It was still dark outside when the first mourners flocked to Liverpool Lime Street to make the trip down to London this morning.
As the station's advertising boards paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II ahead of today's State Funeral, plenty of people from Merseyside felt compelled to head to the capital to soak up the atmosphere and be part of history. The funeral will start at 11am today, at Westminster Abbey, following four days of the Queen lying in state, where hundreds of thousands of people queued for hours to see the the monarch's coffin.
Dot Lloyd and her daughter, Jenny, were among those boarding the 7am train down to London. Dot, 70, told the ECHO: “I’ve loved the Queen all my life and my daughter’s always said if anything ever happened to the Queen she’d take me to London. What other person works for 70 years?”
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Jenny came armed with a camping chair for her mum, who despite waiting for a knee replacement, was adamant she still wanted to be part of the action. Jenny said: “I don’t know how much we’ll see but it will just be nice to be there together.
"We’ve brought a camping chair for my mum because her mobility isn’t great. How could you not pay your respects to someone who has given so much service to the country."
Also venturing down to the capital today was Karen Smith, 63, and Alison Donnelly, 62, who were both decked out in all black in tribute to the late monarch. Karen said: “My son and daughter said: 'mum you can watch it on the telly', but I phoned Alison and said 'I’m going' just to be part of all.
“We were devastated when she passed away. We were saying as we’ve got older, we’ve become more fond of the Queen
“As she was getting older, she kept her promise and was still working and being lovely and not wanting to let anyone down. We’ve always taken the kids to see the Palace whenever we’ve gone to London."
Despite being "in agony" with severe back pain, Alison had no reservations about travelling to London and even donned a set of pearls she bought from the Palace shop for the occasion. She said: “It’ll just be nice to say we were there.
"So far, King Charles is doing an amazing job. I feel for the family because they can’t break down. They have to have a stiff upper lip and carry on.”
Some people making the journey were visibly moved ahead of this morning's funeral. Among them was Vanessa, from Port Sunlight, who said: “I just wanted to go down there and be part of it. I’m still upset now.
"It’s my 70th birthday on Friday and it just means so much of me to be there. I’m going to try and get as near to Westminster Abbey as I can and then try and get somewhere on the route.”
While many people travelling to pay their respects are doing so after observing the Queen's lifetime of service, children were among the mourners travelling to the capital. Nine-year-old Autumn told the ECHO she was a "big fan" of the Queen and is looking forward to paying her respects today alongside her mum, Dee Wright.
Dee said: “It’s a moment in history. I’m taking my daughter who’s ten next month down because I think its important to pay our respects to the Queen.
"We’re planning to get to Hyde Park to the viewing platform. It was a last minute decision to come. We decided yesterday and we’re doing there and back in a day."
Sarah Anson and her daughter Isla, 8, also had an early start this morning so they could be part of this significant event. Sarah said: “We’re just going to go down and hopefully go to the viewing platform at Green Park.
"We’ve brought some flowers with us so we want to lay them and pay our respects to the Queen because we think she was amazing and we want to celebrate our life so we got up at half five to do it.”
Later today, Merseyside will fall silent, joining the rest of the nation in a two minute's silence at 11:55am to pay tribute to the country's longest-serving monarch.
You can light a candle for Queen Elizabeth II here or leave a tribute to her here .
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