The Queen Mother

The Queen Mother's Coffin will be moved from Windsor to St James's Palace in London later today.

The public will be able to pay their respects from Friday, when her body will lie in state at Westminster Hall.

The Queen Mother's ceremonial funeral is to take place a week today, at Westminster Abbey.

We spoke to the royal author William Shawcross:

The funeral of the Queen Mother will be extraordinary...I remember when the King died in 1952 and how I wept as a little boy...there'll be the same feeling...now as then when the Queen Mother encouraged us to remember with joy of what had been...her life has seen great technological advances: we can now send messages of condolences into cyberspace...

(To watch this interview click on the video icon at the top right hand of this page)

Also on Breakfast: royal expert Charles Jackoby said,

It's going to be a big funeral, perhaps not as big as Princess Diana's...the Queen Mum has been involved in careful rehearsals over the last 20 years...they have been very finely done, and incorporated many of her wishes...she saw a horse shy at her husband's funeral, she didn't want that to happen...the funeral will be big in emotion, it has yet to be confirmed as a state funeral...whether it's a public holiday or not people will be taking time off achieving "closure".

(To watch this interview click on the video icon at the top right hand of this page)

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Breakfast's Samantha Simmonds said in her report:

Warm and heartfelt messages from those who have left floral tributes outside Clarence House, the Queen Mothers London residence.

Many simply wanted to pay their respects to a woman who touched so many peoples lives.

For the second night the Queen mothers body lay at rest in the tiny chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park.

Four gamekeepers from Windsor: keeping vigil

Keeping vigil - four gamekeepers from the Windsor estate.

The coffin will remain in Windsor until midday today - when the Queen mother will begin the next stage of her final journey.

Later today the Queen Mothers coffin will be brought here - to the Queens chapel alongside St James palace. It will rest here, in private, for the next three days.

For the journey, the hearse will only be accompanied by a police car and motorbikes. These low-key arrangements will be in marked contrast to the lavish military ceremony planned for Friday morning's procession up The Mall to the palace of Westminster

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There will be a special programme following the moving of the coffin from Windsor Castle to St James Palace.

The Queen Mother: the Journey to London is on at midday on BBC1 and News 24.

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Prince Charles arriving at Royal Lodge, Windsor

Paying tribute on Monday, the Prince of Wales said the Queen Mother had served the UK with "panache, style and unswerving dignity" for nearly 80 years, enriching the life of the nation and beyond.

Her death in her sleep on Saturday at the age of 101 is understood to have particularly affected the prince, with whom she had a very close relationship.

In a personal and informal television statement from his Highgrove home, the prince became tearful as he recalled how he used to laugh with his grandmother until they cried.

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