A lone piper played a Highland lament as the Queen Mother's coffin was carried solemnly from a small Windsor chapel yesterday on its way to the capital.

The Dark Island lament, played by Queen's Piper Pipe Major Jim Motherwell, was one of the Queen Mother's favourite tunes.

Draped in her personal royal standard and surmounted by a wreath of pink variegated camellias, the coffin was taken from the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park to the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace in central London.

As the coffin, conveyed in an undertaker's hearse, travelled the 23-mile journey, people along the route bowed their heads or burst into spontaneous applause in appreciation of the Queen Mother's long life of service to the nation.

With little ceremony - that is being saved for later in the week and next Tuesday when the Queen Mother's funeral service takes place - the coffin was moved in a convoy of cars and police motorcycle out-riders with flashing blue lights.

A crowd of more than 1,000 onlookers watched as the coffin arrived at the Queen's Chapel, and a dozen members of the Queen Mother's staff stood opposite the entrance.

Her butler William Tallon, known affectionately as "Backstairs Billy", shed a tear as the coffin was taken inside. Others bowed their heads in sorrow.

The coffin will rest at the Queen's Chapel until Friday when it will be taken to Westminster Hall. There, the Queen Mother's body will lie in state until the funeral at Westminister Abbey and interment in the George VI Memorial Chapel, within St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

* All courts in England and Wales will close on the day of the funeral as a mark of respect, the Lord Chancellor's Department announced yesterday.

Betting shops will also stay shut for the day. Bookmakers William Hill, Coral and Ladbrokes said they decided on the move after consulting across the racing industry.