When the Queen’s coffin is taken to the Palace of Westminster this week, up to 325,000 mourners will pay their respects.
From Wednesday at 5 p.m. until 6 a.m. on September 19, the morning of her funeral, her remains will lay in state at Westminster Hall.
Last night, officials issued a warning that mourners could have to wait in line “for several hours, perhaps overnight.”
Following today’s first opportunity for the general public to see the closed oak coffin, which will spend the next 24 hours in St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, comes the Westminster lying in state.
Her body will lie in state at Westminster Hall from 5pm on Wednesday until 6.30am on the morning of her funeral on September 19
Members of the public who pay their respects at Westminster will be subject to strict security checks and restrictions, including a ban on large bags, flowers and photos.
Officials are preparing for 3,000 people an hour to file past the coffin, meaning around 325,000 mourners in total, including other royals, foreign dignitaries and diplomats. Some 200,000 people visited Westminster Hall to pay respects to the Queen Mother in 2002.
A Government source said: ‘It is like trying to organise something on a similar scale to the London Olympics in a matter of days.’
Further details of where to queue will be released tomorrow. Westminster Hall will be open 24 hours a day. The coffin will be draped in the Royal Standard and adorned with the Imperial State Crown – worn by the Queen after her coronation – with sceptre, orb and flowers from royal gardens.
Tens of thousands of well-wishers are expected to line the streets as it makes a journey from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. The procession will travel via The Mall, Horse Guards, Whitehall and Parliament Square. It will be screened live in Hyde Park, with a viewing area opening at 11am on Wednesday. King Charles, the Queen Consort and other members of the Royal Family will witness the arrival of the coffin. Units from the Sovereign’s Bodyguard, the Household Division, or Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London will guard the coffin day and night.
Members of the public who pay their respects at Westminster will be subject to strict security checks and restrictions, including a ban on large bags, flowers and photos (Pictured mourners filing past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in Westminster Hall)
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and leaders of the Scottish political parties join members of the public as the cortege with the hearse carrying the coffin of the late Queen
It was yesterday carried by hearse in a procession from Balmoral Castle to Edinburgh. This evening King Charles and his brothers will form a guard of honour around the coffin at the four corners of a raised platform known as a catafalque.
In a moving tribute known as the Vigil Of The Princes, they will take the places of guardsmen from the Royal Company of Archers for about an hour. Wearing ceremonial uniform, each will face outwards with their heads bowed in respect. Charles and other senior royals performed the tradition when the Queen Mother died.
They will do so again when the Queen reaches the Palace of Westminster this week. Because the monarch died in Scotland, an additional lying-in-state in Edinburgh was arranged.
Yesterday the coffin arrived at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. Today King Charles and the Queen Consort will fly into the Scottish capital and travel to the palace to inspect a guard of honour. At 2.35pm, Charles and Camilla will join a procession to St Giles’ Cathedral 1,200 yards away.
Charles and other royals will walk behind the hearse as it makes its way along the Royal Mile.
Lying-in-state is an honour given to the sovereign as head of state, consorts and some former Prime Ministers, including Sir Winston Churchill in 1965 (Pictured mourners filing past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in Westminster Hall)
On Sunday in Edinburgh, the hearse bearing the Royal Standard of Scotland drove along the Royal Mile.
The casket will be covered with the Scottish Crown at the church. The general public is welcome to pay their respects after a service by making their way by.
The Vigil of the Princes will be performed by the King and his siblings at 7:20 p.m. Tomorrow night, the casket is anticipated to be transported to London, where Princess Anne will go with her mother.
The casket will be transported to the State Hearse at 6.55 p.m. after arriving at RAF Northolt in west London. A guard of honor will welcome the casket at Buckingham Palace. It will be carried by a bearer party from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards to the Bow Room where it will be set up on trestles in front of King Charles and the Queen Consort. The casket will be watched over by chaplains to the king.
As head of state, the sovereign, his or her consorts, and several past prime ministers—including Sir Winston Churchill in 1965—are afforded the honor of lying in state.