Strangers from all over the world became friends as they queued for more than seven hours to view the Queen’s coffin at St Giles’ Cathedral.
Thousands of people have bagged a coveted spot to walk past Her Majesty’s coffin as she lies in rest in Edinburgh before being flown to London on Tuesday. Despite a chilly wind blowing through the capital, people both young and old laughed and joked together as they bonded over their mutual adoration of the late monarch.
Several armed forces veterans wore their medals and uniforms while youngsters were kept entertained with snacks amid hearty shouts of ‘you’re almost there’ from security staff. Norman Davenport, who served for 18 years with the 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, told the Daily Record he felt it was his duty to come say goodbye to Her Majesty.
The 68-year-old, who began queuing at around 2pm, said: “Courtesy of my RAF career, I was able to meet her twice in person. She was my sovereign and my commander in chief. It’s only right that I should personally go and pay my respects.
“As I have been since Wednesday, I’m feeling quite sad because it’s the end of an era. We’ll never see the likes of her again.”
Irene Hamilton, 79, from Luggar, East Ayrshire, vaguely remembers the Queen’s father, George VI, from when she was a little girl after her mother made a Royal Family scrapbook. She stood for over seven hours to secure her spot to be one of the first to visit Her Majesty at St Giles’ Cathedral.
She said: “I like the Queen and I like the Royal Family so I wanted to come see her. We came yesterday and we just managed to get here and we saw the coffin go past so we were quite happy with that.
“She worked very hard. I’m glad the family had her for 96 years. My mother was a royalist and she gathered a scrap book and had a lot of photos from over the years.”
Margaret Hendry, 50, from Glasgow, and fellow armed forces veteran Nicola Shannon, 48, made pals with those standing around them in the queue. They both served with the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps and wanted to come say goodbye in person.
Margaret said: “We just had to come. We wanted to pay our final respects to our former boss so we’re going to go in and say cheerio with a salute.
“We’ve made lifelong friends in the queue here and that’s just the spirit here today. The camaraderie is really, really good.”
Nicola added: “We watched the procession on our phones because we had to make a decision on what was more important - saying goodbye or watching it.”
Betty Haig, from Kirkcaldy, Fife, said she was enjoying getting in amongst the excitement of everyone queuing up after welcoming the third monarch of her lifetime.
The 78-year-old added: “I’ve been here since 11am but I enjoy these kinds of things. I think I’ll feel quite emotional when I see her. I felt very sad when she passed.”
Johanne Lumd-ertee, from Denmark, decided to pay her respects to the Queen in honour of the friendship between her and her own head of state.
The 27-year-old Edinburgh University student said: “It’s quite funny because it’s not even my Queen so to speak but it’s really such a once in a lifetime kind of thing. It’s also the same with the Danish queen who has her 50 year anniversary as monarch this week. She was quite close with Queen Elizabeth given that they ruled for so long together so to speak.
I just think it’s really a once in a lifetime in the sense that I happened to be here right when it happened even though I’m far from home. I just thought that ‘if not now, then when’.”
The first of the mourners to file past the Queen’s coffin emerged from St Giles’ at 6.30pm.
Stacey Layzell, 43, who is originally from the Highlands but now lives in Newcastle, said: “I’m in so much shock after seeing that. To see her coffin was the most heartbreaking thing.
“We’ll never see anything like that in our lives again.
“I started queuing to go in at 6.30am but I would have stayed there for days to get that kind of opportunity to thank her and pay my respects.”
Rodney Matthews, 84, a retired baptist minister, was awarded an MBE in the Millenium honours list and met the Queen on three occasions. He said: “The Queen was so gracious to me and I wanted to thank her and acknowledge her. She was such a lovely, relaxed lady who put you at ease each time you met her.
“I had been waiting since 9am in the queue. Once you got through security, there was a wonderful sense of feeling as if you were on your own in the cathedral to see the coffin.”
Will Lynch, wife Deborah and daughter Faye, 11, came from Milngavie, near Glasgow, to join the wait outside St Giles.
Will, 50, a retired army colonel with the Royal Artillery, said: “It was very emotional. As an ex-servicemen you give your oath to Queen and country.
“We made a conscious choice not to be on the Royal Mile. To us it felt more appropriate to pay our respects while Her Majesty was lying in state. It felt more personal.”
Deborah, 49, said: “I felt more emotional than I expected. It was very tranquil, peaceful and respectful.”
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