The route the Queen’s coffin will take from Buckingham Palace on Wednesday A queue route map has been released for mourners wishing to pay their respects to the Queen as she is in State. The queue to Westminster Hall is expected to stretch for around four miles along the River Thames, the newly published route reveals. The kilometre-long queue will start on Albert Embankment by Lambeth Bridge and continue along the South Bank to Southwark Park in Bermondsey, south-east London. More than 1,000 volunteers from the Boy Scouts, Samaritans, British Red Cross, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and Salvation Army, along with airmen and officers from the Metropolitan Police will be watching the queue as it winds past some of London’s major landmarks . The queue route for mourners who wish to see the Queen lie in State at Westminster Hall. Credit: ITV News From Albert Embankment, the queue will run along Belvedere Street behind the London Eye and head to the South Bank where it will follow the River Thames past the National Theatre, Tate Modern and HMS Belfast under Tower Bridge and along Southwark Park. Once people reach the front of the queue on Albert Embankment, they will head across Lambeth Bridge, Victoria Tower Gardens and through airport-style security before entering the Palace of Westminster, where the Queen will lie in state. People are already lining up to catch a glimpse of the Queen, despite Lying in State not opening to the public until 5pm on Wednesday 14 September. The hall will be open 24 hours until it closes at 6.30am. on Monday 19 September – the day of the Queen’s funeral – when it will be a nationwide bank holiday. The queue will close early to ensure that as many visitors as possible can enter the Palace before the end of the state stay period. There will be live updates online showing wait times and how far the queue is A government spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which is handling the logistics, told ITV News that flight attendants may have to turn people away if they are unlikely to enter the hall before the Queen’s coffin is carried. her funeral. There are strict bag restrictions and mourners are urged to “plan ahead and prepare appropriately”. Numbers could be limited to around 350,000, with people warned to expect a wait of up to 30 hours. Mourners are also asked to check the list of prohibited items. Authorities are warning of airport-style security for access to the hall, with large bags having to be left in a drop-off area that has limited capacity. Mourners are also asked to dress “appropriately for the occasion” and remain silent at the Palace of Westminster. An accessible route will start at Tate Britain where timed entry places will be issued for a queue heading along Millbank towards the Palace of Westminster for those who need it. Guide dogs, hearing dogs and other official assistance dogs will be allowed in Westminster Hall. British Sign Language interpreters will also be available. People line up to pay their respects as the Queen is laid to rest at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. Credit: PA Toilets and water fountains will be available along the route, while the Southbank Centre, National Theatre, BFI Southbank and Shakespeare’s Globe and others will open their doors for extended hours for queuers to use their facilities. The BFI will have an outdoor screen showing archive footage of the Queen throughout her reign for those queuing to watch while they wait. Once inside the Palace of Westminster, people will be able to walk past the Queen’s coffin, which will be raised on a bier and draped in the Royal Standard, with the Orb and Scepter placed on top. Members of the public file past the Queen’s coffin at St Giles Cathedral Credit: Peter Byrne/PA The coffin will be guarded around the clock by a vigil of units from the Sovereign’s Bodyguard, the Household Division or the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London. An electronic condolence book is available for people to add personal messages. Members of the public are also invited to check for travel updates, plan their journey and check times for the latest services. The Queen’s remarkable life remembered and the King’s inaugural address analyzed in our latest episodes of What You Need to Know Earlier on Tuesday, the Scottish Government announced that the queue to see the Queen lie in repose had closed an hour and a half before visits to Edinburgh’s St Giles’ Cathedral ended at 3pm. Around 26,000 have paid their respects to the late queen since the cathedral opened to the public at 6pm on Monday. Up to a million people are expected to queue to see the Queen’s coffin after her funeral at London’s Westminster Hall tomorrow. Around 200,000 mourners queued for miles along London Bridge and just down the Southbank to visit Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, when she lay in State in 2002.
