Eagle-eyed viewers spot spider on Queen’s coffin as she is borne into Westminster Abbey for funeral

This is the moment a spider crawls across Queen Elizabeth’s coffin as she is carried into Westminster Abbey.

Eagle-eyed viewers shared the moment the eight-legged creature scurried across a piece of card placed alongside the crown and a wreath picked out for his late mother by King Charles III.

One said on Twitter: “ Someone hitching a lift on the Queens Coffin. #incywincy.”

Dr Matthew Sweet asked: “Did I imagine the spider on the coffin? John Donne poem in that.”

The wreath which carried the arachnid and adorns the Queen’s coffin includes flowers requested by King Charles.

Cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Highgrove House, the flowers and foliage have been chosen for their symbolism.

They include rosemary, for remembrance, and myrtle cut from a plant which was grown from a sprig of myrtle in the Queen’s wedding bouquet. Myrtle is often seen as a symbol of a happy marriage.

Also included are English oak to symbolise the strength of love, pelargoniums, garden roses, autumnal hydrangea, sedum, dahlias and scabious.

These are in shades of gold, pink and deep burgundy, with touches of white, to reflect the Royal Standard.

Also at the King’s request, the wreath has been made in a sustainable way, in a nest of English moss and oak branches.

The coffin bearers at the Queen’s funeral are from a unit of which the late monarch was Company Commander.

Soldiers from the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, have been chosen to lift the coffin during the service at Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle.

World leaders including US President Joe Biden and France’s Emmanuel Macron and a host of other leaders are among 2,000 people gathered for the sombre and historic service. Members of European royal families and key figures from public life are among the congregation.

The late monarch will later be reunited with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh when she is laid to rest at Windsor Castle.