Two mothers travelled 300 miles from Northumberland to London to see the Queen lying-in-state after making a promise to each other as teenagers.
Royalists Ainsley Blackburn, 36, and Gemma Morton, 36, decided when they were around 14 that they would make the trip to the capital to say goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II when she passed away. The pair, who went to Ashington High School in Ashington together, joined the lengthy queue just before 11am on Thursday morning.
Gemma, who lives in Stakeford, had brought with her two pictures which her children Lucas, eight, and Jake, five, had drawn for the UK longest-serving monarch. One picture contained a drawing of the Queen and the other a drawing of Paddington. She planned to lay them alongside the floral tributes which have already been left in Green Park.
