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LAST UPDATE | 16 Sep 2022
PEOPLE ARE EXPECTED to queue for 24 hours from this evening to see Queen Elizabeth lying in state in London, and the British Government has warned “overnight temperatures will be cold”.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) online tracker says the expected wait time is more than 24 hours, warning of chilly temperatures as people queue from Southwark Park in south-east London to pay their respects to the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall, about five miles away.
Earlier, the queue was paused for 40 minutes when it reached full capacity, and mourners were urged not to join the line until at least 4pm today.
Officials stopped people joining the queue entirely at around 11.35am at the entrance to Southwark Park in south-east London due to overwhelming demand.
The call was made as the official estimate for queuing time reached at least 14 hours, before a warning was also issued about long wait times at the “very busy” accessible queue.
However, there was some confusion on the ground as hundreds of people continued to file through the gate into the park, with one attendant saying they had yet to receive an order to bar entry.
The DCMS had tweeted: “Southwark Park has reached capacity. Entry will be paused for at least 6 hours. We are sorry for any inconvenience. Please do not attempt to join the queue until it re-opens.”
Tens of thousands of people have queued for many hours to see the British monarch’s coffin raised on a catafalque in Westminster Hall since it officially opened on Wednesday.
With people waiting through the night to witness the lying in state, the queue had grown to almost five miles long by Friday morning.
The Government had warned that Southwark Park had become “extremely busy” before making the decision to suspend entry.
But hundreds of mourners were witnessed continuing to enter the park despite the Government’s online warning.
One queue attendant told the PA news agency they had yet to receive any instructions to close the gate and stop any more people joining.
The DCMS also issued a warning that the time slots for Friday afternoon had filled up, adding: “Please consider this before making your way to the accessible queue.”
Figures from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) show that 435 members of the public were treated along the route of the queue to see the Queen lying in state and surrounding areas over the past two days.
Some 291 people along the route of the queue and nearby in London were given medical assistance on Wednesday, with 17 needing hospital treatment, the LAS said.
A further 144 people were treated on Thursday, with 25 people being taken to hospital.
The LAS said the majority of incidents attended were faints and collapses, resulting in head injuries.
The lying in state will be open 24 hours a day until closing at 6.30am on Monday, ahead of the state funeral in Westminster Abbey.
Queuing for hours to see a wooden box. Why would you
@Dave Harris: They seem to think it’ll be a great thing to be able to tell their kids/grandkids. I think that’s weird. I wouldn’t be in awe of anyone for doing that. I just don’t get it
@JusticeForJoe: just do what we do … record reeling in the years and let the grand kids watch it on that
@Dave Ryan: Now yer talkin’!
@JusticeForJoe: I also heard she was the second shooter on the grassy naul in Dallas and Oswald was killed to protect her name
@Dave Ryan: Naul is a village in County Dublin. The grassy knoll is in Dallas, Texas. There is no evidence that The Queen was at either on 22 November 1963.
Let’s hope they’re more respectful than Samuel Pepys!
@Earth Traveller: …but is there evidence that she WASN’T?
@Earth Traveller: there are many grassy knoll’s all over this planet.
@Dave Ryan: The Babushka Lady ?
@Dave Harris: The American and other nations do it They did it for JFK and other heads of state .A guy called Eamon Develaradid you ever hear of him had people visit his coffin lying in state . Silly comment
@Robert Preston: To be fair, he wasn’t mocking the idea of someone lying in state. I think you misread his comment.
@Robert Preston: No Robert, they didn’t queue this long for either of those men. And they were elected leaders who wielded actual real power.
@dreiglaser: “they didn’t queue this long for either ” So what Ok got it have to have had power which means nothing ?
UK has gone full North Korea
@Irish Antichrist: No, just Instagramers. Have ya seen footage of the queues. Its like a party, like queuing for Glasto.
British hysteria… its cringy the way the fawn all over a family that basically live off the state…same as a family on the dole, coffin is probably empty for all they know.
@Patricia O’Brien: I don’t get the “funeral stuff” in anyway – dead is dead.
But just for a balance to the “British hysteria” you point out, google Irish funeral and have a look at some of the pictures popping up. The show they put on for normal people at times, deceased who are not really a public figure….
The Brits are just going nuts, because that’s a distraction and reason to escape for a while from reality.
It will be forgotten in a week time and only the odd article will pop up in the news again.
@Wolfgang Bonow: So, if a near and dear restive of yours died what would you to? Just dump them in the brown bin?
@Patricia O’Brien: irish hysteria when over a million of us got up in the middle of the night to walk to a park ..Q for hours to see a man dressed in women’s clothes …..
