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Key roles for Prince Andrew, as nation mourns the Queen

The Queen’s embattled second son, Prince Andrew, will be elevated to a key role during the days of national mourning for her.

The Duke of York will join his brother King Charles and other siblings in a solemn march behind the Queen’s coffin later on Monday (Australian time).

Prince Andrew was stripped of his HRH title and ousted from royal duties earlier this year, amid accusations he was involved in raping and sexually abusing a young sex-trafficking victim.

He has barely been seen in public since, and played only the smallest of parts at the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations in June.

But in coming days, Andrew will appear with the King, Princess Anne and Prince Edward as the royal family unites to mourn the Queen.

That began late Sunday (Australian time), when the duke joined his siblings at Edinburgh’s Holyroodhouse to await the arrival of the Queen’s coffin after its six-hour journey from Scotland.

It will continue on Monday night when, at exactly 11.25pm Monday (AEST), the King and his brothers and sister will walk behind their mother’s coffin as it is taken down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to St Giles Cathedral.

The royal siblings will be followed by the Princess Royal’s husband, Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, on foot. The Queen Consort and Edward’s wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, will travel by car.

Up to 60,000 people are expected to line the street for Monday’s march.

Once at St Giles, a service will be held at midnight (AEST) to celebrate the Queen’s life. Her coffin will remain at the cathedral for 24 hours so the Scottish public can pay their respects.

It will then be flown to London, accompanied by Princess Anne.

Queen's coffin arrives in Edinburgh

The former monarch’s body arrived in Edinburgh early on Monday (AEST), after a sombre, regal procession through the Scottish countryside from her beloved Balmoral Castle.

On Sunday, mourners packed city streets and highway bridges or lined rural roads with cars and tractors to take part in a historic goodbye to the monarch who had reigned for 70 years.

The hearse drove past piles of bouquets and other tributes as it led a seven-car cortege from Balmoral, where the Queen died on Thursday at 96.

The procession was a huge event for Scotland as Britain takes days to mourn its longest-reigning monarch, the only one most Britons have ever known. People turned out hours early to grab a space by the police barricades in Edinburgh. By afternoon, the crowds were 10 people deep.

Silence fell on the packed Royal Mile in Edinburgh as the hearse arrived. But as the convoy vanished from view, the crowd spontaneously started clapping.

queen edinburgh

Prince Andrew with Vice Admiral Tim Laurence (left), Princess Anne and the Earl and Countess of Wessex at Holyroodhouse. Photo: Getty

When the hearse reached Holyroodhouse, members of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, wearing green tartan kilts, carried the coffin past the Queen’s three youngest children – Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward – into the throne room, where it was to stay for several hours so staff could pay their last respects.

Sunday’s solemn drive came as the Queen’s eldest son was formally proclaimed the new monarch – King Charles III – in the rest of Britain: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It came a day after a pomp-filled accession ceremony in England.

Just before the proclamation was read Sunday in Edinburgh, a protester appeared with a sign condemning imperialism and urging leaders to “abolish the monarchy.” She was taken away by police. Reaction was mixed. One man shouted, “Let her go! It’s free speech!” while others shouted: “Have some respect!”

Earlier in the day, proclamations were read in other parts of the Commonwealth, including Australia and New Zealand. On Monday, Victoria followed the other Australian states and territories with its own proclamation.

Charles, even as he mourned his late mother, got to work at Buckingham Palace, meeting with the secretary-general and other Commonwealth envoys. Many in those nations are grappling with both affection for the Queen and lingering bitterness over their colonial legacies, which ranged from slavery to corporal punishment in African schools to looted artefacts held in British cultural institutions.

The Queen’s coffin will take a circuitous journey back to the capital. After it is flown to London late on Tuesday (AEST), it will be moved from Buckingham Palace on Wednesday to the Houses of Parliament to lie in state until a state funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 19.

Up to a million people are expected to line up to visit the Queen’s coffin in London in coming days. Viewing will run 24 hours a day, and authorities have already warned that queues may be up to eight kilometres long.

Ahead of the funeral the new King will visit Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, accompanied by British Prime Minister Liz Truss.

-with AAP

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