From 5pm on Wednesday until 6.30am on Monday - the day of the funeral - the Queen will lie in state at London’s Westminster Hall. Hundreds of thousands of people are set to descend on the capital to pay their respects to the late monarch, with the first mourners having already arrived.
The formal occasion will see the closed coffin placed on view, allowing members of the public to file past. People attending have been warned that queues could last in excess of 12 hours due to the sheer number of mourners expected.
They will have to pass by an airport-style security point, with strict rules on what can and can not be brought into the hall. The last lying in state took place two decades ago, when queues stretched across Lambeth Bridge and all the way along the South Bank to Southwark Cathedral.
Read more: Welsh woman second in line to see Queen's coffin after joining queue 48 hours early
What does lie in state mean?
The UK Parliament website, describes lying in state as “the formal occasion in which a coffin is placed on view to allow the public to pay their respects to the deceased before the funeral ceremony.” The tradition stems from the 17th century and is an event reserved for the Sovereign, as Head of State, the current or past Queen Consort and occasionally former Prime Ministers.
Members of the public are normally invited to pass the coffin a few days before the funeral ceremony. During the lying in state period, the closed coffin rests on a raised platform, known as a catafalque, in the centre of Westminster Hall.
Each corner will be continuously guarded by units from the Sovereign's Bodyguard, Foot Guards or the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. The coffin will be draped in a royal flag, with some of the Queen's personal memorabilia placed on top, such as her crown.
After waiting in line, people will be able to file past the platform to pay their respects.
When was the last person to lie in state in the UK?
Before the Queen, the last person to lie in state in the UK was the Queen Mother in 2002. Around 200,000 people queued to pay their respects to the 101-year-old royal across a three-day period before her funeral in Westminster Abbey on April 9.
Her four grandsons stood by her coffin in an act called the Vigil of the Princes. It was also the first lying in state where people were subjected to security checks, inevitably slowing the progress of the mourners.
This was the seventh instance Westminster Hall was used for royalty and former prime ministers to lie in state, after former PM William Ewart Gladstone became the first to do so at the end of the 1800s.
The other figures to lie in state were King Edward VII in 1910, King George V in 1936, King George VI in 1952, Queen Mary in 1953 and Winston Churchill in 1965. As per his wishes, Prince Philip did not lie in state following his death last year.
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