Queen Elizabeth's coffin was on Monday lowered into the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, bringing to an end public mourning for Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

The "second Elizabethan age" was symbolically brought to a close when the highest-ranking official in the royal household, Lord Chamberlain Andrew Parker, broke his wand of office.

The "instruments of state" with which she was crowned in 1953 – the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre – were removed from the coffin and placed on the high altar.

Her eldest son and successor, King Charles III, placed The Queen's Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier of Guards on the coffin.

As the coffin was lowered, a lone piper played a haunting lament.

The queen's titles were read publicly for the last time: "The late Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter." (AFP)