tonight, we're here in london as the public sees queen elizabeth ii's coffin for the first time as the long-reigning monarch begins the long journey home. the queen begins a 500-mile journey from her beloved balmoral castle back to london escorted by her only daughter a somber princess royal anne. united in grief. for the first time in more than two years, princess william and harry appeared together with their wives outside windsor castle. more on the touching reunion. remembering 9/11, 21 years

after the worst attack ever on american soil, we remember the lives lost. >> it took a tragedy to unite our country. cbs's jericka duncan is at ground zero in new york. the kremlin admits its pulling back troops from the kharkiv region. ukraine's new military advances. ♪ and on this anniversary of 9/11, we look back at the queen's message to america and the traditions she broke to honor the lives lost. ♪ ♪ this is a special edition of the cbs "evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting tonight from london. >> good evening, and thank you for joining us for this sunday edition of the cbs "evening news" from outside buckingham palace. tonight, queen elizabeth ii's

final journey begins after her coffin was driven through the scottish countryside from her summer home at balmoral castle to holyrood house. the longest-serving monarch in british history. the queen's state funeral will take place next monday and will be the first in the united kingdom in more than half a century when winston churchill was given the honor in 1965. as proclamation events were held across the kingdom, we were here at buckingham palace when king charles iii arrived and appeared to become emotional as he was greeted by the public. we have a lot of news to get to tonight. and cbs' elizabeth palmer is in edinburgh to start us off. good evening, elizabeth. >> reporter: good evening. president biden confirmed today that he would attend queen elizabeth's funeral. meanwhile, here in scotland, the elaborate prelude has begun.

the queen's hearse left balmoral her private country estate at 10:00 this morning. the coffin bearing a wreath that included white heather and sweet peas, one of her favorites. the procession wound its way through the scottish countryside. well wishers lining the route on horseback and even in tractors to say good-bye. ♪ meanwhile in the scottish capital edinburgh, preparations were underway for the proclamation to officially recognize her son as the new king in scotland. >> prince charles philip arthur george is known by the death of our late sovereign happy of memory become our only lawful and rightful liege lord charles iii. god save the king! >> by late afternoon, crowds

packed the streets of the capital to pay their respects to elizabeth. the queen's cortege drove through the heart of edinburgh down the historic royal mile to the royal residence here, her first stop on the long journey back to london. she will spend two nights here among people connected to her as their sovereign and their countrywoman. queen elizabeth was descended from scottish kings. >> i think it's just important to be here, just important to say good-bye. >> what was so remarkable about her? >> well, she starts at a really young age, and she had a lot of impact. and now it's going to be different. it's never going to be the same again. >> quite speechless actually. she was a lovely lady. great mother, grandmother. she did well. >> reporter: at holyrood house, three of the queen's children, princes andrew and edward and

princess anne were waiting at the door. tomorrow afternoon, the queen's body will be brought to st. giles' cathedral, and also to allow members of the public to file past the coffin. nora? >> just incredible to witness it all. elizabeth palmer, thank you so much. as the nation comes together to mourn the loss of the queen, her grandsons prince william and prince harry have also come together in a show of unity to honor her memory. >> reporter: cheering crowds caught a glimpse of the new monarch waving as he left buckingham palace this afternoon. after a day spent finalizing the queen's funeral plans. fears that family divisions might mar her final farewell were alleviated after yesterday's show of unity. the royal princes and their wives in the surprise walk-about

at windsor castle. where e kate shared h how herer youngegest lououis had been consolingg herer. my litittle louis iss just so sweet. hehe said, mommy, don't worry because she is now with great grandpa. that shoulder to shoulder united front marks a positive step forward for now, says charles' former press secretary. >> it is a big international institution, but it is also a family. it's called the royal family for a reason. and that's why you see all of these dynamics at play. whatever the motivation behind that moment, for the public, it wasn't just a show of unity in grief for the queen but a show of support for the new king. >> to see them come back together i think is fantastic. it makes us feel better. >> it's amazing, really lovely. the family's got to come together when they've had such a traumatic experience and lost the queen. they've got to be together i think. >> coming together and sharing

the burden of loss for the good of the family and a nation. >> now, the prince of wales thought it was an important show of unity and an incredibly difficult time for the family. we will see if there are any more joint appearances over this period of mournin. >> no doubt people are watching. thank you. and for more on some of the family dynamics at play, we spoke earlier with a royal editor for the "sunday times" and a cbs news royal contributor. that public appearance by the two brothers, the princes, not by happenstance. >> i know that william reached out to harry, and i think one of the reasons was that those images that we saw on thursday of william arriving with the rest of the family up in balmoral together, harry arriving on his own and leaving the next morning by himself. those images have dominated the narrative for the last few days. the death of the monarch here has become so much focused on

