Bianca Cecilia, one of the hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of London today for the funeral

LONDON witnessed pageantry not seen in the capital for more than half a century as it said goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at her funeral service.

Her coffin was wheeled through the streets of central London on a gun carriage, flanked by members of regiments from throughout the Commonwealth, and surrounded by members of the Royal Navy.

Crowds had started to gather at the Mall from early on Monday morning, designated a Bank Holiday by the new King at his accession ceremony nine days ago.

They had come together for the nervous, solemn wait to say farewell and pay their respects to a monarch who had reigned for the longest in British history. Green Park and the Mall was closed two hours before the service began a short distance away in Westminster Abbey.

The 96-year-old’s coffin had been lying in state across the road at Westminster Hall for five days until the early hours of Monday morning.

BBC Radio 4’s commentary of the funeral was broadcast to the crowds who stared contemplatively down towards the ground in front of them, listening intently to James Naughtie’s description of events less than a mile away but also having their own reflections on the Queen’s death and what it meant to them.

The scene outside Buckingham Palace

Gun salutes could be heard rippling through the air from nearby Hyde Park, as soldiers were moved about and rotated while the service went on to make sure that they were in the right position for when the procession began, to take the Queen on her final journey through the streets of London, where it was carried to Wellington Arch, near Hyde Park Corner, to be taken by car to Windsor. Officers and soldiers in ceremonial dress lined the route. One police officer helping keep order was Penny Lancaster, a special constable with the City of London police.

The low, muffled, thudding drumbeat could be heard first before the crowds opposite the Palace could see those escorting the coffin. Several filed past, with music from the bands of the Royal Marines. Other regiments included the Gurkhas. Even despite all the preparation, the procession inevitably fell behind. One sergeant had to shout at his soldiers to “stop drifting left” as they neared Victoria Memorial.

Then, after legions had marched past, playing the same songs that had been played on Wednesday, when her coffin was brought from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, suddenly the Household Cavalry emerged in to view, behind them the sailors – a practice adopted after an incident at Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1905, and atop the gun carriage the coffin – tiny, light bouncing off the jewels on it, covered in the Royal standard. Members of the Royal family walked behind it, walking past thousands on the Mall.

People wait to see the funeral procession

The crowds did not know how to react.

Some applauded, meaning a ripple that began a mile away near Admiralty Arch arrived. Others stared ahead, solemn.

And as soon as it arrived, it had gone, around the corner, to have a moment in front of dozens of staff from Buckingham Palace that had filed out to pay their respects.

Then it carried on, down south carriage drive, towards Hyde Park Corner. Shortly after, like any day out, the crowds started to drift away, with that trickle turning in to a flood – much like they had when they arrived at Buckingham Palace to take in the enormity of the moment when the Queen died on September 8.

However this time instead of making a beeline from Green Park station to Buckingham Palace, this time they were heading back towards whence they came all those days ago.

The Queen’s coffin and crown pass by

“I thought it was incredibly moving,” said Bianca Cecilia, a dancer from Soho who had donned a crown and Union Jack for the return journey away from Constitution Hill, where she had watched the procession.

“It actually gave me goosebumps. It feels like a once in a lifetime experience, I was just really surprised to find I was at the front of the barriers and how close I was to the front. I didn’t expect it to affect me as much as it did. I know she was 96, she couldn’t live forever, but she has always been there and her face is everywhere it seems. It feels strange to have a king, it’s a big change.”

Ms Cecilia, 50, had arrived at 7am to try and get a spot and was pleased to find she was able to watch it.

“I thought it would be too busy so I didn’t think I would get in, I tried for the jubilee and it was packed,” she said.

Ms Cecilia is part of the Soho Arts Club, and has been doing a stained glass project on the late monarch, and said: “We were doing it before, but it feels like a nice way to honour her.”