A hearse piled high with cut flowers in one of the most enduring images of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. At the time of her death in 1997, hundreds of mourners lined the streets as the hearse carrying her body passed and threw fresh flowers onto the roof and the bonnet.
In a heartwarming echo of that moment, the state hearse carrying the coffin of Elizabeth II was piled high with flowers as it made its final journey from London to the Queen's final burial place in her beloved Windsor.
Crowds cheered as the hearse returned to Windsor Castle, along the magnificent Long Walk, where the Queen will be buried with her parents and her much loved husband Prince Philip in the splendour of St George's Chapel.
In extraordinarily moving scenes, almost 2m people lined the streets to say farewell to the much loved monarch who has been Sovereign for over seventy years.
And it appeared the crowds wanted to make what would be her last journey particularly memorable. The jovial scenes were in stark contrast to er Majesty's state funeral which was strikingly formal and solemn.
Many of those who gathered to line the route from Wellington Arch to Windsor had not managed to secure a place along the processional route in London because of security restrictions. So instead they opted to pay their respects in a less formal way.
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When her Majesty's body arrives at St George's Chapel – which also played host to the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018 – there was a public service to lay her to rest.
That will be followed by a private burial to which only immediate family will be invited. During the burial, the Queen's coffin will be placed next to that of the Duke of Edinburgh who died in April 2021.
The Queen will once again be reunited with the man she referred to as her "strength and stay" in a plot next to the Queen's beloved parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Windsor is a perfectly fitting final resting place for the Queen whose family loved the town so much that it was chosen as the family's surname. It was also a place that signified safety for Elizabeth II as it was there that she was her sister took refuge during World War II when London was being extensively bombed.
Her Grandson and heir Prince William and his family have also recently relocated to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor with a view to being closer to both the royal family and Kate's family, the Middletons who live in Berkshire.
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