Britain, world leaders and royalty from across the globe will on Monday bid a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, the last towering figure of her era, at a state funeral of inimitable pageantry.

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At 6.30 a.m. (0530 GMT), an official lying-in-state period ended after four days in which hundreds of thousands have queued to file past the casket of Britain's longest-reigning monarch at London's historic Westminster Hall.

Video: Reuters

They, like many across the globe including US President Joe Biden, had wanted to pay tribute to the 96-year-old who had spent seven decades on the British throne."You were fortunate to have had her for 70 years," Biden said. "We all were."

Leaders and monarchs from across the globe gathered in London on Monday to bid farewell to Britain's Queen Elizabeth at a state funeral of inimitable pageantry, marking the passing of a beloved figure who unified the nation through her 70-year reign.

Shortly before 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) the oak coffin, covered in the Royal Standard flag with the Imperial State Crown on top, emerged under overcast skies to be taken by military procession to Westminster Abbey.

Her son and heir King Charles and other senior royals walked behind as a bell tolled in the background.

Tens of thousands of people lining the streets looked on as bagpipes skirled. Earlier, hundreds of armed personnel in full ceremonial dress marched past in a historic display of kilts, bearskin hats, scarlet tunics and bands in white gloves.

Awaiting the arrival of Britain's longest-serving monarch, her son and heir King Charles and members of the royal family was a 2,000-strong congregation including some 500 world leaders and foreign royal families.

Among them was US President Joe Biden, who paid tribute to a 96-year-old who earned respect for her sense of duty and represented a constant as Britain's role in the world diminished and changed. "You were fortunate to have had her for 70 years," Biden said. "We all were."

Among the 2,000 in the congregation will be some 500 world leaders, including Biden, Emperor Naruhito of Japan, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The queen's great-grandchildren, Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, the two eldest children of now heir to the throne Prince William, will also be attending.

"Over the last 10 days, my wife and I have been so deeply touched by the many messages of condolence and support we have received from this country and across the world," Charles, Elizabeth's son and the new king, said in a statement.

"As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief."

Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at her Scottish summer home, Balmoral Castle.

Her health had been in decline, and for months the monarch who had carried out hundreds of official engagements well into her 90s had withdrawn from public life, although just two days before her death she had appointed Liz Truss her 15th and final prime minister.

'INVINCIBLE'

Such was her longevity and her inextricable link with Britain that even her own family found her passing a shock. "We all thought she was invincible," Prince William told well-wishers. The 40th sovereign in a line that traces its lineage back to 1066, Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952, Britain's first post-imperial monarch.

She oversaw her nation trying to carve out a new place in the world, and she was instrumental in the emergence of the Commonwealth of Nations, now a grouping comprising 56 countries.

When she succeeded her father George VI, Winston Churchill was her first prime minister and Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union. She met nearly every major figure from politics to entertainment and sport including Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Pele and Roger Federer.

Despite being reputedly just 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall, she dominated rooms with her presence and became a towering global figure, praised in death from Paris and Washington to Moscow and Beijing. National mourning was observed in Brazil, Jordan and Cuba, countries with which she had little direct link.

"Queen Elizabeth II was without any shadow of a doubt the best-known figure in the world, the most photographed person in history, the most recognizable person, and the fact that world leaders are going to be pouring into London for the funeral ... is saying a lot about this iconic figure," historian Anthony Seldon told Reuters.

Transport chiefs said one million people were expected in central London for the funeral, while police say it will be the biggest security operation ever in the capital.

King Charles, his siblings and sons Princes William and Harry and other members of the Windsor family will slowly walk behind the coffin as it is taken on the gun carriage to Westminster Abbey, led by some 200 pipers and drummers.

The tenor bell of the Abbey - the site of coronations, weddings, and burials of English and then British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years - will toll 96 times.

"Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service," David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster will say.

In addition to dignitaries, the congregation will include those awarded Britain's highest military and civilian medals for gallantry, representatives from charities supported by the queen, and those who made "extraordinary contributions" to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

TWO MINUTE SILENCE

Tens of millions in Britain and abroad are expected to watch the funeral of the monarch, something which has never been televised before. It will end with the Last Post trumpet salute before the church and the nation falls silent for two minutes.

Afterward, the coffin will be brought through central London, past the queen's Buckingham Palace home to the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, with the monarch and the royal family following again on foot during the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) procession.

From there, it will be placed on a hearse to be driven to Windsor Castle, west of London, for a service at St. George's Chapel. This will conclude with the crown, orb and scepter, which are symbols of the monarch's power and governance - being removed from the coffin and placed on the altar.

The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the royal household, will break his 'Wand of Office', signifying the end of his service to the sovereign, and place it on the casket.

It will then be lowered into the royal vault as the Sovereign's Piper plays a lament, slowly walking away until music in the chapel gradually fades.

Later in the evening, in a private family service, the coffin of Elizabeth and her husband of more than seven decades Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will be buried together at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, where her parents and sister, Princess Margaret, also rest.

"We're so happy you're back with Grandpa. Goodbye dear grannie, it has been the honor of our lives to have been your granddaughters and we're so very proud of you," grandchildren Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie said.

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Queen Elizabeth, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and the nation's figurehead for seven decades, has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.

"The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon," it said in a statement. "The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow."

Elizabeth's eldest son Charles, 73, automatically becomes king of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. His wife Camilla becomes Queen Consort.

Her family had rushed to be by her side at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, after doctors expressed concern about her health. She had been suffering from what Buckingham Palace has called "episodic mobility problems" since the end of last year, forcing her to withdraw from nearly all her public engagements.

