Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace on Wednesday for the final time as her coffin began its journey to Westminster Hall, where the late monarch will lie in state.

The queen's coffin, draped in the royal standard and topped with the Imperial State Crown, was borne on a horse-drawn gun carriage out of the front gates of her London residence at 2:22 pm (1322 GMT).

Big Ben tolled and guns were fired at one-minute intervals from Hyde Park as a military band played funeral marches from Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Chopin to accompany the procession to Westminster.

The queen's eldest son and successor King Charles III, his heir Prince William and youngest son Prince Harry followed the coffin on foot as it made the one-mile (1.6-kilometer) journey.

Crowds lined the route, watching in silence, as the cortege passed.