The Queen's coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace

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Prince William, Kate, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined other members of the Royal Family in an intimate gathering tonight as they received the late Queen’s coffin at Buckingham Palace.

The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex have been embroiled in a well-documented rift but their grief for their beloved grandmother has brought them together.

The brothers and their wives joined King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla and other royals for a private moment inside Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening as the late monarch made her final journey from Scotland to London accompanied by Princess Anne.

Huge crowds of well-wishers gathered outside the royal residence in central London where the late Queen’s coffin, draped in a royal standard with a wreath of Balmoral blooms, arrived from RAF Northolt.

Applause and cheers of “hip hip hooray” rang out as the state hearse made its way into the palace.

Behind the scenes at the grand entrance of the palace, the new King and Queen Consort were surrounded by other royals to meet the coffin.

On the steps alongside Charles and Camilla were William, Kate, Harry and Meghan.

The Waleses and the Sussexes looked sombre as they were seen arriving at the residence earlier on Tuesday.

The private reunion came just days after the so-called Fab Four stepped out together for a surprise walkabout outside Windsor Castle to the delight of royal fans after William extended an olive branch to his younger brother with the invitation to join him and Kate. However there were reports that the rare joint appearance only went ahead after “extended negotiations”.

Also present on Tuesday evening were Prince Edward, Sophie and their children Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

Prince Andrew attended with his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. They were joined by their husbands Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank.

Lady Sarah Chatto and Earl Snowdon, the children of Princess Margaret the Queen’s sister, completed the group paying their respects to the royal matriarch.

Standing in the palace’s quadrangle was a guard of honour formed from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and they gave the royal salute as the hearse came to a stop.

The bearer party, from the Queen’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, carried the coffin into the Bow Room and in a poignant moment the sovereign’s piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, played a lament.

The coffin will rest at the palace for one night before it is handed to the nation to lie in state tomorrow to allow the public to pay their respects.

William and Harry are set to come together once again on Wednesday afternoon to walk behind the late Queen’s coffin as it makes the journey from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.

The brothers will be on foot with their father Charles, who Harry also has a troubled relationship with, as well as the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex.

The Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex will travel by car with Camilla and the Countess of Wessex.

Anne’s husband and her son Peter Phillips will also walk in the procession, along with the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Snowdon.

The procession will leave the palace at 2.22pm and is expected to arrive at Westminster Hall at 3pm before a 20-minute service is led by the Archbishop of Canterbury accompanied by the Dean of Westminster.

Grieving members of the public have already joined the queue to attend the late Queen’s lying in state which begins at 5pm on Wednesday.

It will continue until 6.30am next Monday – the day of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch’s funeral.

Earlier on Tuesday, Anne accompanied her late mother’s coffin on a poignant last journey from Scotland.

The coffin had been resting at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh for 24 hours where thousands of people paid their respects.

The Princess Royal, who was at the late Queen’s side when she passed away peacefully at Balmoral last Thursday, travelled in a C-17 Globemaster aircraft to RAF Northolt, describing it as “an honour and a privilege” in a moving statement released on Tuesday evening.

Crowds lined the route as the state hearse made its way down the A40 from the airfield in north-west London to Buckingham Palace.

Meanwhile, Charles was in Northern Ireland on Tuesday with Camilla as part of his UK tour as the new King continues his packed schedule.

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