@Paul Hussey: does panti bliss have such a large following?
@Paul Hussey: Fair point!
@Patricia O’Brien: Sure wasn’t there awful Irish hysteria at Michael Collins’ funeral 100 years ago?
@Paul Hussey: I didn’t… cos I’m not hysterically minded.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: C’mon, you know what I mean.
A lot of Irish funerals have a big crowd, because everyone who met the one who died a some point doing groceries, feels the urge to attend…
and having some pints afterwards.
For my own funeral, I couldn’t care less -because I’m DEAD.
I believe, and I might be wrong, a lot people attending, are doing this only to be seen or to make them feel better about themselves, somehow.
And that’s exactly what happens in the UK and why we/they have this over the top attendance and coverage.
@James Kerins: we didn’t pay Micheal Collins millions to wave at us from a car every now and then…look if ur a royalist that’s ur business I just don’t get the adoration of a privileged old lady and her fam.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: not queue for 24 hours plus to see them anyway.
I heard the Saudi Prince has touched down in London to pay his respects. He won’t have to wait in line like her subjects, would be fun though if they just threw him at the back of the queue, he’s only there as a photo op at the end of the day, was hardly bestie mates with her
Why does it all bother you so much ? It’s something happening in another country, none of our business, its on British TV aimed at a British audience, switch the bloody channel if it bothers you, your beloved Liverpool, Man U, Man City etc will be back on British TV soon.
@Sean Walsh: as far as I know they are showing the funeral live on RTE.
Anyone else think that she actually didn’t wake up the morning of her death? It just seemed all rushed Charles was sent in a chopper so no one could say contanunaty was lost…and the statement at 11am saying she was in constant supervision by mediical team was just to soften up the statement if death in the afternoon
@Dave Ryan: Conta-what-aty?
@Dave Ryan: 100%. I would go as far as to speculate that she has been dead for 3-4 yeara and that a highly engineered android draped in the Queens skin has been masquerading as her at di er parties etc
@SquideyeMagpie: I’d say the corgis would have noticed though.
@Dave Ryan: because the British would have lost the run of themselves even more if they had been told she died peacefully and of natural causes in her sleep?
It’s a moment of history. They think the funeral may be the biggest ever tv audience. 70 years and 7 months she had been a fixture in their lives. Reach beyond the anti Brit Anti royal sneering and look deeper.
@Denis O ‘Brien: Finally an intelligent comment
@Denis O ‘Brien: I reckon for several British people, it may represent collective mourning – for all the funerals they weren’t able to attend in person. Despite the best efforts of the admirable NHS, they’ve had many losses over the last few years, let’s respect that in any case.
The whole Brits love queuing stereotype isn’t just a stereotype it appears
@Jake Kelly: seen may a queue here for funerals
Bet she is not even in the box
@Alan Plunkett: is there even a box under the drape?
I hope they are able to use her Jacks if needed while queuing seen as she won’t needing it.
@Marc Murphy: a union of Jack’s so to speak?
Why not put the coffin out on the balcony of the Palace and everyone could see it there, people would see the same thing without hours of queuing
@Bernie Byrne Hennessy: because it’s a stupid idea
@bmul: and tens of thousands of people queueing for up to 24 hours with some even requiring medical attention is a sensible idea ??
@Bernie Byrne Hennessy: they’d have to queue to get to the Palace then….
Bit sad, in more ways than one
She must have stopped for her lunch break
Place the casket on a sail boat and go up and down the Thames all day every day for the queue to view .
Zero emissions
All fine n dandy
Bonkers
I have never seen such nonsense, are the English gone crazy? Do they know they are paying for this bulloney? Cruel to have the lads standing for hours. No wonder one fainted. When will this farce end?
If I suddenly found out that god actually existed I still wouldn’t queue for 24 hours to see him (or her).
Why does it bothering him bother you so much.
They should set it up so that people can sign up for text alerts to their phones, and then go along when it’s moving again. These are people used to voting by text, so why not.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: they could just watch sky news and see the coffin. I doubt they would see more by going there
@Dave Harris: I suppose after lockdown they’re lonely and it’s a chance to be out with like minded people? Maybe it symbolises other losses for them?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: loneliness has better cures than a 24hr plus queue.
@dreiglaser: I’m guessing here. I’m not knocking it, but I don’t understand it either. It’s really strange to me that people would go out without sleep for so long when they could watch the coverage instead & not come home with head injuries.
It reminds me of a covid vaccination centre-on a larger scale???
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