<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The funeral service to remember Britain's longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is taking place at Westminster Abbey.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Among the guests are world leaders including US President Biden and hundreds of other foreign dignitaries.</div><div><br></div><div>The Dean of Westminster, who is leading the service, expressed gratitude for the Queen's "life-long sense of duty".</div><div><br></div><div>King Charles III led a sombre procession behind his mother's coffin from Westminster Hall to the abbey.</div><div><br></div><div>The Dean, the Very Rev David Hoyle, began the service by speaking of the Queen's "unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth".</div><div><br></div><div>"With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people," he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The service has been filled with traditional church music and readings from the Bible.</div><div><br></div><div>As the Queen's coffin entered Westminster Abbey the choir sang lines, known as the Sentences, put to music which has been used at every state funeral since the early 18th century.</div><div><br></div><div>Prime Minister Liz Truss read to the mourners from John 14 and the congregation sang The Lord's My Shepherd - a hymn sung at the wedding of the Queen to the Duke of Edinburgh.</div><div><br></div><div>The Queen's coffin was conveyed - in the first of three processions throughout the day - from Westminster Hall where she was lying in state since Wednesday.</div><div><br></div><div>The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex walked side-by-side behind their father, the King. The King walked alongside his siblings, the Queen's four children.</div><div><br></div><div>The procession to the abbey saw the State Gun Carriage carry the coffin, drawn by 142 sailors, while the sound of pipes and drum rang out.</div><div><br></div><div>This is the first state funeral to be held since Sir Winston Churchill's in 1965.</div><div><br></div><div>Following the service, the coffin will be drawn in a walking procession from the Abbey to Wellington Arch, at London's Hyde Park Corner, to the sombre toll of Big Ben.</div><div><br></div><div>Gun salutes will also fire every minute from Hyde Park during the procession and people can watch in person from designated viewing areas along the route.</div><div><br></div><div>At a private family service later, the Queen will be buried alongside her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the King George VI memorial chapel, located inside St George's Chapel. - BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>