THE plane carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II has passed over Cumbria.

The aircraft set off from Edinburgh to RAF Northolt earlier this evening and, according to flightradar24.com, flew in the sky above Maryport, Keswick and Kendal.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, head of the Royal Air Force, said the aircraft which will carry the Queen's coffin to London has been used for aid missions in Ukraine and was also used last year to help evacuate people from Afghanistan.

"It's a C-17 Globemaster, which is our strategic airlifter but on this very sad occasion it will be carrying Her Majesty's coffin down from Edinburgh to RAF Northolt," he told Sky News.

"As you can imagine, there's a lot of planning goes into a unique task like this, and we've worked closely with the Palace to deliver it to their wishes, and it's a day that we all clearly hoped would never come."

He added: "It's a heavily used aircraft - it carried the majority of the 15,000 people that we evacuated from Kabul last summer.

"And since then, it's been involved in airlifting humanitarian aid and lethal aid nodes to support Ukraine."

He said that the Queen's coffin would have a royal guard of honour when it is loaded on to the aircraft in Edinburgh made of 96 gunners from the RAF regiment, the Queen's Colour Squadron.

It is expected to arrive in London at 7pm and will be received by another guard of honour, "again, the Queen's Colour Squadron, this time with the with the King's colours on display as well", before being put into a hearse and taken to Buckingham Palace.