that relationship again. and i think the royal family and particularly william was very keen to put a stop to that and put on a proper show of unity during a difficult time. and that's what the two brothers working together achieved yesterday. >> it's incredible, there is such mourning all throughout the united kingdom. and, at the same time, you see people celebrating a new monarch. >> it's so quick, isn't it? we have ten days of national mourning, ten days running up to a state funeral the likes of which we haven't seen since 1952 for a monarch. and we also have charles out greeting the public, stamping his authority, a national address, broadcast and coming out here and pressing the flesh with the people. it is extraordinary to see that the new transition, the new monarch moving so quickly. >> it was a remark today that king charles has already been put to work. he had a number of meetings today at buckingham palace, and likely has not had much private time to mourn his mother. >> that's a really important point to make. he is a king at work now.

he is seeing dignitaries and foreign ministries, and international heads of state who are arriving every day. extraordinary feat for a man at 73 who's grieving his mother private but so publicly going about the role of king. >> always good to have you, thank you. and back at home, the nation marked the 21st anniversary of the september 11th attacks through tears and vows to never forget. at the pentagon, president biden paid tribute to the precious lives lost in one of the darkest days in our nation's history. cbs's jericka duncan is in lower manhattan. >> reporter: under cloudy skies and light rain, thousands of mourners gathered at the memorial plaza in lower manhattan. they paid tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives to terror on september 11th, 2001. >> aaron horwitz -- >> reporter: vice president kamala harris joined other leaders to honor the 9/11 victims and their families, like

rosa who lost her 25-year-old son louis. he died trying to escape the north tower. i miss him a lot. today is very hard for me. 9/11 is very hard for me. >> reporter: at the pentagon in arlington, virginia, president joe biden laid a wreath to mark the 21st anniversary and vowed that his administration will continue to eliminate terrorists like ayman al zawahiri who was recently killed in a drone strike and helped plot the 9/11 attacks. >> we will never forget. >> reporter: in shanksville, pennsylvania, first lady jill biden honored the brave memory of the passengers of united flight who fought to gain control of the airline before it could hit our nation's capitol. >> when we remember the events of this day 21 years ago, certain images are seared into our collective memory.

yet, even as we shared our grief, that moment affected us all. >> back at ground zero, families recounted their profound loss, which is just as strong today as it was more than two decades ago. >> how i feel? like everybody forgot about my brother, like family and friends. and then when i come here and i see all these people, i get happy. this is my real family. >> reporter: throughout the day, we have seen a steady stream of visitors, as you can tell here behind me. some of them say they've come here for the very first time, while others i spoke to said they make this a ritual. nora, i spoke to one firefighter who was here that fateful day who told me the pain doesn't get any easier. >> it is such a beautiful memorial. thank you so much. we turn now overseas to ukraine where president zelenskyy says russian shelling is to blame for a total blackout in major parts

of the country. this comes as ukrainian forces make significant progress in the latest offensive to regain territory previously held by russian troops. >> reporter: with lightning speed advancing, ukrainian forces are taking back territory in the northeast kharkiv region. the blue and yellow flag raised in towns and villages occupied for more than half a year. victory in kupiansk, a crucial logistics hub for russia, liberated, warm embraces and the words these women have been waiting to hear for over six months. everything is going to be okay, says the soldier. it's a humiliating defeat for vladimir putin with moscow attempting to save face, saying theirr forces have retreated to reinforce the front line in

donetsk. military aid has given ukrainians greater confidence, but more artillery is needed to keep this momentum going, says the mayor of occupied melitopol. >> how quickly our partners will give us weapons. >> reporter: nobody expects this to be over quickly. the city was plunged into darkness following strikikes on therermal p plant. russiaia still holds around a fifth of this country, including ththe zaporizhzhihia nuclear po plant where the external electricity supply was restored today. while these battlefield successes in the northeast including russia's withdrawal from izyum are the most significant since ukraine thwarted their bid to seize the capital at the start of the war. nora? >> very significant. thank you. and, straight ahead, the battle against california wildfires gaining ground in the south, while a massive fire

explodes in the north. uvalde strong. the high school football team is honored. and a new royal era. how television helped queen elizababeth bring the monarchy into people's homes.

in southern california, remnants of tropical storm kay have helped firefighters gain an upper hand on the destructive fairview fire. but up north the mosquito fire is raging out of control, forcing more people to flee the flames. here's cbs' mark strassmann. >> reporter: this is northern california's mosquito fire, more menacing by the day. with drought conditions here, dense woods became acres of kindling. more than 40,000 acres scorched. today's cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped firefighters. but flames still threaten nearly 6,000 homes.

