Britain ready to farewell the Queen Mother

7.30pm

LONDON - The Queen Mother will be buried tonight (NZT) amid pomp and ceremony not seen since the 1965 death of Britain's World War Two prime minister Winston Churchill.

Thousands of ordinary people are expected to join the Queen and royal family in paying their final respects to the Queen Mother, the House of Windsor's matriarch who died in the early hours of Easter Sunday at the age of 101.

Reflecting her Scottish ancestry, soldiers from the Massed Pipes and Drums will lead the funeral procession from London's Westminster Hall, where her coffin has been lying in state since Friday, to the medieval splendour of nearby Westminster Abbey.

There, the 'Queen Mum', as she was affectionately known, will be honoured in a service reflecting many strands of British life, with readings from the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Scotland and the archbishop of Canterbury.

Leading up to the 10:30pm service, the Abbey's tenor bell will toll once for each of the 101 years of a life which spanned the 20th century, two world wars and Britain's transformation from Victorian traditionalism to electronic modernity.

The muted public reaction to the Queen Mother's death was in marked contrast to the mass outpouring of grief at the death in 1997 of Princess Diana.

But in a clear sign of the monarchy's enduring pull, the mood has shifted and some 150,000 people, young and old, have queued for hours to view the coffin, confounding forecasts the monarchy's days were numbered.

Hundreds also braved a springtime cold snap to camp out on pavements and ensure a good viewpoint for the Queen Mother's final journey.

"It was something I felt I must do," said 70-year-old Margaret Mallorie who spent a night beside the cortege's planned route with only a pair of plastic bags to keep her feet warm.

"The royal family needs our support in the same way as we would if we lost our grandmother," she told the Daily Telegraph.

The surprise swing in public mood was also reflected in a poll in the Independent newspaper which revealed a big rise in support for the monarchy since the Queen Mother's death.

The survey found only 12 per cent of the population wanted the monarchy abolished, compared to an all time high of 34 per cent a year ago when the royals were gripped by marital scandal and charges of loftiness.

Much of Britain will come to a standstill during the ceremony as stately homes, Heathrow airport, major supermarkets and the stock exchange close or fall silent.

Newspapers urged people to be upbeat and heed a poem chosen by the Queen Mother for her funeral: "You can shed tears that she has gone, or you can smile that she has lived."

International royalty will attend the service, with kings and queens from at least seven countries turning up for the funeral.

The journey to her final resting place, beside her husband King George VI -- her "beloved Bertie" -- at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, will pass many of the capital's most historic sights.

The cortege will proceed from Westminster Abbey to Parliament Square before making its way down The Mall, the avenue approaching Buckingham Palace, and then head west to Windsor.

Recalling the Queen Mother's wartime role as a rock on which Britain built her victory, two 1945 Spitfires and a Lancaster bomber will stage a low-level fly-by over the cortege.

- REUTERS

Feature: The Queen Mother 1900-2002