Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Sept 19 at Westminster Abbey

LONDON (AP) — The state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will take place on September 19 at Westminster Abbey in London, palace officials have announced.

The service will take place at  5 a.m. Jamaica time (11 a.m. BST).  

It will follow a series of events that will give members of the public an opportunity to pay their last respects to the monarch.

Elizabeth, the nation's longest-reigning sovereign, died on September 8 at her summer retreat in the Scottish Highlands.

Details on the 96-year old queen's funeral will be released later, but organiser's on Saturday described the ceremony as "a fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our times.”

Palace officials said there would be opportunities to see the late sovereign's oak coffin as it journeys from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to Edinburgh and again in London, where her body will lie in state for four days starting Wednesday.

Earlier today, King Charles III was officially proclaimed Britain's monarch Saturday in a pomp-filled ceremony steeped in ancient tradition and political symbolism — and, for the first time, broadcast live online and on air.

Charles, who spent seven decades as heir apparent, automatically became king when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died Thursday. But the accession ceremony was a key constitutional and ceremonial step in introducing the new monarch to the country, a relic of a time before mass communications.

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