THOUSANDS of people queued for miles and through the night to pay their final respects to the Queen at Westminster Hall.
The late monarch’s coffin will lie in state until after her funeral on Monday. It has already spent a night in Buckingham Palace after its long journey from Balmoral, via Edinburgh, to London,
The queuing infrastructure put in place was extensive, with nearly seven miles set up from Victoria Park Gardens in Westminster along the Thames to Southwark, and a further three miles inside Southwark Park.
Around 1000 people were drafted in to provide support to those in the lengthy queues.
There are 779 professional stewards per shift, assisted by 100 civil service volunteer marshals, 40 adult scouts, and 30 members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry charity, as well as Metropolitan Police officers.
There is further queue support from 10 members of the Red Cross, 30 multifaith pastors – co-ordinated by Lambeth Palace – and six Samaritans per shift.
There are British Sign Language interpreters in the accessible queue.
Queue volunteers include 140 from the Red Cross, 120 from the Scouts, 170 from the Salvation Army, 180 from the Samaritans, 600 from St John Ambulance, and then the wider deployment of military personnel helping with all ceremonial events.
There are more than 500 Portaloos along the route.
A tracker on the YouTube channel of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was set up to show the live status of the queue.
The Queen made her final journey from Buckingham Palace led by her family.
The coffin was draped in the Royal Standard, with the Imperial State Crown on a velvet cushion with a wreath of flowers atop, and carried on a gun carriage of King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
The Band of the Scots Guards and the Band of the Grenadier Guards played funeral marches throughout the procession, while the pace and route had been carefully mapped out to allow the procession to reach Westminster Hall at precisely 3pm.
Directly behind the coffin walked the King, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex, followed by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Sussex and Peter Phillips.
Despite footage of packed crowds lining the route and plenty of cheering, one attendee said it was “poorly organised”. Nigel, from South Wales, said he could not “understand why the barriers they put up were not see-through”.
Big barriers were erected on Whitehall to stop people watching the procession from Trafalgar Square.
Nigel added: “People have travelled miles and could not see a thing. I hate to say this, but it rather puts me off the monarchy. You saw the wonderful scenes in Scotland, in Edinburgh and Belfast, and the way people were treated.
“I know we have got a bigger volume of people here, but very, very poorly organised. And the number of police here, I mean, it’s the taxpayers paying for all these people as well. More security than I have seen anywhere. It’s ridiculous and I am so disappointed.”
Steve Bray, known for his demonstrations outside Parliament, was also among the crowd at Westminster, but said he was not there to protest.
“Not protesting today,” he said, “just here for the history of the occasion and to pay respects to Her Majesty the Queen.”
Last night it was confirmed that the King is to have a private day of reflection today after a momentous period for the family.
Charles has returned to his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire and is not expected to attend any public events today.
In the detailed planning for the aftermath of the Queen’s death – known as “London Bridge” – a day was set aside at this point for the new monarch to have some time away from public duties to allow him to pause and prepare for his role.
It is understood that he will already be receiving his red boxes of state papers. Every day of the year, except Christmas Day, he will receive from government ministers – and from representatives in Commonwealth and foreign countries – information in the form of policy papers, cabinet documents and Foreign Office telegrams. All of the papers have to be read and, where necessary, approved and signed.
