Gratitude of those in The Queue

MOST of those queuing to see the Queen’s coffin want to show gratitude rather than grief, a new survey reveals.

The mourners are far from ‘nationalistic’ and are surprisingly representative of Britain in age, ethnicity and gender.

While more than half would vote Conservative, most are EU Remainers with liberal views towards anti-Royal protesters.

Every ninth person at selected points in The Queue was quizzed in the study led by Professor Rob Johns, a specialist in political psychology at Essex University.

‘Gratitude rather than grief seems to be the summary of what we’re finding,’ he said. ‘There’s a huge contrast to the case of Princess Diana.

‘The point about thanking Queen Elizabeth, the feeling that this was someone who had been there all their lives, has really dominated over feeling sad.’

They have ‘pretty liberal’ views on anti-Royal protesters.

‘It doesn’t conform to the narrative that these are very Conservative, nationalistic people. Not at all,’ Prof Johns told Radio 4’s Today programme.