Kenney tweeted a photo Friday afternoon of a sign that said the wait at the line point was more than 14 hours — adding that he was making updates and work calls from the line.
Kenney said he paid for the trip to London himself.
The British government has warned that the waiting time to cover the eight kilometers since the line opened has risen to more than 24 hours.
I am in London (entirely at personal expense) to pay homage to the late Majesty the Queen in state on behalf of Alberta.
There is now a 14+ hour queue. There is a deep sense of shared sorrow & affection for HM in this vast, diverse gathering of people from all over the world pic.twitter.com/lPkGECJ4Cx
—@jkenney
“I promised myself a long time ago that I would when she passed away. I’ve always been a huge fan of our head of state. I’ve always had a lot of respect for the institution that she personified, the values that she represented,” Kenney said.
“He is someone who has given 70 years of selfless service to the Commonwealth, including Canada. He has been our head of state for longer than the province of Alberta has existed. He has been Canada’s head of state for nearly half of our existence as an independent country.”
The temperature was around 10C on Friday – a bit colder than Kenney expected.
“I thought, ‘Oh, hell, I grew up with Prairie winters.’ It’s nothing. It won’t be a problem in London, I don’t need to bring a coat.” I regret that decision. But in a way, everyone is here to keep each other warm.”
“It’s obviously a very serious crowd, but a real pleasure, a real sense of brotherhood, a common purpose, and all these people are out here from toddlers. With their parents to people in their eighties with the same purpose.”
The Queen’s body began to lie in Westminster Hall on Wednesday and is expected to remain there for visitors until Monday morning, the day of her funeral.
Kenney said on social media that he will return to Edmonton on Monday for Alberta’s memorial service for the queen.
