LONDON, England —

Britain and the world are laying Queen Elizabeth II to rest on Monday at a state funeral that will draw presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers — and up to a million people lining the streets of London to say a final goodbye to a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age.

All updates are in EST.

3:35 a.m.

Mourners are arriving at Westminster Abbey to take their seats for Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral service.

Guests began entering the Gothic medieval abbey shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT; 3 a.m. EDT) on Monday.

Dignitaries were arriving later, with many heads of state gathering at a nearby hospital to be driven by bus to the abbey.

Westminster Abbey is where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953.

A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin since Sept 14.

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A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin since Sept 14. Many of them had spent cold nights outdoors to pay their respects around the queen’s flag-draped coffin in a moving outpouring of national grief and respect.

The closing of the hall marked the end of more than four days of the coffin lying in state and the start of the U.K.’s first state funeral since the one held in 1965 for Winston Churchill, the first of 15 prime ministers during Elizabeth's reign. Two days before her Sept. 8 death at her Balmoral summer retreat, the queen appointed her last prime minister, Liz Truss.

Among the last mourners to join the line to see the coffin was Tracy Dobson from Hertfordshire, just north of London.

"I felt like I had to come and pay my final respects to our majestic queen, she has done so much for us and just a little thank you really from the people,” she said.

Monday has been declared a public holiday in honor of Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 at 96. Her funeral will be broadcast live to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide and screened to crowds in parks and public spaces across the U.K.

Police officers from around the country will be on duty as part of the biggest one-day policing operation in London’s history.

On the evening before the funeral, King Charles III issued a message of thanks to people in the U.K. and around the world, saying he and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, have been “moved beyond measure” by the large numbers of people who have turned out to pay their respects to the queen.

“As we all prepare to say our last farewell, I wanted simply to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those countless people who have been such a support and comfort to my family and myself in this time of grief,” he said.

For the funeral, Elizabeth's coffin will be taken from Westminster Hall, across the road to Westminster Abbey, on a royal gun carriage drawn by 142 Royal Navy sailors. The same carriage was used to carry the coffins of late kings Edward VII, George V and George VI, and of Churchill.

Video below: Biden pays tribute to queen's 'notion of service'

The service, in the Gothic medieval abbey where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953, will be attended by 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers and volunteers.

Mourners started arriving to take their seats shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT; 3 a.m. EDT). Dignitaries were arriving later, with many heads of state gathering at a nearby hospital to be driven by bus to the abbey.

The funeral will end with two minutes of silence followed by the national anthem and a piper’s lament, before the queen’s coffin is taken in a procession ringed by units of the armed forces in dress uniforms, with the queen's children walking behind, to Wellington Arch near Hyde Park.

There, it will be placed in a hearse to be driven to Windsor for another procession along the Long Walk, a three-mile (five-kilometer) avenue leading to the town’s castle, before a committal service in St. George’s Chapel. She will then be laid to rest with her late husband, Prince Philip, at a private family service.

Central London was already packed before dawn Monday with people seeking out a prime viewing spot, and authorities warned that it would be extremely busy.

U.S. President Joe Biden was among leaders to pay their respects at the queen's coffin on Sunday as thousands of police, hundreds of British troops and an army of officials made final preparations for the funeral — a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years.

Biden called Queen Elizabeth II “decent” and “honorable” and “all about service” as he signed the condolence book, saying his heart went out to the royal family.

People across Britain paused for a minute of silence at 8 p.m. Sunday in memory of the only monarch most have ever known. At Westminster Hall, the constant stream of mourners paused for 60 seconds as people observed the minute of reflection in deep silence.

In Windsor, rain began to fall as the crowd fell silent for the moment of reflection. Some set up small camps and chairs outside Windsor Castle, spending the night there to reserve the best spots to view the queen’s coffin when it arrives.

“It will all be worth it by 4 o’clock this afternoon,” said Sally McCloud, a business manager from nearby Maidenhead. "We’re all here for one reason, whether it be raining or not raining. So I’m quite happy to be here and got a little bit of sleep. I’ve had a nice cup of coffee this morning and we’ll just wait, wait in the rain.”

Fred Sweeney, 52, who kitted out his spot with two Union flags on large flagpoles, said “it’s just one night and day of our lives. Elizabeth gave us – you know – 70 years.”

One no-show for Monday's funeral will be Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose invitation drew criticism from human rights groups because of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Saudi Arabia is expected to be represented by another royal, Prince Turki bin Mohammed.

Production for Netflix's royal drama "The Crown" paused briefly while filming season six of the show as the world paid their final respects to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II after her death.

Season five is still set for release on Nov. 9 and will feature a new actress playing the queen.

Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II for the first two seasons of the show. Then for seasons three and four, Olivia Colman took over portraying Her Majesty.

Now for the latest season, Imelda Staunton will take over the role.

Season five is expected to focus on the queen's preparations for the 40th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, Netflix revealed.

"She reflects on a reign that has encompassed nine Prime Ministers, the advent of mass television, and the twilight of the British Empire," the streaming giant said.

The role of then-Prince Charles is portrayed by Dominic West, and Elizabeth Debicki was cast in the role of Princess Diana.

LONDON —

The will of Prince Philip, the late husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, will be sealed and remain private for at least 90 years to preserve the monarch's dignity, a judge at London's High Court has ruled.

Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been married to the 95-year-old British monarch for more than seven decades, died at the age of 99 at his wife's Windsor Castle home on April 9.

In keeping with a convention dating back to 1910, Andrew McFarlane, the president of the court's Family Division, said he had agreed Philip's will should be sealed up "and that no copy of the will should be made for the record or kept on the court file."

Video above: Prince Harry will appear in television special about Prince Philip

He also ruled in favor of the request "to exclude the value of the estate from the grant of probate."

"The degree of publicity that publication would be likely to attract would be very extensive and wholly contrary to the aim of maintaining the dignity of the Sovereign," McFarlane said in a ruling published on Thursday.

He said the convention was that following the death of a senior royal, an application to seal the will was made to the Family Division president, with such hearings and judgments kept private.

However, he said "as is plain from this judgment" he considered it was a "necessary and proportionate intrusion into the private affairs of Her Majesty and the Royal Family to make public the fact that an application to seal the will of HRH The Prince Philip ... has been made and granted in private, and to explain the underlying reasons."

The judge said 90 years should pass from the granting of probate before the will should be unsealed in private before possible publication, a period he said was "proportionate and sufficient."

He said the first royal whose will was sealed was Prince Francis of Teck, who was the younger brother of George V's wife Queen Mary. He said he was the custodian of a safe containing more than 30 envelopes with the wills of dead royals. The most recent additions were made in 2002 following the deaths of Queen Elizabeth's mother, Elizabeth, and her sister Princess Margaret, he said.

LONDON —

Queen Elizabeth II marked the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by offering her sympathies to the victims, survivors and families affected by the atrocity.

In a message to U.S. President Joe Biden, the British monarch remembered the "terrible attacks" on New York and Washington, D.C.

"My thoughts and prayers — and those of my family and the entire nation — remain with the victims, survivors and families affected, as well as the first responders and rescue workers called to duty,'' she said.

"My visit to the site of the World Trade Center in 2010 is held fast in my memory. It reminds me that as we honor those from many nations, faiths and backgrounds who lost their lives, we also pay tribute to the resilience and determination of the communities who joined together to rebuild.''

The ties between the two nations were marked with a special Changing of the Guard ceremony at Windsor Castle in which "The Star-Spangled Banner" was played. Hundreds gathered inside and outside the walls of the castle to watch.

Watch video above to see the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

The U.S. national anthem had also been played at Buckingham Palace 20 years ago on Sept. 12, 2001, a mark of solidarity with the United States.

U.S. Ambassador Philip Reeker thanked the queen for the gesture.

"Speaking for the United States, we have no closer ally and no closer friend, in good times and in bad times, and we are very much reminded of that today ... through the enduring relationship between our two countries," he said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also remembered the attacks, issuing a statement ahead of the anniversary saying that the terrorists had failed to "shake our belief in freedom and democracy."

"They failed to drive our nations apart, or cause us to abandon our values, or to live in permanent fear."

Sixty-seven British nationals were among the almost 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes crashed into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

There appears to be progress between the U.S. and Iran to get both nations back in line with the 2015 nuclear deal. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with international leaders Tuesday for the G7 summit in London, but he's downplayed any reports of an imminent deal with Iran. 

Despite that, two of the nuclear deal's biggest supporters in Congress, Democratic Senators Chris Coons and Chris Murphy, are currently touring the Middle East. 

Secretary Blinken joined his counterpart for a news conference in London yesterday and he also addressed reports coming out of Iran in regards to American prisoners being held in the country.

Iran says a deal has been struck to get hostages back to the U.S. In exchange for billions of dollars, but Blinken says that's not true. 

"I have no higher priority than bringing arbitrarily detained Americans, American hostages home to the United States. And that's across the board," he said. "And as Dominic said, the reports coming out of Tehran are not accurate. We are very closely engaged, ourselves, on this issue and will remain so." 

While these types of prisoner swaps are common, they hold more weight between the two countries now as talks over the nuclear deal continue. 

This story originally reported by Eliana Moreno on Newsy.com.