Queen honoured in procession, commemorative service in Victoria, B.C.

VICTORIA — Dignitaries including British Columbia Premier John Horgan and Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin have joined a commemorative service in honour of Queen Elizabeth II in the capital city named after her great-great-grandmother.

The service at Victoria’s Christ Church Cathedral follows a procession that began at the legislature and was led by a Royal Canadian Navy band and members of a 100-member guard carrying their rifles upside down as a mark of mourning.

A riderless horse, symbolizing a fallen comrade and representing the queen’s love of horses, was part of the 1.4-kilometre march with a 21-cannon salute amid the sound of drumming and the clip-clop of hoofs.

Many of the mourners who lined the procession route under blue skies have filled the church, where the service included a choir singing “My Help Comes from the Lord,” based on Psalm 121.