11,000 residents have fled, including larry. >> i'm skad to death i'm going to lose everything. >> reporter: east of los angeles, firefighters battling the massive fairview fire got help from above. flames have blackened 28,000 acres, but firefighters expect to have this one fully contained tomorrow. but in that fire zone, a scary moment, a helicopter carrying firefighters lost control. >> it started spinning, and then it just fell down, and pieces went everywhere. >> reporter: all three people aboard survived with moderate injuries. that rain helping firefighters was part of a record storm. 5 inches of rain in some spots. a burm in long beach washed away, dumping flash floodwater into homes. >> 3 inches of water got into our first floor, and i'm just mitigating right now for future. >> reporter: it's been a brutal weather week here. fires flooding and heat that

almost collapsed the state's power grid. one small mercy the state's ten-day heat wave just ended. nora? >> mark strassmann, thank you. and still ahead, we'll tell you about the new federal probe into the jackson, mississippi, water crisis.

jericka. jericka. two u.s. military planes loaded with relief aid landed in flood-ravaged pakistan this weekend. historic summer monsoons killed nearly 1,400 people, leaving many homeless and destroying the impoverished nation's farmland. a federal investigation is underway into the water crisis in jackson, mississippi. a team from the epa's inspector general's office is there collecting data and interviewing officials in charge of the city's water system. residents have been under a boil water alert for six weeks. the uvalde high school football team was honored today

at the houston texans' home opener. the nfl team wore "uvalde strong" decals and recently provided the high school with new uniforms as the community heals from the school massacre in may. coming up next, how the queen used televevision to brin the royal family closer to the people.

when elizabeth became queen, radio was king. but the television age was dawning, forever changing the relationship between the public and the monarchy. >> reporter: elizabeth's 1953 coronation was the first to be televised at her insistence, just 27 years old, she ushered in a modern elizabethan age.

over 27 million people watched in the united kingdom alone. millions more around the world. tv's love affair with elizabeth had begun, and rarely wavered. throughout her long reign, every public moment was captured on camera. at the height of the pandemic, the queen used tv to rally her nation. >> we will meet again. >> reporter: while cameras later showed her grieving alone at prince philip's funeneral. there e were lighter moments as well like when she stole the show at the opening of the london olympics. >> careful what you wish for. >> and even a playful challenge with the obamas. >> oh, really? >> reporter: we also caught glimpses of her life's passions beyond the crown of family, horses and those beloved corgis. and beyond the royal stoicism, moments of her irony and dry

wit. elizabeth, a queen for the tv age. cbs news, london. >> just incredible. and when we return, how queen elizabeth broke centuries of royal tradition to honor the victims of the september 11th attacks. ♪

as the world mourns queen elizabeth ii, we are also marking the 21st anniversary of the deadliest terror attack in american history. we were reminded today of how the late monarch stood in solidarity with the united states. >> she pointedly reminded us, quote, grief is the price we pay for love. >> reporter: president biden today recalling a message queen elizabeth sent 21 years ago. her outreach to a stunned and grieving nation. two days after the attacks at the changing of the guard at buckingham palace, the queen

broke with a 600-year-old tradition. ♪ ordering her guards to play the american national anthem before a mournful crowd of thousands, including americans who were overseas during the attack and unable to get home. nine years later on what would be her final visit to the united states, the queen paid her respects to those lost at ground zero, dedicating a garden to the 67 britons who also lost their lives. and we will never forget. that is tonight's special sunday edition of the cbs "evening news." i'm norah o'donnell in london. good night. ♪ ♪

>> a break in the case, police arrest the man they say murdered murdered an eight-year-old hayward girl, why three others are also in jail tonight. > >> as the nation remember those lost on 9/11, we will introduce you to a man and his guide dog who survived the twin tower attacks 21 years ago. > >> a decades long tradition helping local businesses bounce back in the east bay coming up at 6:00. we begin tonight with new details in the investigation investigation into the murder of of eight-year-old sophia mason from hayward. police have arrested dhante jackson for her death and he is not the only one

one in jail. our reporter has details. >> to know what that poor little little angel went through by the the hands of pure evil breaks my my heart. >> reporter: with her alleged killer, dhante jackson now and custody, police revealed disturbing new details about sophia mason's murder and the house of course she lived in until her death. >> there was evidence showing she was the victim of continuous continuous physical abuse. she had been deceased at the residence for over a month. >> reporter: even before the eight-year-old was discovered dead in a bathtub, investigator say she suffered a lot. living in conditions not even fit for an animal. >> detectives learned that she was forced to live in a shed in the backyard as well is a closet closet inside the residence. >> reporter: her mother samantha samantha was charged with her death, samantha's brother boyfriend dhante jackson was wanted for murder but managed to to elude police for months. now now we know according to