LONDON — Time was running out on Sunday for tens of thousands of people still hoping to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II by joining a miles-long queue to view her coffin at Westminster Hall.
The British Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said that a decision will be taken later on when entry to the line will close, as it reaches final capacity. The lying-in-state is due to end at 6:30 a.m. on Monday to leave time to prepare for the funeral ceremony at Westminster Abbey beginning at 11 a.m.
“Queue times are already 13.5 hours and may increase,” the government said. “To avoid disappointment please do not set off to join the queue.”
World leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, and European royalty have been arriving in London for the funeral. They will have a chance to meet the new monarch on Sunday evening when King Charles III hosts a reception at Buckingham Palace.
After the funeral, Elizabeth II’s coffin will be taken to Windsor Castle, west of London, where a committal service will take place. The Queen, who died on Sept. 8 aged 96, will be buried within the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor, next to her parents and sister.
For now, her coffin lies guarded by iconic “Beefeaters” and other members of Britain’s military elite in the oldest part of Parliament.
Respectful silence
For days, the silence in cavernous hall, which is part of the Houses of Parliament, has been broken only by the sound of metal and boot on stone when the watch changes at 20-minute intervals.
On either side, people in T-shirts and jeans, or work suits and dresses, or shorts and sandals, babies in prams and adults in wheelchairs, file slowly past the catafalque. There’s bowing and quiet tears as they offer their respects.
Elizabeth II’s death has been followed by days of backward-looking pageantry mixed with soul-searching about the future, as Britain confronts an economic crisis and uncertainty about its place in the world after Brexit.
But in the queue that has snaked more than four miles out of Westminster and along the bank of the River Thames, there’s been a more optimistic narrative. There are hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life, some prepared to queue for more than a day to glimpse the late Queen lying-in-state.
The ad hoc ritual was “one of the most moving parts of the week,” the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said in a televised BBC interview at the scene.
Crowds cheered as King Charles III and Prince William made a surprise visit on Saturday to thank queuers. Britain’s new monarch and his heir, now the Prince of Wales, spent more than half an hour shaking hands and exchanging words with well-wishers.
Long course
The government laid out a route of about 10 miles (16 kilometers), including zig-zags, to accommodate queuers over four days.
“We’re British, so of course we know how to queue,” said Shermaine, who traveled from Dorset in southwest England. She and her friend, Amanda, who both asked not to give their surnames, commented on how cheerful the mood was.
Others spoke of a great coming together, a feeling of unity and a collective experience that was uplifting even at a time of national loss.
Etiquette key
That Britons love queuing is something of a cliche, but various studies have shown that people take etiquette seriously. One, by University College of London professor Adrian Furnham, found that British queuers see skipping the line as the ultimate faux pas, and that spacing less than six inches can cause anxiety.
At Lambeth Bridge, people chatted and laughed with soldiers in combat fatigues who’d been sent to help with the queues. And across the road from the line, tourists gathered to take photos of the queue, which has itself become an object of curiosity for visitors.
Help needed
It’s been a massive operation to keep things running smoothly, with 1,000 volunteers, stewards, marshals and police officers on hand at any one time. More than 500 portaloos have been set up, and there’s a large screen showing videos of the Queen to stave off boredom.
Entering Westminster Hall, the atmosphere instantly reverts to the formal. Some people curtsied at the coffin, which is draped with the Royal Standard and has the Imperial State Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre on it. A mother carrying a baby in a sling wiped her tears from its head as she left.
For the U.K.’s new king and new prime minister, the Conservative Party’s Liz Truss, the end of the mourning period that will inevitably mark a return to the question marks hanging over Britain, that a long queue and the hundreds of thousands in it had briefly pushed aside.
