Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pass through Westminster Hall over the coming days to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II as she lies in state.
Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne, will lie in state in London until Monday morning, the day of her state funeral. Mourners have been able to pay their respects since Wednesday.
Members of the public have been waiting in long lines to pay their respects to the queen. At one moment on Thursday morning, the line was reported to be almost seven kilometres long. It snaked along the south bank of the River Thames and then over a bridge to Parliament.
Why are mourners waiting in such long lines to see the queen? Here’s what they’ve been saying.
“Everybody in the crowd was impeccably behaved. There was no malice, everybody was friends. It was fantastic,” said Keith Smart, an engineer and British Army veteran. He told The Associated Press on Thursday he waited more than 10 hours for the chance to say his goodbye.
“And then, to come into that room and see that, I just broke down inside. I didn’t bow — I knelt to the floor, on my knees, bowed my head to the queen.”
People queue to pay their respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II during the lying in state at Westminster Hall in London on Thursday. The Queen will lie in state in Westminster Hall for four full days before her funeral on Monday.
Markus Schreiber/AP
The display of mass mourning is an enormous logistical operation, with a designated 16-kilometre route lined with first aid points and more than 500 portable toilets. Mourners are being given coloured wristbands, which are numbered and allow them to briefly leave the queue to use the washroom or get food and drink.
There are 1,000 stewards and marshals working at any given time, and 30 religious leaders from a range of faiths to stop and talk to those in line. Officials expect about 750,000 people to view the coffin before the lying in state ends on Monday.
“I’m just shocked,” 24-year-old Amy Tsai told Reuters on Thursday. She had travelled from Taiwan in May and had taken part in celebrations for the queen’s jubilee in June in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.
“Now I’m waiting in line to see her lying in state.”
