The funeral -- officially ceremonial rather than a state occasion in a distinction invisible to all but the most pedantic royal watcher -- was the first for a former prime minister and war leader since Winston Churchill's body was borne along the same route a generation ago.

CNN: Voices from the street: London's farewell to Thatcher

The royal couple watched 200 soldiers parade through the square, bringing a splash of colour to the occasion in their full ceremonial uniform of scarlet tunics and bearskins, and led by the Band of the Irish Guards.

BBC: Duchess of Cambridge hands out shamrocks to soldiers