigerian Army, which has spread its dragnet for the fleeing suspects, went as far as Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, to pick up three persons, last Tuesday, in connection with the killing of the soldiers.

READ ALSO: Delta Killings: Military Sets To Build Barracks On Okuama As Demolition Of Houses Continues

So far, the demanding search for the killers of the soldiers in the quiet Okuama has spread to the creeks, hideouts, and communities in Delta State, Bayelsa, and Rivers states, and is likely to extend to other states in the Niger-Delta, and outside the region if need be, according to sources.

According to VANGUARD, many believe the killing of the soldiers was beyond the land dispute between Okuama and Okoloba in the Bomadi local government area, as insiders point to divergences on oil bunkering.

Lt. Col Ali was reportedly bent on stopping oil thieves in his operational area and had made appreciable inroads. There was suspicion that his killing with other military personnel could be a setup.

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We know who did it – General Musa, CDS

The Chief of the Defense Staff, CDS, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, who had given his troops marching orders to track down the killers, alluded to this notion.

Musa said: “I know him, the C.O himself, Lt. Col. Ali. Because of recent, we emphasized that we want oil production in Nigeria to increase so that we will be able to have enough foreign exchange for things to go down. Because we all know the challenges we are facing.

READ ALSO: Okuoma Ambush: Troops Recover Decomposing Hearts Of Killed Soldiers

“And so, he insisted that all illegal activities within his general area must stop. He directed all the troops and they were stopping illegal bunkering, and then these are the people benefiting from it. And so when this issue came up, it became an opportunity for them to do away with him, which is exactly what happened.

“We know who did it, we are following up on him, and it is just a matter of time, we are sure we are going to get him. They took away our arms, we must get those arms back, and we must get these guys so that they would be prosecuted accordingly.”

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From our findings, the countryside people of Okuama are not sophisticated enough to carry out this kind of attack on military officers.

And from the CDS declaration that “we know who did it..,” he confirmed that the premeditated killing was connected to oil bunkering, so why did the troops go after helpless Okuama women and children, and even razed the community?

However, the Army, on Friday, admitted knowledge of the viral video by a militant leader who confessed to participating in killing the 16 soldiers.

It noted: “The video among other things helps to narrow investigation to persons of interest and their cohorts.

“Accordingly, the state governments and host communities of these personalities are required to assist investigation in flushing out these culprits.

“There can be no hiding place for perpetrators of such dastardly act against the nation. This is a clarion call to duty by members of those communities and the state governments”.

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