Some mourners chanted “hip hip tail” and “God save the king” as Charles passed. A woman held up a Paddington bear toy to Charles. the fictional bear has been linked to the Queen since appearing in a sketch alongside the character during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations. People have been queuing for hours to see Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin since it began to lie in state at Westminster Hall on Wednesday. The line was approaching full capacity on Saturday, the government said. At midday on Saturday, the government’s queue monitoring service said the current waiting time was 14 hours. Earlier on Saturday, Charles III visited the Metropolitan Police headquarters in the London borough of Lambeth to thank police and emergency services officials who have been involved in planning and implementing the events since the late Queen’s death. The Queen’s funeral on Monday will be the “biggest single police event” ever carried out by London’s Metropolitan Police, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cuddy said during a media briefing on Friday. The Queen’s grandchildren – including Princes William and Harry – are expected to hold a vigil by her coffin later on Saturday. On Sunday, King Charles will host a reception at Buckingham Palace for “heads of state and official guests abroad” ahead of the late Queen’s state funeral. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan, were invited to that reception by mistake, a source with knowledge of what happened told CNN. As an official state occasion, the Palace said the king would only be accompanied by working members of the royal family. The source told CNN they “thought” there had been an administrative error. The couple was not “called” from the reception, as reported by some media. A spokesman for the Sussexes did not comment.
