London mourners brave 9-hour wait to say goodbye to queen
LONDON – Thousands of mourners waited for hours Thursday in a line that stretched for nearly 41⁄2 miles across London for the chance to spend a few minutes filing past Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin while she lies in state at Britain’s Parliament. King Charles III spent the day in private to reflect on his first week on the throne.
The queue to pay respects to the late queen at Westminster Hall was at least a nine-hour wait, snaking across a bridge and along the south bank of the River Thames beyond Tower Bridge. But people said they didn't mind the wait, and authorities arranged portable toilets and other facilities to make the slog bearable.
“I’m glad there was a queue because that gave us time to see what was ahead of us, prepared us and absorbed the whole atmosphere,” health care professional Nimisha Maroo said. “I wouldn’t have liked it if I’d had to just rush through.”
A week after the queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after 70 years on the throne, the focus of commemorations was in Westminster – the heart of political power in London. Her coffin will lie in state at Westminster Hall until Monday, when it will be taken across the street to Westminster Abbey for the queen's funeral.
Buckingham Palace on Thursday released details about the service, the first state funeral held in Britain since the death of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965. Royalty and heads of state from around the world are expected to be among the 2,000 people attending the Westminster Abbey funeral service. A smaller burial service is planned for later Monday at Windsor Castle.
Late Monday, the queen will be buried in a private family service at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year.
The guest list for the state funeral is a roll-call of global power and pomp, from Japan's Emperor Naruhito and King Felipe VI of Spain to U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the prime ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau – who first met the queen when he was a child and his father Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s leader – said the queen was “one of my favorite people in the world.”
“Her conversations with me were always candid, we talked about anything and everything, she gave her best advice on a range of issues, she was always curious, engaged and thoughtful,” he said at a special session of the Canadian parliament in Ottawa.
After a day of high ceremony and high emotion Wednesday as the queen was borne in somber procession from Buckingham Palace, the king was spending the day working and in “private reflection” at his Highgrove residence in western England. Charles has had calls with U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron and is speaking to a host of world leaders – many of whom will come to London on Monday for the queen’s funeral.
Prince William, heir to the throne, and his wife, Kate, visited the royal family’s Sandringham estate in eastern England to see some of the tributes left by well-wishers. The couple walked slowly along metal barriers as they received bouquets from the public and chatted to well-wishers. Other royals fanned out across the U.K. to thank people for their support, with the queen’s son, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie, visiting Manchester and his sister Princess Anne in Glasgow.
On Wednesday the queen left Buckingham Palace for the last time, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall.
Charles, his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow.The military procession underscored Elizabeth’s seven decades as head of state.
Her lying-in-state, meanwhile, allowed many Britons to say a personal goodbye to the only monarch most have ever known.
The 900-year-old Westminster Hall is now the focus of events, as the queen lies in state until Monday.
It's also a huge logistical operation, with a designated 10-mile queuing route lined with first aid points and more than 500 portable toilets. There are 1,000 stewards and marshals working at any given time, and 30 religious leaders from a range of faiths to talk to those in line.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Church of England, wore a high-visibility vest emblazoned with the words “Faith Team” as he spoke to mourners.
Welby, who led a service for the royal family when Elizabeth’s coffin reached Westminster Hall, paid tribute to the queen as “someone you could trust totally, completely and absolutely, whose wisdom was remarkable.”
People old and young, dressed in dark suits or jeans and sneakers, walked in a steady stream through the historic hall, where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried, where kings and queens hosted magnificent medieval banquets, and where previous monarchs have lain in state.
After passing the coffin, most mourners paused to look back before going out through the hall’s great oak doors. Some wiped away tears; others bowed their heads or curtseyed. One sank onto a knee and blew a farewell kiss.
Keith Smart, an engineer and British Army veteran, wiped away tears as he left the hall. He had waited more than 10 hours for the chance to say his goodbye.
“Everybody in the crowd was impeccably behaved. There was no malice, everybody was friends. It was fantastic,” he said. “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.”
The late-night silence was broken when one of the guards standing vigil around the coffin collapsed. The man, his chest adorned with medals, could be seen on livestreams swaying on his feet before pitching forward. Two police officers rushed to his assistance.