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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Christopher Megrath

Good Morning Britain share estimate of how many people were in The Queue

The number of people that queued to see the Queen is estimated to be 250,000.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan joined Good Morning Britain to discuss the aftermath of the Queen's funeral. She said the national period of mourning was handled with great care and praised the efforts of everyone involved.

Ben Shephard moved the conversation to the queue to see the Queen lying in state which took social media by storm. The queue became somewhat of an attraction in itself, sparking attention from around the world for how quickly it started to grow.

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He asked Ms Donelan if she was expecting the queue "to be such a focus" and for it to become the social marvel it was. The culture secretary said: "We were expecting it to be very long at certain points in time which is why we ordered so many blankets and water.

"We worked with our partners down the South Bank to make sure there were facilities for individuals. I don't think we quite anticipated that it would become such a thing in itself as much as it was but it was quintessentially British."

Members of the public who lined up to pay their respects ended up creating a line so long it stretched from the Albert Embankment to Southwark Park at its peak. Susanna Reid asked if there was a final count available to which Ms Donelan gave an estimate.

She said: "We'll publish it properly in due course but we think it's around 250,000. People were able to mourn in other ways in the capital and across the country the last couple of days but it is remarkable those scenes we saw of the queue and how well it worked is a testament to this nation but also to the respect that people felt for the queen."

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