Royal coffin taken to London

The Queen Mother's flag-draped coffin is carried into the Queen's Chapel, London

LONDON, England -- The coffin of Britain's much-loved Queen Mother has been moved from a small stone chapel at Windsor Castle to the Queen's Chapel at St. James's Palace in London.

A lone bagpiper played a sombre lament as the coffin, draped in the Queen Mother's personal standard, left the Royal Chapel of All Saints in a black hearse at around midday (1100 GMT) on Tuesday.

The piper's tune, The Dark Island, was played in tribute to the Queen Mother's Scottish roots.

The Queen Mother's staff, clad in black with heads bowed, lined the castle's gravel driveway as the coffin was carried away. A convoy of cars and police motorcycles then escorted it to St James's Palace.

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In London, hundreds of people lined The Mall and gathered quietly outside the gates of Buckingham Palace to watch the procession pass and pay their respects to the popular former Queen.

At St James's Palace, the coffin was carried into the Queen's Chapel -- mirroring scenes seven weeks ago when Princess Margaret's body was moved to London.

The coffin will remain at the palace until Friday, when it will be moved to Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament to lie in state.

Members of the public will be able to pay their respects on Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from Saturday to Monday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., before the funeral service is held at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday, April 9.

The Ministry of Defence announced Tuesday that 1,700 members of the Army, Navy and Air Force would take part in the funeral procession. The procession will be bigger than the royal funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales, it has been announced.

The Queen Mother's coffin will pass beneath an outdoor statue of her husband King George VI as it is borne towards Westminster Hall on a horse-drawn gun carriage.

On top of the coffin will be the crown that was made for the Queen Mother to wear at her husband's coronation in 1937. The Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal Family will walk behind.

The Queen Mother died peacefully at her home on Saturday at the age of 101. (Obituary)

She is only the second royal consort to be awarded the honour of lying in state. (Full story)

On Monday evening Prince Charles paid a moving tribute to his grandmother.

Charles made a moving tribute to his "darling, indomitable grandmother"

In a passionate address on Britain's ITV from his Highgrove home, the Prince of Wales lamented the loss of his "indomitable ... darling grandmother," saying her death was a moment he had long dreaded. (Full text of Charles' tribute)

Charles said the Queen Mother had an "utterly irresistible mischievousness of spirit. ... Somehow I never thought her death would come."

The prince's eyes filled with tears as he recalled how he used to laugh with the Queen Mother. "She was quite simply the most magical grandmother you could possibly have, and I was utterly devoted to her."

British newspapers said that by making his tribute on ITV, Britain's independent television, the Prince of Wales had delivered a rebuke to the BBC. The Times of London said the Prince, in consultation with the Queen, deliberately chose the commercial channel in protest at the "continuing failure of the BBC to rise to the historic occasion of his grandmother's death."

Viewers showered the BBC with complaints about newsreader Peter Sissons' failure to wear a black tie and his "intrusive questioning" of the Queen Mother's niece, Margaret Rhodes, about her aunt's final minutes.

The BBC said it was "complete nonsense" that presenters had been banned from wearing black ties.

The Sun tabloid said on Tuesday that Charles' televised address showed that the Royal Family had learned lessons from Diana's death.

In the days following the 1997 tragedy, the Queen and other senior royals faced fierce criticism from the media, which saw them as cold, out of touch and failing to convey a sense of loss to a grieving nation.

The Queen emerges from mourning for a ride at Windsor Castle

This time, however, Charles "did a magnificent job in representing the House of Windsor," The Sun said in an editorial.

Charles has asked to travel with the Queen Mother's coffin on its journey to her final resting place, Britain's Press Association reported.

The devoted grandson wants to escort her coffin from Westminster Abbey to Windsor Castle next Tuesday for its interment, PA reported. (Hushed respect at Windsor)