The body of the police officer killed in the London terrorist attack will lie in a chapel in the Palace of Westminster before his funeral on Monday.



PC Keith Palmer, 48, was stabbed to death by Khalid Masood last month as he carried out his duties on the cobbled forecourt outside parliament.

The Queen has given permission for the officer’s coffin to rest in Westminster’s Chapel of St Mary Undercroft.

It is a rare honour and was bestowed on former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Labour politician Tony Benn.

Palmer’s body will be brought to the chapel at 2pm on Sunday, with a special escort from the Metropolitan police, where it will be given a guard of honour.

A private service will be held, attended by close family members.

The Rev Prebendary Rose Hudson-Wilkin will stay with the coffin throughout the night, along with a guard of honour around the catafalque, before it is taken to Southwark Cathedral for a full police funeral.

Thousands of police officers from across the country and members of the public are expected to line the route.

Masood killed four other people and injured dozens more in the 82-second attack on 22 March. He was shot dead outside the Palace of Westminster.

Andreea Cristea, 31, Leslie Rhodes, 75, Kurt Cochran, 54, and Aysha Frade, 44, died after he ploughed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

• This article was amended on 17 April 2017. An earlier version, in referring to PC Keith Palmer’s body having lain at rest in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft the night before his funeral, said this was an honour “normally reserved for heads of state”. It is an extremely rare honour, but not one given to heads of state. Over the past century it is thought to have been bestowed on only two other people: Margaret Thatcher and Tony Benn.