am the way, the truth and the life. her late majesty s example was not set through her position or her ambition but through whom she followed. i know his majesty shares the same faith and hope in jesus christ as his mother, the same sense of service and duty. in 1953, the queen began her coronation with silent prayer, just there at the high alter. her allegiance to god was given before any person gave allegiance to her. her service to so many people in
the nature in which it reflects the nature of the queen, the countries she visited, the dedication of service, and her faith. reporter: yes, i think we ve seen here, well, of course first of all a state funeral is defined by its military nature. it s defined by the gun carriage being poured by those 142 naval ratings, and we know her close relationship with the royal navy, prince philip, the duke of edinburgh served in the royal navy and her relationship to all of the armed forces in the day itself. but as you say, seeing 500 representatives of foreign countries here, i mean, it s the most world leaders in one place in history, i think. and so being watched by, we re told, maybe half the world s population, this is a truly extraordinary moment. but it s actually true to say, too, that it spoke to the queen s faith. i was really struck by that, by what the arch bishop of canter
had done. no, they had not. again, the queen s frugality, and sort of a sense of not wanting to stand out even in eternity. she chose to rest in eternity next to her husband in the windsor vault, you know, not standing out. one of her predecessors, queen victoria has a massive mausoleum, something she chose not to do, and placing herself with her family, and next to her husband. just moments from now, we ll be covering live and showing in its entirety, the official state funeral for queen elizabeth ii, the queen was 96 years old, born on april 20th, 1926, and again, it has been said a lot, but it s worth repeating, her reign spanned 70 years. 70 years of history.
silent prayer showing allegiance first to god. the queen consort behind her elizabeth s coffin in the procession that is coming. and shortly begins the next procession, the longer procession, the queen s coffin will leave westminster abbey in just a moment, followed by senior members of the royal family. that procession expected to be well over a mile long behind her coffin. the sounds we ll be hearing, big ben, ringing at one-minute intervals followed by ceremony gunfire. the king s guard will give a royal salute. the coffin will be transferred from carriage to hearse after it passes by us at buckingham palace. it will head to windsor castle. 800 mourners will attend a service at st. george s chapel,
and all of that as you say, it s not just gaudy. it s not just for morning television. these are living symbols of a cultural, substantive cultural legacy which is that there is an unfolding story that is larger than any of us and to which we owe a duty. and no one executed that duty more faithfully than elizabeth i he i. we, of course, what we re seeing now, of course, is extraordinary. offerously, queen victoria s funeral represented an arc of history almost as. we re at the beginning of the