The moving moment when Queen Elizabeth was parted from her crown, orb and sceptre

Queen Elizabeth II finally parted company with the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre as the final hymn was sung at her committal ceremony, in one of the most moving moments of today's funeral.

Throughout her lying in state, the symbols of monarchy have adorned her coffin, and they remained there during her funeral at Westminster Abbey and will for the committal at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

They were removed in the final moments before the public sees its last images of the monarch’s coffin.

Before the final hymn was sung in St George’s Chapel during the ceremony that began at 4pm today, Mark Appleby, the Crown Jeweller, removed the crown, orb and sceptre from the coffin, with the help of the Bargemaster and the Serjeants-at-Arms – royal servants who guard the regalia during state occasions. They passed them one by one to the Dean of Windsor, who placed them on the high altar.

While the crown represents the sovereign’s power over her subjects, the orb, made up of a cross above a globe, represents Christ’s earthly dominion and symbolises the monarch’s status as God’s mortal representative. The sceptre, which holds the world’s largest cut diamond, the Cullinan I, represents equity and mercy. They will be presented to the King at his coronation in 2023.

At the end of the hymn, the King will placed a military flag on top of the coffin which, according to the Army, will be placed inside her coffin before she is interred.

The Grenadier Guards Queen’s Company Camp Colour – a small flag which normally adorns the Company Captain’s bunk designating his place of work – is unique to each sovereign and ceases to be used when they die. The full-sized version of the flag is currently draped at the foot of the Queen’s coffin as she lies in state.

The Grenadier Guards are the most senior of the Foot Guards regiments, and the Queen was their Colonel in Chief.

Once the King placed the colours on top of the coffin, the Lord Chamberlain, the most senior officer of the Royal household, broke his wand of office and placed it there.

As the coffin was lowered into the royal vault, as Prince Philip’s was at his funeral in 2021, the Dean of Windsor read a psalm and the commendation before the Garter King of Arms read out the styles and titles of the Queen.

The committal did not mark the end of the day’s ceremonies. At 7.30pm close family members will gather in the tiny King George VI Memorial Chapel for the interment of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, whose coffins will be moved from the royal vault to be interred alongside the Queen’s parents and her sister Princess Margaret.