The Queen Mother

The Queen Mother was loved in Britain and abroad

A special forty one gun salute will be fired in four capitals of the UK today in memory of the Queen Mother.

The full list of locations for the gun salutes is in the "Today's Information" page on the Breakfast web site

The Royal Family is due to spend the next two days in private mourning at Windsor Castle. Hundreds of people have been visiting the castle and a book of condolence will be opened there. The Queen Mother's funeral will take place a week tomorrow at Westminster Abbey. For four days before the funeral, her body will be laid in state at Westminster Hall for the public to pay their respects.

The Queen Mother was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports - a confederation of five ports which was responsibile for the defence of the channel in medieval times. She was, in fact, the first woman to hold the honoury post. Breakfast's Tim Willcox was at Walmer Castle near Dover this morning.

Watch Tim's report by clicking the video icon at the top right of this page.

The Queen Mother died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday afternoon at the age of 101, at Windsor's Royal Lodge.

Her coffin was carried to the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park on Sunday, where the Royal Family will gather for an evensong service.

The funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey

The Prince of Wales flew back to the UK with Princes William and Harry after cutting short a skiing holiday in Switzerland.

The coffin will rest at Windsor until Tuesday, when it will be taken to the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace in central London.

Then on Friday morning, the coffin will be carried in a ceremonial procession to Westminster Hall, where it will lie in state from Friday afternoon until the evening of Monday, 8 April.

Ashes

The ceremonial - not state - funeral will be held at 1130 GMT on Tuesday.

Afterwards, the coffin will travel by road to Windsor for a private committal service and interment at St George's Chapel.

The Queen Mother will then be laid to rest alongside her husband in the George VI Memorial Chapel at St George's.

	BBC News Online looks back over the remarkable life and times of the Queen Mother  Click here for in depth coverage

She will also be buried with the ashes of Princess Margaret, which will be taken from the Royal Vault at St George's and interred in the memorial chapel at the same time.

The Queen Mother requested there be no official memorial service.

Special prayers were said at churches across Britain on Sunday, while the Queen and senior members of the Royal Family held a private service in Windsor Castle.

In his Easter Sunday sermon, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey gave thanks for the Queen Mother's life.

Condolence books

He said: "Our thoughts and prayers this morning are with the entire Royal Family, but especially with the Queen, who has lost first a sister and now a much-loved parent in a matter of weeks."

The Duke of York as well as daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have returned from their holiday in Barbados and are now at Windsor.

Also with the Queen is the Princess Royal, her husband Timothy Laurence and her two children Zara and Peter, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

Tributes have continued to pour in from around the world, and British troops serving in Afghanistan gathered for a service of remembrance at Bagram air base.

She was the backbone of our nation

Joanna Nelson, UK

E-mail your tributes here

Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and Clarence House, the Queen Mother's official London residence, are providing a focus for public mourning.

People began arriving at Windsor on Sunday bearing bunches and baskets of flowers and other floral tributes.

The castle and its grounds have been closed to the public as a mark of respect, but will open as normal at 0945 GMT on Monday.

Official books of condolence have opened at St James's Palace in London, Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh, Sandringham House visitor centre at the royal estate in Norfolk and at Cardiff City Hall.

Two books of condolences are due to open in Belfast on Wednesday, at City Hall and Craigavon Civic Centre.

Some or all are expected to stay open until the day before the funeral.

Following Saturday's announcement of the Queen Mother's death, Tony Blair led the tributes with a statement from his official country residence at Chequers in which he said the whole nation joined with the Queen and Royal Family in mourning.

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