Queen Elizabeth II's funeral was predicted to have been watched by four billion people around the world ©Getty Images

A predicted four billion people tuned in to watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II as the world paid tribute to Britain's longest serving monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II opened the Olympic Games twice at Montreal 1976 and London 2012 during her 70 years on the throne.

More than 2,000 dignitaries were present at London's Westminster Abbey for an hour-long service that culminated in a two-minute silence and singing of the British national anthem.

Prior to the service, a solemn procession took the casket through the heart of the capital with crowds lining the streets.

Among the attendees were three International Olympic Committee members in the Queen's daughter, Princess Anne, Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, who headed Doha's unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

International Olympic Committee member Princess Anne, right, was present at the funeral of her mother Queen Elizabeth II ©Getty Images
International Olympic Committee member Princess Anne, right, was present at the funeral of her mother Queen Elizabeth II ©Getty Images

Members of many European royal families were also present, along with the six living former British Prime Ministers – John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson - and about 200 members of the public who were recognised in the Queen's birthday honours.

The viewing figures make it the most watched broadcast in history while Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 was the first to be televised and reached more than 27 million people in Britain.

It was the first state funeral held in the country since that of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965 and the first for a British monarch to be held in Westminster Abbey since King George II's in 1760.

The congregation sang The Lord's My Shepherd - a hymn sung at the wedding of the Queen to the late Duke of Edinburgh, which was also held at Westminster Abbey in 1947.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, said the Queen "touched a multitude of lives" and - quoting singer Dame Vera Lynn - said "we will meet again" as he gave the sermon.

"The grief of this day - felt not only by the late Queen's family but all round the nation, Commonwealth and world - arises from her abundant life and loving service, now gone from us," said Welby.