Bells toll for Queen Mother

Prince Charles and his two sons returning in grief from a Swiss skiing trip

LONDON, England -- A four-hour muffled peal of the 12 ringing bells at St Paul's Cathedral was being rung for the first time since the death of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.

The peal was being rung on Monday in remembrance of the Queen Mother after the State Bell at the cathedral was tolled for an hour the previous day.

The bell, known as Great Tom, in the Clock Tower of the London cathedral, is only tolled after the passing of a member of the Royal Family, the Lord Mayor, a serving Dean of St Paul's or a senior national figure.

It was tolled for Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and before that in 1965 for former wartime prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, and in 1952 for the Queen's father, King George VI.

A series of 41-gun salutes were being fired across the UK and Gibraltar on Monday as a mark of respect following the Queen Mother's death on Saturday.

The salutes were taking the form of guns firing at intervals of approximately once a minute for 40 minutes.

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An Army spokesman said it was the first time 41-gun salutes had been held since the King's death 50 years ago.

The Queen Mother is to be buried on Tuesday, April 9, Buckingham Palace officials said. There will be a period of national mourning in the UK up to that date.

Parliament is to be recalled on Wednesday so that MPs and peers can pay their respects to the Queen Mother, Downing Street said.

The Queen Mother's coffin was transferred from the Royal Lodge in Windsor to the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park on Sunday.

The coffin will stay in the small Windsor chapel until Tuesday when it will be taken to the Queen's Chapel at St James' Palace in central London.

It will later be taken to Westminster Hall, London, where she will become only the second British royal consort to lie in state.

Members of the royal family, including the Queen and Prince Charles, attended an Evensong service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor, on Sunday.

Books of condolences have been opened in London and Edinburgh and crowds of mourners have gathered outside Britain's royal palaces to lay flowers and remember for the Queen Mother who died in her sleep at Windsor on Saturday aged 101. (Hushed respect at Windsor)

Royals and world leaders are expected to fly in to London from around the globe.

At Britain's royal palaces flags flew at half-mast as mourners gathered through the night to reflect on a life that spanned the 20th century.

A large crowd converged at the gates of Buckingham Palace, London, within a couple of hours of the death being formally announced on Saturday.

Nikki Archer-Waring, 43, from London, left an impromptu message of condolence at the gates on a scrap of paper she had in her pocket.

She told the UK's Press Association: "My message just said, `With love to a very special person' and I put on the end, `Sorry it's just a piece of paper but I wanted to say something'."

As the crowd grew, a lone piper began to play the song "The Flowers of the Forest" as a mark of remembrance.

Similar scenes were played out at Windsor, Clarence House, her official London residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Balmoral in the Scottish Highlands and Sandringham, the Queen's estate in eastern England.

Tributes to the Queen Mother and the role she played in British life began pouring in from around the world soon after her death on Saturday. (Full story)

Britain's establishment also paid public tribute to the Queen Mother's sense of duty -- born a commoner she helped guide the country through the abdication crisis of Edward VIII in 1936, World War II, when she stayed in London during the blitz.

Her grandson Prince Charles said he and his sons, Princes Harry and William, were "completely devastated" by the news. (Full story)

The format of the mourning period and funeral has already been decided in advance but the timetable for each element is now to be finalised.