We Had A Plan,

to walk to St. George's church,

the one that we walk past so often, for a service as our Queen's funeral is today, but there was a slight snag, it was closed for the day, so we decided to watch the ceremony on the television,

as sailors from the Royal Navy,

marched the gun carriage with the coffin,

towards the parade ground,

 that the queen used so often for her official duties,

the front of the procession,

made their way around The Queen Victoria Memorial,

as members of the Coldstream guards,

and representatives of Commonwealth forces followed,

the band keeping step with sombre music,

followed by the gun carriage,

the procession turned,

and made its way past Buckingham Palace,

and towards Hyde Park,

behind the cortège, the Queen was moved to the Royal Hearse,

the Royal family then made their way,

past the Albert Hall,

where we were just a few days ago, we decided to go for a walk in the park as the procession made its way to Winsor,

so off into the park,

we decided to walk up Crab Hill,

so past Westgate Road,

to the start of the hill,

we were hoping to see lots of red hawthorn berries,

but alas there were none,

but there were lots of acorns,

we took a route downhill,

by the railway tracks we had not walked before,

time for a pose,

from both of us,

the last storm nearly pushed this huge tree over,

our way neatly sign posted,

at first glance I thought it was a Christmas tree, well Christmas is only 95 days away!

we made our way out of the wooded area,

and found what was once a pleasant rolling couple of hills that were a part of the picnic area,

had been laid with sheets of metal,

a quick pose,

which should have had a backdrop of green, but now was just churned up mud,

all of this was the aftermath of last weeks pop concert here,

a look at the lake, but no swimmers today,

looking back,

the pathway was a real mess,

litter bins moved,

and huge wall separated the grounds from the mansion,

it looked like a cheap version of the Berlin Wall,

closing off much of the park,

unless you wanted a huge walk around it,

we passed the formal garden,

and more metal sheeting leading from the mansion house,

the wall went as far as I could see,

there were not as many as I would have expected in the park today,

we made our way towards the park gates that stop car traffic through the park,

home in a couple of minutes,

just in time for the funeral cortège,

to make its way past the crowds that lined the way to Winsor Castle,

the crowd was huge,

and stretched as far as the eye could see,

mounted and unmounted Life Guards walk past,

followed by the hearse,

some people clapping and cheering,

but most keeping a respectful silence,

the procession was nearing the point where the public were no longer allowed, 

from here on only invited guest and television cameras were allowed,

bouquets of flowers that members of the public had left lined the road, on the right a horse, 

Emma, the Queen's horse that she rode so often,

the cortège passing the flowers,

Prince Charles was officially pronounced King at the First Proclamation on Saturday 10 September following the passing of the Queen, however he has not yet been crowned,

the procession makes its way around the courtyard,

flanked by members of the Coldstream Guards,

who will proceed to the outside of St. George’s Chapel, where a committal service will take place in front of around 800 people, including members of the Queen’s Household and Windsor estate staff,

the cortège split into two,

as Her Majesty was taken from the hearse,

and made Her way,

into the King George VI Memorial Chapel, where she joins King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and her sister Princess Margaret,

the same pallbearers accompanied Her Majesty from London,

the coffin of the Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9 2021, is currently in a section of the chapel known as the Quire. But this was never meant to be his final resting place. His body is to be exhumed and will be placed near the Queen,

as Her Majesty was brought to the chapel,

final words were spoken,

as She was laid to rest, a truly sad day for the nation and other nations around the world, 

"The Queen is Dead, Long Live The King"

on to happier times, a sherry and a read,

poppadum's,

followed by a selection of Indian starters,

and a home made Indian curry,

'Cheers!',

time to tuck in,

for dessert the same as yesterday, cherry Bakewell sponge pudding with cream and cherries, delicious, now for a couple of films, 

firstly The Bombardment, a true real life horror, the film was directed and written by Ole Bornedal, the horror of the film is that it is sadly based on a true story, on 21st March 1945, The British Royal Air Force launched an attack, named Operation Carthage, on Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen, which was successful, the operation, however, did also cause tragic collateral damage and deaths after part of the air raid was accidentally directed towards the Jeanne d’Arc School, this tragic raid caused 125 civilian deaths at the French school, including 86 children and 18 adults, great acting and sets, but such a sad loss,

next and to round off the evening, The Current War, the epic story of the cutthroat competition that literally lit up the modern world. between Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla, a great film and story which sort of kept near to the real life events, I am only making one post today as there were a lot of photographs, so with the end of that, we were off to bed.