To live “a piece of history” or to be able to say “I was there”: Britons or tourists from afar gathered in London or Windsor for the funeral of Elizabeth II, sometimes arriving at dawn to s’ secure the best seats.
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“It’s a great day in our history, it’s part of our life,” Susan Davies, 53, told AFP, arriving at 6:30 a.m. at Hyde Park Corner from Essex, east London, with her husband and their two teenagers.
Equipped with a chair and “a lot of food”, she hopes to see the queen’s coffin which must be transferred to this place, after the religious ceremony, in a hearse in the direction of Windsor Castle.
“I want to be part of history,” says Jack, his 14-year-old son, who already plans to tell the event to future generations. “I will tell my children about this moment. I will tell them: “I was there”!”
During the religious ceremony at Westminster Abbey, some sit on the grass in Hyde Park, on blankets on the ground or camping chairs, watching the ceremony on a giant screen.
“I could sit at home and watch TV but I wouldn’t have the atmosphere,” says Alex Hutchinson, 64, who lives five minutes away.
“A drink” for the queen
Screens are also installed in Windsor and the ceremony is broadcast across the country. In St Albans Cathedral, north London, the public sings in unison with London Abbey.
In Hyde Park, the public gets up and sits down following Westminster. Many recite the Our Father. Applause rings out at the end of the service.
“The ceremony was perfect (…) very spectacular as it should be for a great queen”, comments John MacKinnon, a 49-year-old London insurance broker. “I will now join my friends, have a drink and send him my best wishes.”
Not far from there, Calob Thompson, 20, a film student who lives in Bedford in north London, follows the funeral live on his phone. But he wanted to see “the coffin and the royal family” pass, so he positioned himself at 6 a.m. on the path that the procession must take after the religious service.
“We wanted to be in the front row. We thought we were in the middle of the crowd but here we are, in the best place, with the best view. Fantastic!” he exclaims.
Some have spent the night there: many duvets were strewn in the early morning on the ground of Whitehall, an artery in central London which usually hosts ministers and senior officials.
Bethany Beardmore, a 26-year-old accountant, arrived on Sunday evening. “It was cold, we didn’t sleep,” he says, saying he was holding on thanks to a lot of sugar and caffeine. “There was such an atmosphere (…) everyone was chatting”.
“A touch of color”
Also in Windsor, where Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was expected in the afternoon, spectators had gathered around the “Long Walk”, a straight path that leads to the castle and where the procession will pass.
Dawn Bell, 56, came from Kent (South East). The Queen “has been absolutely fantastic throughout her reign. The least we can do is get up early and come say goodbye,” she says.
Dressed all in black, she came with Daisy, her 26-year-old daughter, who chose to wear a pink sweater and jogging, because “the queen liked a good touch of color”.
Henry and Lauren Bainbridge, both 29, traveled from nearby Maidenhead ‘to pay our respects to our Queen, who ruled the country for over 70 years’. They didn’t forget the umbrella because “with UK weather you never know what’s going to happen.”