Queen Elizabeth II, who was also the world's oldest and longest-serving head of state, came to the throne following the death of her father King George VI on Feb. 6, 1952, when she was just 25.

She was crowned in June the following year. The first televised coronation was a foretaste of a new world in which the lives of the royals were to become increasingly scrutinised by the media.

"I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust," she said in a speech to her subjects on her coronation day.

Concerns over the health of the longest-reigning monarch in British history have snowballed lately, as Queen Elizabeth II was hospitalized for the first time since 2013 earlier this year with reasons as to why still unclear and on Thursday it was announced, several hours after it was reported that she would remain under medical supervision in Balmoral Castle and two days after appointing a new prime minister, that the longest-serving British monarch had died in Balmoral Castle, at 96.

In recent months, including just this week, she has shown deteriorating health despite maintaining her duties. Her Majesty's decision to skip a trip to Northern Ireland the same week and royal sources reporting she will be missing out on the upcoming UN climate change conference in Glasgow in the coming days as well. As we are reminded of the mortality of one of the most symbolic figures of the last century, let us take a fleeting look at the mark she left along the way.

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Daughter of Prince Albert, duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, a young Elizabeth originally had very little chance of aceding to the throne until Edward VIII, her uncle, naively made the decision to marry an American woman by the name of Wallis Simpson. This decision instigated a constitutional crisis, as Simpson, a well-known socialite from Baltimore, had already been married and divorced once before. This scandalous (at the time) affair led to the immediate abdication of the king, leaving Elizabeth's father, now King George VI, as head of state.

After becoming heir presumptive to the British throne, Elizabeth's life expectedly underwent significant changes. Her mother earnestly prioritized her education, with thorough instruction from governesses, Eton historians, and visiting teachers from all over in the fields of languages and the arts. At the age of 21, early in 1947, her betrothal to marry distant cousin Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten was proclaimed and in November of that same year they married, furnishing Philip with the title of Duke of Edinburgh. The couple was to have four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.

It was in February of 1952, however, after months of serious decline with the health of her father, that she would take up the role that would turn her into the epochal figure she's become today.

While it could be argued that her coronation, the first ever to be broadcast live on television, would set the tone for a lifetime of similarly groundbreaking occasions, it also marked the beginning of a post-war period of welfare, stability, and security that she steadfastly overlooked throughout her nearly 70 year rule. And while the monarchy may seem anachronistic in today's world, it is important to recognize the changes Elizabeth brought to a typically reactionary institution, and the global impact that often accompanied them.

From the get-go, the Queen's reign was constantly characterized by change. She had little time to take a breath after her inaugural ceremony before she set off on a six-month tour around the world with Prince Philip, an attempt to stabilize the recently assembled Commonwealth of Nations and ensure good relations with Her Majesty's former colonies. This set a trend that would become highly respected during her reign, leading her to become the most widely travelled head of state and effectively placating any potential acrimony leftover from colonial times amongst the regions.

On top of the decolonisation that would essentially come to represent Britain's foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century (bar Margaret Thatcher), Queen Elizabeth was responsible for appreciable change domestically as well, particularly with regards to the role of the monarchy in modern society. Accepting of the fact that it did not hold nearly as much power as it once did, the Queen embraced a monarchic role more akin to that of a motherly figure and was less stringent regarding many of the institution's traditional rules and customs. She was the first to allow the televising of the royal family's domestic life, in an attempt to assuage the nation in times of distress, and adopted a comparatively lax approach to matters such as the dissolution of her sister's marriage, which she condoned in 1978. During the early 1990s recession, she would even agree to pay taxes on her private income, albeit after significant criticism and protest from a hungry populace.

However, despite her extensive travels and appreciation of history, there is one party that is missing throughout the entirety of Her Majesty's reign; Israel. While the exact reasons are unknown, it is known that there was another member of the royal family that not only visited the Holy Land, but displayed a strong connection to the Jewish cause throughout his whole life. The Queen's husband Philip.

It is said that the late Duke of Edinburgh's conviction against anti-Semitism began as a young kid attending Gordonstoun School in Scotland, a German school he attended right at the peak of the National Socialist party's popularity. After recurrently witnessing anti-Semitic attacks, he harbored a sense of compassion for the Jewish people that would follow him to his death in 2021. A part of the British Royal Navy, the young lieutenant fought the Nazis in World War II and would continue to distance himself from them in the years to come, even banning his sisters, who had married Nazi officers, from his wedding to the Queen in 1947. His support would not be exemplified fully until 1994, however, when Prince Philip became the first royal family member to visit Israel and ended a de facto boycott of the state by the British monarchy.

It is in the context of these events that we ought all to view the 96-year-old monarch and, while not necessarily championing her, must recognize her significance in shaping the world as we know it today.

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Published by the country's Cabinet Office, it recognizes Britons for excellence in fields ranging from art, athletics, science, politics, and more.

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John Barnett of Auckland was awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition for his services in the film and television industry. He previously was awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Barnett told JTA the honor is "an affirmation of the growth and importance of a New Zealand screen industry, telling stories about us, for us, and opening up these stories to the rest of the world." He noted that his Jewish heritage is "a strong factor in the selection and presentation of a number of the stories I've been involved in."

Bob Narev, a German Jewish Holocaust survivor, was honored as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contribution to the community and education.

The former lawyer and his wife, Freda, who is also a Holocaust survivor, have been educators for the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand for 17 years, teaching thousands of New Zealand students and adult groups about racism, prejudice, and bigotry. In 1999, Bob Narev was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Dozens of British Holocaust survivors were also being honored "for services to Holocaust Education."

The list of honors is published biannually – once on New Year's Day and then again for the Queen's birthday.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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