BRITAIN: Britons will be formally joined in mourning Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, today as a spectacular royal procession carries her coffin to the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall.
And the former queen's celebrated role as a unifier of people was further underlined last night with confirmation that the President, Mrs McAleese, and Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, will attend next Tuesday's funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Although not a formal state occasion, the decision that the President will represent the Republic reflects the increasingly warm relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland. At the same time, Stormont insiders agreed that the decision of the SDLP leader, Mr Durkan, to attend the funeral was evidence of his increasingly successful relationship with the First Minister and Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble.
Mr Trimble, who will also attend the funeral, will be present with MPs and peers at Westminster Hall this morning as Queen Elizabeth receives her mother's coffin following a military ceremonial procession bringing to London royal pomp and pageantry on a scale unseen since Sir Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965.
In a break with tradition, Princess Anne will join Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Prince William and Prince Harry and other male members of the royal household behind the Queen Mother's coffin, borne on a horse-drawn gun carriage, on the journey from the Queen's Chapel at Saint James's Palace to Westminster Hall.
Troops from Commonwealth countries will join representatives of British regiments in the procession. A royal gun salute will be fired from Green Park - one salvo for every minute of the journey to Westminster Hall, where the coffin will be received by the queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Carey, and the Dean of Westminster, Dr Wesley Carr.
A joint choir of Westminster Abbey and the chapels royal will sing a short psalm as the coffin is carried to the same spot where her husband, King George VI, lay in state 50 years ago. After prayers, the Queen Mother's body will lie in state until the morning of the funeral.
Members of the public will be able to pay their respects today from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m., and from tomorrow through to Monday from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. On Monday afternoon, the Queen Mother's grandsons - Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Viscount Linley - are expected to mount a 15-minute vigil around the coffin in personal tribute to their grandmother.
Éibhir Mulqueen adds:
A Dublin man will be one of the two leading coffin bearers as the Queen Mother's coffin is carried onto the gun carriage before it leaves Saint James's Palace. Guardsman Gavin O'Neill (25) of the Irish Guards is one of three Irishmen who are in the eight-member party which is also carrying the coffin into Westminster Abbey for Tuesday's funeral service. The other two are Guardsman John Organ (30) from Limerick City and Guardsman Robert Fleming (18) from Ballyclare, Co Antrim.
Members of the Irish Guards will also keep watch as the Queen Mother lies in state. The regiment has traditionally been associated with the Queen Mother who was born the same year it was founded.
Guardsman O'Neill, from Tallaght, said he had been on his way to Temple Bar on leave last Friday when he was told to report back for duty in Germany. "I am a little bit nervous about it," he said. Guardsman Organ added that it was an amazing responsibility to be assigned to the duty.