David Beckham, Sharon Osbourne and ‘Good Morning Britain’ presenter Susanna Reid are among hundreds of thousands of mourners who have spent hours queuing to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II as she lies in state ahead of her funeral in September. 19.
Beckham told Sky News – who caught up with him while he was still waiting in line – that he had joined the queue at 2am on Friday. “Well, we all want to celebrate our Queen, our Majesty,” he told the camera crew as the line moved on. Later that day, at around 3pm, the BBC’s live coverage of the lying in state showed Beckham, dressed in a black suit and tie, finally entering Westminster Hall. As the soccer star approached the Queen’s coffin, which sits on a bier draped with the Royal Standard flag and Imperial State crown, he stopped and bowed his head, pausing for a moment before following the other mourners out.
Osbourne was spotted in the queue on Wednesday night by ITV News. “I love the Queen and I came for this because I’m a royalist and I love the royal family,” he told the interviewer.
Reid, who used to host ‘GMB’ with Piers Morgan before he quit over comments about the Queen’s granddaughter Meghan Markle, said on Thursday he had spent just over seven hours waiting in line with her . mother and a friend. He took to Twitter to advise others planning to brave the queue to “wear the most comfortable shoes you have” and “don’t carry too much in one bag”. In response to someone who asked if her mother had a chance to sit while the line moved to the front, Reid replied: “Many times on the public benches along the route. It’s a challenge that goes on for so long.”
If you plan to queue, here are our tips. We joined at 1:23pm. near Butlers Wharf and we entered Westminster Hall at 20:43 – 7hrs 20mins. Wear the most comfortable shoes you have. Go with someone if you can, although everyone in line was friendly. — Susanna Reid (@susannareid100) September 15, 2022 Beckham, Osbourne and Reid were widely praised for choosing to join the public queue rather than use the VIP line, which ‘This Morning’ presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were caught doing on the BBC’s live stream.
The first people to join the queue arrived almost 48 hours before the lying in state began. At the time, the Queen’s body was not even in London, but still in Scotland, where she died last week aged 96. On Tuesday, she was flown from Edinburgh to London, spending a final night at Buckingham Palace before her coffin was taken to Westminster Hall (part of the British Parliament buildings) in an elaborate ceremonial procession on Wednesday afternoon, attended by her family, including King Charles III and Princes William and Harry.
The Queen’s body will now lie in state, surrounded by soldiers in traditional dress, until Monday morning, when it will be taken to Westminster Abbey for her funeral. On Friday night, the Queen’s family appeared at Westminster Hall to pay their respects with her children King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward keeping vigil around her coffin. Her grandchildren, including Princes William and Harry, are set to do the same on Saturday.
On Monday afternoon, the Queen will make her final journey to Windsor Castle, where she will be buried next to her late husband Prince Philip, who died last April.
Visitors walk past Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin at Westminster.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners have now joined the queue in a bid to pay their last respects to the Queen. Such is the volume of people that the queue has become a tourist attraction in its own right as it snakes along the banks of the River Thames, spawning memes, nicknames (“QEII”, a play on the name of a now-retired transatlantic cruise ship) and even a livetracker on YouTube set up by the UK’s Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS), which warns those considering joining how long it is and how long they might have to wait.
On Friday morning, as the queue reached five miles in length, it was temporarily closed, although a second queue simply sprung up behind it in Southwark Park. By Friday afternoon, that line was also closed, with new arrivals reportedly in a third line outside the park gates.
“I really decided this morning that I was definitely going to do it,” Juliet, from Leicestershire, who was second in line, told Variety on Friday at midday. “There are a few of us who all went and joined at the train station, joined a convoy and ended up in a line for the line.”
When asked what prompted her to queue for hours to see the Queen’s coffin, Juliet replied: “I wanted to pay my respects. I just thought about how much of her life she had given to everyone else, I really felt like doing it. And having lost my mom myself, it resonated with me and I really wanted to be here.”
Juliet also admitted to being a fan of Netflix’s ‘The Crown’, which depicts Queen Elizabeth II’s life as monarch. “He really taught me a lot,” she said. “And especially in the last week, there have been references to important occasions in the Queen’s life and I’m like, ‘Oh, yes, I saw that. Oh no, it was on “The Crown”, it wasn’t real life. But I knew because of ‘The Crown’.”
A sign warns mourners of a 14-hour wait to see Queen Elizabeth II lying in state. Ⓒ KJ Yossman
However, not everyone in the queue is a fan of the Peter Morgan series. Friends Jan, Sam and Lesley queued for 13.5 hours before finally arriving at Westminster Hall at around 2.30pm on Friday. They described the experience as “amazing”, saying the atmosphere inside was “very quiet, very respectful”.
“It’s all we’ve ever known,” Jan told Variety as the trio left the Hall with tears still in their eyes. “We loved her and she was incredible for our country.”
“She was a great role model for all women,” Lesley said.
When asked if they had watched “The Crown,” two of the three shook their heads. “You have to remember that not everything is real,” Jan said. “It’s theirs [the writers’] interpretation of it, so you really have to keep that in mind when you’re watching it.”
The group were much more excited about Her Majesty’s sketch with Paddington Bear, which she secretly recorded for her Platinum Jubilee just two months ago. “Absolutely amazing,” said Jan.
“It still makes me want to cry now when I think about it,” Leslie agreed.
Across the river, Cat Webster, queuing with friends from West Yorkshire, also praised the sketch. “Absolutely wonderful, I absolutely loved it and I loved the way the Queen embraced it and acted with it,” Webster told Variety. “She really showed her great sense of humor.” When asked why she felt compelled to brave the line and attend state, Webster replied, “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And for all the Queen has done for us and our country and the world, it’s the least I can do and I want to pay my respects to the Queen. I absolutely loved the Queen.”
