LONDON: The line to view the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lying in state in Westminster Hall was nearly five kilometres long on Thursday. By Friday morning it had grown to eight kilometres. Then, an update from the government: The Queue — with a capital Q, having taken on a life of its own in recent days — was full.
Would-be mourners were told they would be temporarily turned away for at least six hours, starting at about 9.50am local time.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience,” the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in a post on Twitter. “Please do not attempt to join the queue until it reopens.”
(In the Twitter message below, “What3words” refers to an app that assigns a unique combination of three words to every 3-metre-square space in the world to aid with finding locations.)
Officials have been posting live updates about the length of the line and had warned that they might have to close off entry. The estimated waiting time for those who had scraped through before the cutoff was 14 hours.
Hundreds of thousands of people, some travelling to London from across the country, have been lining up to pay their respects to the queen, who will be laid to rest in a state funeral on Monday.
By Friday, the line had spilled into Southwark Park, across the river and several kilometres east of the coffin’s location in Westminster Hall.
Former England football captain David Beckham queued for more than 13 hours for his opportunity to pay his respects.
The 47-year-old former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder said he had joined the queue at 2.15 am on Friday. He reached his destination at around 3.25pm, bowed his head and closed his eyes momentarily.
“We all want to be here together, we all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our queen. Something like this today is meant to be shared together,” he told reporters.
