Cambridge Education: Lynne Winters: Mourners show raw emotion as they pay final respects to Elizabeth II

Blog entry by Lynne Winters

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Thousands of mourners have been overcome with emotion as they bid a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II as she lies in state in Westminster Hall.

Vast numbers of people have been queuing since the Queen was moved from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday, with the government warning it could take them 24 hours to get to the front.

Tearful tributes have been paid at the late monarch's lying-in-state as the British public thank the Queen for her 70 years of service on the throne.

Many consoled each other as raw emotion was on display following the Queen's death at the age of 96 last Thursday.

The line, which stretches from Westminster Hall all the way to Southwark Park in south London, is thought to be the world's longest queue, and can even be seen from space.

The queue potentially even eclipses the 30,000 Russians who waited to get inside the USSR's first McDonald's restaurant when it finally opened on January 31, 1990 after the end of the Cold War.

Wait times stretched to more than 25 hours overnight as thousands of mourners wrapped up so they could keep warm, the BBC even produced a tongue-in-cheek weather forecast for the queue just before 7am this morning - a crisp 7C, while other parts of the UK hit freezing.

At about 1.15am today, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) online tracker said the expected wait time was at least 25 hours as people queued from Southwark Park in south-east London to pay their respects to the Queen's coffin in Westminster Hall, about five miles away. At around 7.20am, the tracker said mourners would have to wait at least 24 hours and warned people not to travel to join the queue - and to check back later on Saturday.

However, by 8am the Government had said that the end point of the queue was once more accessible in Southwark Park. At 10am, the DCMS online tracker said the expected wait time was around 16 hours - then at 1pm this fell further to 14 hours.

Undeterred by the extreme waiting times or cold weather, a steady stream of people continued to join the queue last night. Paul, a 49-year-old Scout Leader called his 13-hour wait to pay his respects to the Queen 'brilliant' and was adamant he would do it all again without hesitation.

'The sense of camaraderie was amazing, we've made friends for life. Everybody was handing out sweets and cakes and singing,' he said.

The queue begins on the Albert Embankment, along Belvedere Road, behind the London Eye, then crosses Lambeth Bridge and travels along the South Bank past the National Theatre, Tate Modern and HMS Belfast, before ending in Southwark Park.

In other developments:

King Charles III went on a surprise walkabout with his son the Prince of Wales in Lambeth, where they met mourners queueing to see the Queen's coffin. Earlier they had gone to Scotland Yard's Lambeth headquarters and thanked emergency services for their work during the period of mourning;

The new Prince and Princess of Wales met Commonwealth soldiers who will take part in Monday's State Funeral, with William telling them the Queen would be 'looking down and hoping it all goes well';

Prince Edward paid a moving tribute to his 'beloved Mama', saying the family had been 'overwhelmed by the tide of emotion that has engulfed us';

He and his wife, Sophie - along with Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah - spent around 30 minutes meeting people outside Windsor Castle, collecting floral tributes and accepting condolences from well-wishers;

Buckingham Palace confirmed a second vigil will take place tonight involving the Queen's eight grand-children, including Prince Harry, who has been given permission to wear a military uniform despite being a non-working royal;

Details were announced of the 25-mile route the Queen's coffin will take in the State Hearse from London's Wellington Arch to Windsor on Monday to allow more people to pay their respects;

The five-mile queue to see the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall had to be closed for six hours because it was so long distance car ride services - with two further queues forming just to join the main one;

Former England footballer David Beckham shunned offers of special treatment and spent 13 hours queueing before paying his respects to the late Queen;

It was claimed that King Charles found out about his mother's deteriorating health only hours before the public last Thursday;

William told well-wishers they thought his grandmother 'might get a bit more' time, video footage shot in Norfolk on Thursday showed.

Mourners console one another in Westminster Hall as they pay a final tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

Hundreds of thousands of people have joined the queue to see the Queen, despite warnings it could take them 24 hours to get to the front

Many mourners have become overwhelmed with emotion as they paid their respects to Britain's longest-serving monarch

Members of the public file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, lying in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster

Many shed tears as they left Westminster Hall today, bidding farewell to the Queen ahead of her funeral on Monday

Thousands have found themselves overwhelmed with emotion after leaving Westminster Hall - with most having waited more than 12 hours

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The queue has become so big that it even received its own BBC weather forecast this morning - a crisp 7C

Members of the public join the queue in Southwark Park, south east London

Blog entry by Lynne Winters

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