The ever-expanding, endlessly patient queue to pay final respects to the Queen was nearing its 5-mile maximum length on Thursday, as yet more people arrived from around the country to join what has become perhaps the defining image of the mourning period.
The culture department said the line to file past the flag-draped coffin in Westminster Hall was taking in new entrants in Bermondsey, on the south side of the River Thames, almost at its final capacity point at nearby Southwark Park.
