Baroness Thatcher's funeral: Procession details

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Margaret Thatcher laid down plans on how the service should proceed Credit: Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press/Press Association Images

The funeral of former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher takes place today

Lady Margaret Thatcher from Grantham served as the first female Prime Minister in the country. She was the longest consecutively serving leader in the United Kingdom after winning three elections from 1979 to 1990.

She passed away aged 87 on Monday 8th April after suffering from a stroke following a routine operation.

With the Queens consent Baroness Thatcher will receive a ceremonial funeral with full military honours, like that of the Queen's mother except Lady Thatcher will not lie in state, at her own request before she passed away.

The service will be held at St Paul's Cathedral followed by a private cremation at Mortlake Crematorium.

Palace of Westminster - Chapel of St Mary Undercroft

Baroness Thatcher's coffin will be taken by a hearse from the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster where it has remained overnight to the RAF Chapel at the Church of St Clement Danes on the Strand.

It is here that the coffin will be transferred to a ceremonial gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery.

A procession then begins to St Paul's from Westminster.Included in the procession will be ten members of the armed forces representing the RAF, Navy and Army.

The funeral procession will be met at the steps of St Paul's by a guard of honour of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, the Welsh Guards Band, 18 service personnel and Chelsea Pensioners.

Coffin departs from the Palace of Westminster

  • The hearse will depart from Westminster, it will pass along Whitehall, the famous street at the heart of the UK Government as it travels to the Strand.

  • The journey will take the cortege past statues of wartime military leaders Field Marshal Earl Haig and Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, and historic buildings key to her role in British history, including 10 Downing Street, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Treasury.

  • From there, the cortege will pass through Trafalgar Square and turn onto the Strand, passing along it, through Aldwych, and arriving at the Church of St Clement Danes, opposite the imposing Royal Courts of Justice.

  • It will also pass the Cenotaph, where Britain's war dead are commemorated.From there, the cortege will pass through Trafalgar Square and turn onto the Strand, passing along it, through Aldwych, and arriving at the Church of St Clement Danes, opposite the imposing Royal Courts of Justice.

  • The coffin arrives at the RAF Chapel at the Church of St Clement Danes on the Strand

The procession

The Union flag-draped coffin will be carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage, seen here in rehearsals on Monday Credit: PA/Wire

  • Lady Thatcher's coffin will be transferred to a gun carriage drawn by horses of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery

  • St Clement Danes is the Central Church of the Royal Air Force. Services are regularly held to commemorate people and occasions of the RAF.

The coffin will depart St Clement Danes. The procession will begin the short journey along the Strand and Fleet Street to Ludgate Hill and St Paul's.

The route will be lined by serving members of all three Armed Forces, undoubtedly joined by thousands of members of the public.

The procession will travel along Fleet Street, historic home of the British press, then up Ludgate Hill, one of the three ancient hills of London.

The gun carriage pulled by six horses arrives at St Paul's

St Paul's Cathedral

A general view of the altar inside St Paul's Cathedral, where Baroness Thatcher's funeral will take place Credit: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

  • When the funeral procession reaches the steps of St Paul's it will be met outside by a Guard of Honour of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, together with the Welsh Guards Band, along with a guard of Chelsea Pensioners.

  • Funeral service begins

  • The historic St Paul's Cathedral was chosen by Baroness Thatcher as the location for her funeral. Created by world famous architect Sir Christopher Wren 300-years-ago.

  • St Paul's was also the venue for the state funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill

  • Funeral service ends

  • Reception at Mansion House before the cremation at Mortlake Crematorium

Mortlake Crematorium

  • The service will be followed by a private cremation at Mortlake Crematorium in south-west London

  • Lord Rothschild, Tommy Cooper and Lady Thatcher's husband Sir Denis who died in 2003 have each been cremated at Mortlake Crematorium

  • It is believed that Lady Thatcher asked that her ashes be laid to rest alongside those of Sir Denis at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea