Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrived at Westminster Abbey on Monday for a state funeral attended by 2,000 guests including leaders from around the world.

In a tradition dating back to Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901, the state gun carriage bearing the coffin was hauled to the abbey by Royal Navy sailors, followed in a solemn procession by King Charles III and other senior royals.

In scenes of inimitable pageantry, pallbearers carried her flag-draped casket along the aisle in the country's first state funeral since 1965, when Winston Churchill was afforded the honour.

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets as the queen's casket made the short journey from Westminster Hall where she had been lying-in-state, pulled along on a gun carriage by 142 sailors with arms linked.

A bell tolled and bagpipes skirled.

Monday has been declared a public holiday in honour of Elizabeth, who died September 8.

Millions more were expected to tune into the funeral live on television, and crowds flocked to parks and public spaces across the UK to watch it on screens.

Following the funeral in the medieval abbey where Elizabeth was married and crowned, her coffin – ringed by units of the armed forces in dress uniforms and members of her family – will be brought through the capital's streets to Wellington Arch near Hyde Park.

There, it will be placed in a hearse to be driven to Windsor Castle, where Elizabeth spent much of her time, for another procession before a committal service in St. George’s Chapel.

She will be laid to rest with her late husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service. (Agencies)