Crowds lined the route from Balmoral in Scotland on Sunday to bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II

EDINBURGH — The coffin carrying Queen Elizabeth II on her final journey Sunday arrived in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh — now the focus of national mourning — after a six-hour procession from Balmoral Castle, the country estate where she died.

A huge crowd lined central Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to catch a glimpse of the hearse as it made its way slowly to its first destination, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the royal residence in the Scottish capital where the queen’s coffin will remain overnight.

Local people, visitors and tourists thronged the city’s main streets under gray clouds to pay their respects to a monarch who had a deep affinity for Scotland. There was some applause as the convoy of seven vehicles, led by a motorcycle outrider, drove through central Edinburgh, though the mood was respectful and generally somber.

At the palace, the procession was greeted by a guard of honor, and military bearers carried the coffin to the palace’s throne room.

The oak coffin, draped in a royal standard, began its journey by being carried by six gamekeepers from the ballroom at the Balmoral estate, where the queen spent her summer vacations and for which she had a deep and long affection.

The departure from Balmoral, a remote outpost in the dramatic Scottish countryside, began a period during which Britons will be able to pay respects to the queen before her funeral Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey in London.

Crowds lined the roads as the procession passed through small towns and bigger cities, with the queen’s wreath-covered coffin visible inside the hearse. In Ballater, a few bystanders threw flowers in the path of the vehicles as the town paid its silent and somber tribute.

The route took the hearse from Balmoral, via Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth, before the procession arrived after 4 p.m. at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

That the queen’s final days were spent at Balmoral underscored her close ties to Scotland, which, for two days, will be the central point of national mourning.

Members of the royal family are expected to accompany the coffin Monday morning, when it is to be moved along the Royal Mile to nearby St. Giles’ Cathedral.

There, after a religious service, the queen’s coffin will rest to allow people to pay their respects. On Tuesday, it will be flown to London, where there will be more opportunities for Britons to bid farewell to their monarch before her funeral.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.