250,000 mourners paid their respects at the lying-in-state

A QUARTER of a million people filed past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, according to initial estimates.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan yesterday said her department was still ‘crunching the numbers’ but that she believed around 250,000 people were able to pay their respects in person – considerably lower than the expected 325,000.

The shortfall was put down to time lost to the changing of the guard, which took place every 20 minutes, and because some mourners took more time than expected in the historic hall.

There were 200,000 mourners at the Queen Mother’s lying-instate in 2002, 300,000 at George VI’s in 1952, and 320,000 people were said to have viewed Winston Churchill’s coffin in 1965.

The 250,000 who saw the Queen’s coffin was in addition to the 33,000 people who saw it in St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.

The queue opened in London last Wednesday with the first royal fans pitching tents and camping out for 48 hours to be the first through the gates of Parliament. By Friday afternoon the line stretched ten miles down the Thames, with waiting times of more than 24 hours.

When organisers temporarily closed the queue – as it hit capacity – mourners continued to pour in, forming a second line that was nicknamed the Queuey 2. David Beckham was praised for turning down an invitation to skip the queue, instead waiting 13 hours for his chance to file past the coffin. MPs were criticised for skipping the line, with four guest passes each.

The queue was finally closed at 10.41pm on Sunday, allowing the final mourner – Chrissy Heerey, a serving member of the RAF from Leicestershire – to pay her respects at 6.30am on Monday, the morning of the funeral.

Miss Donelan said the queue for Westminster Hall was ‘phenomenal’ as she paid tribute to the volunteers who helped manage and support the proceedings.

The total cost of the State Funeral will published ‘in due course’, according to No 10.