An English pensioner spent the night sleeping on an Edinburgh park bench in order to be one of the first in line to see the Queen's coffin lie at rest.
Thousands had gathered in the city centre on Tuesday to pay their respects to Her Majesty, as her casket was taken from Holyrood to St Giles' Cathedral.
Large crowds had crammed onto the streets to catch a glimpse of the procession up the Royal Mile, with others waiting hours in line to see her coffin later on in the day.
READ MORE - You can follow all the LIVE updates as the Queen leaves Edinburgh here.
Images had shown the line to see the Queen at rest stretching for miles as the evening went on, with the line running from St Giles' all the way to the end of the Edinburgh Meadows.
On Monday, Edinburgh Live spoke to a number of people who had begun queuing as early as 10am to get into the cathedral, coming from all over the country.
However, the Mirror reports that one English pensioner had arrived the night before, with the 72-year-old spending the night on a Meadows bench to be one of the first in line.
Veronica Alsleben, 72, arrived in Edinburgh from her home in Alnmouth at midnight and slept on a bench in the city’s Meadows until the queue opened on Monday morning (September 12.)
Spending around 12 hours in the queue itself, although Veronica never met the Queen, her determination to pay a personal goodbye was such that she did not for a second consider turning back to return to the warmth of her cottage.
“I was fine in the park, I had my thermals,” she said.
“Coming here was a spontaneous decision. I cared for the Queen and felt very emotional when news of her death broke, especially when I saw her coffin leave Balmoral as we know she loved Scotland so much. I just had to be here.
"It’s my way of saying thank you.”
Ahead of Veronica was George Higgins, a Royal Scots veteran who knocked off from night shift as a university security guard at 5am and came straight out to wait in the cold for 11 hours so he could see the Queen’s coffin lying in state.
George, 61, from Edinburgh, says: “You could have heard a pin drop inside the Cathedral. It was so peaceful and calming. It was worth my wait. It was a long day and I’d do it again.
“Now I’m going back to work for my next night shift. I can sleep another day. My small sacrifice is nothing compared to the Queen’s 70 years.”
Jude Ghoslet, a Waitress shop assistant, flew from London to Edinburgh to say goodbye to the queen. But she missed her flight and ended up paying £1,000 to be here from 5.30am.
“I felt humbled, sad and so proud our great Queen as I stood there in front of her coffin. She was an inspiration.
“I was at choir practise on Thursday when we heard the news and all our voices cracked. I had a little cry. Then we sang The Rose.
“I’ve been so emotional I smoked for the first time in 20 years. But being here to say goodbye is the least I could so to an elegant, articulate kind queen who has served us so well.”
The coffin will remain at St Giles' until Tuesday afternoon, when it will then be taken out of Edinburgh city centre to the airport, where she will be flown back to London.
A number of major Edinburgh roads will be shut during this time, with the airspace at Edinburgh Airport to temporarily close to allow the plane, RAF Hercules, to take off.
You can find all of the LIVE updates from today here.
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