Canada will be ‘prominent’ at queen’s lying in state and funeral: Goodale

Ralph Goodale was at Buckingham Palace on Sunday, where he attended a meeting of Commonwealth representatives hosted by the new King Charles III.

Canada will have a “prominent” role in the lying-in-state and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom says, as preparations in London shift into high gear with one week to go before the ceremony.

Ralph Goodale told The Canadian Press that members of the Canadian delegation have already started to arrive to manage logistics, with RCMP and armed forces personnel expected to land in the next two days.

“Canada, being one of the most senior countries in the Commonwealth, will be prominent at the beginning of the laying in state and then later on when there will be official visits by the Governor General and by the Prime Minister,” he said Sunday in a telephone interview.

The late queen’s coffin left Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Sunday, where it was driven by hearse to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. It will be flown to London on Tuesday, where it will eventually lie in state for the public to say their goodbyes in the four days leading up to Monday’s funeral.

Goodale was at Buckingham Palace on Sunday, where he attended a meeting of Commonwealth representatives hosted by the new King Charles III.

While there, he was able to extend condolences on behalf of Canada to the new monarch and “our best wishes to him in his new role as king,” he said.

Goodale also thanked the King and his wife Camilla, who now carries the title of Queen Consort, for their most recent visit to Canada in May.

Goodale said the funeral preparations are an “amazing” undertaking for British officials, who have only a week left to finish planning the ceremony for a beloved world figure and co-ordinate the travel and movement of leaders from all around the world who will attend.