{"id":7983,"date":"2022-09-18T23:45:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T17:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/?p=7983"},"modified":"2022-09-18T23:45:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T17:45:13","slug":"biden-visits-queen-elizabeths-coffin-as-uk-counts-down-to-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/national\/2022\/09\/18\/news\/7983\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden visits Queen Elizabeth\u2019s coffin as UK counts down to funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden view the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster, London, Sunday Sept. 18, 2022. (AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LONDON, Broadcasting News Corporation : US President Joe Biden paid his last respects in London to Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday, as time ticked down for ordinary mourners to view her coffin ahead of the funeral.
\nBiden crossed himself and put his hand on his heart as he stood with his wife Jill on a gallery overlooking the flag-draped casket in the cavernous Westminster Hall while members of the public filed by. After witnessing the somber scene, the US leader, Japan\u2019s Emperor Naruhito, French President Emmanuel Macron and other heads of state from around the world headed for a reception with King Charles III. Biden, who flew in late Saturday, has said Charles\u2019s mother, who reigned for a record-breaking 70 years until her death on September 8 aged 96, \u201cdefined an era.\u201d Australia\u2019s anti-monarchy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who viewed the lying-in-state and met Charles on Saturday, told Sky News Australia that the queen was \u201ca constant reassuring presence.\u201d There was also a private audience at Buckingham Palace for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, which like Australia and 12 other Commonwealth realms now counts Charles as its sovereign. \u201cYou could see that it meant a huge amount (to Charles) to have seen the sheer scale and outpouring of people\u2019s love and affection for her late Majesty,\u201d she told BBC television Sunday. But in a sign of challenges ahead for the new king, Ardern added that she expected New Zealand to ditch the UK monarchy \u201cover the course of my lifetime.\u201d
\nMembers of the public were already camping out in advance to catch a glimpse of Monday\u2019s grand farewell at Westminster Abbey, which is expected to bring London to a standstill and be watched by billions of viewers worldwide. E.J. Kelly, a 46-year-old school teacher from Northern Ireland, secured a prime spot with friends on the route the procession will take after the funeral. \u201cWatching it on television is wonderful but being here is something else,\u201d she told AFP, equipped with camping chairs, warm clothing and extra socks. \u201cI will probably feel very emotional when it comes to it, but I wanted to be here to pay my respects.\u201d Crowds also thronged around Windsor Castle, west of London, where the queen\u2019s coffin will be driven after the service for a private burial to lay her to rest alongside her late husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister. \u201cI\u2019ve lived here my whole life and I\u2019ve never seen it this busy,\u201d said Donna Lumbard, 32, a manager at a local restaurant. Starting with a single toll from Big Ben, British Prime Minister Liz Truss will lead a national minute\u2019s silence at 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Sunday to reflect on the \u201clife and legacy\u201d of the queen. Near the Scottish town of Falkirk, 96 lanterns were to be lowered into a \u201cpool of reflection\u201d at the foot of the Queen Elizabeth II Canal, before wreaths are placed in the water. Those wanting to view the flag-draped casket have until 6:30 am (0530 GMT) on Monday to make it into Westminster Hall opposite the abbey. As the queue continued to snake for miles (kilometers) along the River Thames on Sunday, the waiting time stood at more than nine hours, and the line is likely to be closed by the evening. \u201cTo avoid disappointment please do not set off to join the queue,\u201d the government said. Andy Sanderson, 46, a supermarket area manager, was in the line and finally reaching parliament. \u201cShe was the glue that kept the country together,\u201d he said. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t have an agenda whereas politicians do, so she can speak for the people.\u201d As mourners slowly filed by on Saturday evening, Prince William and his estranged younger brother Prince Harry led the queen\u2019s eight grandchildren in a 12-minute vigil around the coffin. Harry \u2014 who did two tours with the British Army in Afghanistan \u2014 wore the uniform of the Blues and Royals cavalry regiment in which he served. The move appeared to be the latest olive branch offered by Charles toward Harry and his wife Meghan after they quit royal duties and moved to North America, later accusing the royal family of racism. Queen Elizabeth\u2019s state funeral, the first in Britain since the death of her first prime minister Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place Monday at Westminster Abbey at 11:00 am. Reflecting on the queen\u2019s wishes for the hour-long ceremony, the former archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said she \u201cdid not want what you call long, boring services.\u201d \u201cThe hearts and people\u2019s cockles will be warmed,\u201d he told BBC television. Leaders from Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria and North Korea were not invited to join the 2,000 guests. Moscow\u2019s foreign ministry last week called the decision \u201cdeeply immoral,\u201d and \u201cblasphemous\u201d to the queen\u2019s memory. China will attend at the abbey, but was barred by parliamentary leaders from the lying-in-state. As their private grief has played out in the glare of global attention, a fresh opinion poll from YouGov showed the royal family\u2019s popularity has risen in the UK. William and his wife Kate topped the ranking of most popular royals while Charles saw his approval ratings rise 16 points since May. The queen\u2019s second son Prince Andrew, in disgrace over his links to billionaire US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, paid tribute Sunday to the queen\u2019s \u201cknowledge and wisdom infinite, with no boundary or containment.\u201d Camilla gave her first public comments as the new queen consort, recalling her mother-in-law\u2019s smile and \u201cwonderful blue eyes.\u201d
\n\u201cIt must have been so difficult for her being a solitary woman\u201d in a world dominated by men, Charles\u2019s wife said in televised comments. \u201cThere weren\u2019t women prime ministers or presidents. She was the only one so I think she carved her own role.\u201d NEWS COLLECTED FROM ARAB NEWS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON, Broadcasting News Corporation : US President Joe Biden paid his last respects in London to Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday, as time ticked down for ordinary mourners to view her coffin ahead of the funeral. Biden crossed himself and put his hand on his heart as he stood with his wife Jill on a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7985,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7983\/revisions\/7985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}