Silence fell on Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park on Monday morning as hundreds of mourners gathered to watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II just yards from her official Scottish residence.
Many brought camp chairs, picnics and even tents as they joined together for the funeral which was shown on a giant screen.
The majority of surrounding businesses in Edinburgh had closed for the day as a mark of respect, adding to the sombre mood of the city which just last week played a historic role in laying the late monarch to rest.
Seeing everybody being sad, I got goosebumps— Emilia Wolfbauer
“She is the most famous woman in the world,” one mourner said, “No one else’s death will have the same impact.”
Some sang along with the hymns and when God Save the King played in Westminster Abbey, concluding the service, every person gathered stood to listen.
People from across the world came to pay their respects including a group of students from Austria who arrived in Edinburgh on a school trip on Sunday.
Emilia Wolfbauer who said she had “goosebumps” when she saw how many people had gathered to watch.
“Seeing everybody being sad, I got goosebumps.
“We don’t have a royal family but we know the royal family here.
“It was really touching and very sad,” she added.
Yara Skamlett also 18 and from Austria said the service was “quite nice” and she enjoyed watching it from Holyrood Park in Edinburgh.
It's beautiful that everybody sticks together in a time like this— Felicitas Zinell
Miss Skamlett added: “It’s a very important event and everyone should think about what happened.
“It’s very impressive everybody gathered here to watch it together.”
Felicitas Zinell, also from Austria, said the event was important internationally and not just to people in the UK.
“Everybody knows the Queen – each country knows her, not just the UK. I think it is a very important event.”
“It’s beautiful that everybody sticks together in a time like this.”
