(London) Thousands of mourners lined up all night to file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in the Westminster Hall of Parliament on Thursday, as King Charles III spends a day in private reflecting on his first week on the throne.
Posted at 6:10 a.m.
Updated at 7:06 a.m.
The queue to view the coffin stretched for 4.2 kilometers on Thursday morning, along the south bank of the Thames and then over a bridge to Parliament. Thousands of people in line didn’t care about the hours of waiting.
“I’m glad there was a queue because it gave us time to see what was ahead of us, prepared us and absorbed the whole atmosphere,” said healthcare professional Nimisha Maroo. . I wouldn’t have liked it if I had to rush. »
After a day of grand ceremony and emotion as the Queen was carried in a somber procession from Buckingham Palace, the King was spending the day in ‘private reflection’ at his residence in Highgrove, west England. Charles has had calls with US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron and is addressing a host of world leaders – many of whom will come to London on Monday for the Queen’s funeral.
Prince William, heir to the throne, and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, will visit the royal family’s estate at Sandringham in eastern England to view some of the tributes left by well-wishers.
The Queen left Buckingham Palace for the last time on Wednesday, transported by horse-drawn carriage and greeted by cannons and the sound of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped and crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall.
Charles, his siblings and sons walked behind the coffin, which was topped with a wreath of white roses and its wreath rested on a purple velvet pillow.
The motorcade marked Elizabeth’s seven decades as head of state as the process of national mourning passed through the grand boulevards and historic monuments of the British capital.
The 900-year-old Westminster Hall is now at the center of events, as the Queen is on display there until Monday. Thousands of people have already paid their respects, filing past the coffin draped in the royal standard and topped with a diamond-encrusted crown.
People, old and young, dressed in dark suits or jeans and trainers, marched in a steady stream through the historic hall, where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried, where kings and queens held magnificent banquets medieval buildings and where the remains of previous monarchs were displayed.
After filing past the coffin, most of the mourners paused to look back before exiting through the room’s large oak doors. Some have wiped away tears; others bowed or curtseyed. One dropped to one knee and blew a goodbye kiss.
Keith Smart, engineer and British Army veteran, wiped away tears as he left the room. He had waited over 10 hours for the chance to say goodbye.
“Everyone in the crowd behaved impeccably. There was no malice, everyone was friends. It was fantastic, he reported. And then, walking into this room and seeing this, I just collapsed inside. I did not bow — I knelt on the ground, on my knees, I bowed my head to the queen. »
The late night silence was broken when one of the guards watching around the coffin collapsed and fell from its raised platform. The man, his chest adorned with medals, could be seen on live televisions rocking to his feet before falling to the ground. Two policemen rushed to her aid.
Crowds lined the route of the Queen’s coffin each time it was moved on its long journey from Scotland – where the monarch died on September 8, aged 96 – to London .
On Tuesday evening, thousands braved a typical London drizzle as the hearse, with interior lights illuminating the coffin, drove slowly from an airbase to Buckingham Palace.
Earlier in Edinburgh, around 33,000 people marched silently past his coffin in 24 hours at St. Giles Cathedral.