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Peter Walker
I’m in Parliament Square, the center of which is remarkably empty after the last week of packed scenes, with people moved to the sides ahead of the passing of the hearse carrying the Queen’s coffin from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey in a few hours. .
Anyone without a media or security pass is behind a double layer of barriers, with crowds now up to half a dozen deep. There are two distinct groups: those who have arrived at night, with coats and bags but little else, and the long-termers with camping chairs, sleeping bags and supplies of snacks.
Near the corner of Whitehall and Westminster Bridge, Mary Foster, from Petersfield in Hampshire, and her friend Bill Powell, who has come from Toronto in Canada, were quickly identified by fellow pickers as the oldest, after arriving on Friday afternoon. The pair, sitting next to large bags containing camping gear and a small tent, were initially set up outside Westminster Abbey but moved when security plans changed.
“They were very good to us,” Foster said. “They knew we’d been here the longest, so they made sure we had the best spot here, too.” Powell said the couple hadn’t endured much bad weather: “A light rain at night,” he said. “But nothing a Canadian can’t handle.”
All rail lines between Slough and Paddington are blocked due to damage to overhead power cables, reports PA Media.
This is disrupting journeys for mourners trying to travel to London for the Queen’s funeral from Reading or Heathrow Airport.
Services operated by Great Western Railway, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line are affected. Lines between Reading and Newbury are also closed because a person has been hit by a train.
This causes GWR trains to be diverted, delaying journeys into the capital.
Archie Bland
The US president will not, despite much speculation last week, travel to Westminster Abbey by bus today, but everyone else will be transported from the Royal Hospital Chelsea two miles away.
The 500 international dignitaries include King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain and Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan, as well as Emmanuel Macron, Jacinda Ardern, Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska. Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro is attending (and has been criticized for using the occasion as an “electoral soapbox”), but there will be no official representatives from Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, Venezuela, Syria or Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is no longer expected to attend. And after some controversy, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan will be there.
Meanwhile, Liz Truss, Keir Starmer and Nicola Sturgeon will be joined by every living former British prime minister and many other politicians. Victoria Cross and George Cross holders from across the Commonwealth will be among the guests, as well as nearly 200 people who were recognized this year in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and the Royal Family and household members
After 10 days of official mourning, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II takes place today in London.
The Queen’s state ended this morning, ending a queue that lasted for days and stretched up to 5 miles (8 km), snaking along the Thames. The last people to pay their respects left Westminster Hall just before 6.30am. At 8am, Westminster Abbey will be opened to the congregation attending the funeral. Then, at 10.30am, the coffin will be carried on the hearse from Westminster Hall.
Here is the full schedule of today’s events:
The day of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. The sun rises at Buckingham Palace. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
Updated at 07.16 BST
Here’s the view from Whitehall this morning, from Archie Bland, newsletter editor of the Guardian’s first edition.
Updated at 07.25 BST
The Queen’s lie to the state is now over. The last people queuing to see his coffin passed through early this morning. At 6.29am, Black Rod, a senior officer of the House of Lords, bowed once before the coffin and walked to the end of Westminster Hall.
Black Rod walks through Westminster Hall to pay his respects on the final day of Queen Elizabeth II’s lying in state coffin. Photo: Yui Mok/PA
The government announced that the queue had closed at 10.30pm yesterday. An estimated 300,000 people queued to pay their respects, with an estimated waiting time of 17 hours.
Later this morning, the Queen’s coffin will be carried in the state funeral gun carriage from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, towed by 142 Royal Navy sailors.
Updated at 07.01 BST
Carol Ann Duffy, the former poet laureate, who was appointed by the Queen in 2009, has written a poem titled Daughter, shared exclusively here, to mark the monarch’s death:
Archie Bland
Further up Whitehall, Christina Burrows sits against a bollard. He met the Queen once in his thirties, at a charity event in 1992, but “I’ve always seen her as a beacon,” he says. “During lockdown, when she said, ‘We’ll see each other again,’ it was wonderful. It gave me so much hope. So I wanted to be there for her like she was for us.” She sighs and puts her hands to her cheeks. “I don’t know how I’ll feel when she passes,” he says. “Oh God, I can’t believe it. There will never be another day like this in our lives.”
Food confiscated from people waiting in line for the Queen to be in state is being donated to charity, PA Media reports:
People are not allowed to take food or drink inside the Palace of Westminster and these items will be confiscated.
Charity the Felix Project said it hopes to collect more than 2 tons of food, mostly snacks, including chips, chocolate and cookies, and also accepts unwanted blankets.
With people waiting up to 24 hours to complete the five-mile walk from Southwark Park to Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the Queen, they will be coming with plenty of food to keep them going.
When they arrive at Victoria Tower Gardens, the food is confiscated before it is allowed into the parliamentary estate and instead of being thrown away, all non-perishable and unopened packages are kept.
The Felix Project will distribute the items to the thousands of community groups it works with throughout the capital.
The charity’s chief executive, Charlotte Hill, said: “We are honored to be here to play a small part in this heartwarming event and to know that an extra layer of good is being done here.
Updated at 06.53 BST
Transport for London commissioner Andy Byford said today will be “probably one of the busiest days” the service has ever faced:
It’s hard to say exactly how many additional people [will travel]but we are preparing for potentially a million people in the footprint of the royal palaces and Hyde Park…
Yesterday, figures from Trainline showed that demand for services in London for today was 56% above the level recorded on the same day last week. Train companies including LNER and East Midlands Railway have warned that services into London will be very busy.
Updated at 06.53 BST
Archie Bland
Robert Madeley and Christopher Clowes arrived at 4am from “just as far as Regents Park” and Leicestershire, and are dressed in morning clothes with a box of flapjacks – “it’s what I would have wanted”, says Clowes.
Perhaps confused by their outfits, the police have already taken them to a restricted area before realizing their mistake.
“The difficulty is that you always think there could be a better view 100 meters away,” says Madeley. “But I’m happy with where we are.”
Robert Madeley and Christopher Clowes arrived at 4am from “just as far as Regents Park” and Leicestershire, and are dressed in morning clothes with a box of flapjacks – “it’s what I would have wanted”, says Clowes. pic.twitter.com/6SjchwhVlE
— Archie Bland (@archiebland) September 19, 2022
Updated at 06.54 BST
Archie Bland
Around one million people are expected to visit central London today. As you cross the city towards Westminster Abbey, the normal 5am sight of people going to work or coming home from a night out starts to give way to bored-looking administrators in tabards, signs of crowd control and middle-aged couples with folding chairs and sandwiches.
There are veterans in full badges, tourists with selfie sticks huddled under aluminum sheets, a dog in a bow tie, a woman in a black fascinator and a queue for the toilet at Westminster station that looms and go out into the street 430 hrs.
“I’ve been asleep for two hours,” says William Sidhu, gesturing to the phone booth he’s just stepped out of in Parliament Square. “I think I’ve lost my place.”
Updated at 06.54 BST
Updated at 05.51 BST
The Queen’s death has spawned a mixture of strange traditions and ceremonies not seen or heard since the death of the last reigning monarch, her father George VI in 1952.
Among the more unusual protocols will be presented at the committal service to be held at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle at 4pm on Monday, after the Queen’s coffin is driven there when the royal funeral at the Abbey ends of Westminster.
Windsor Castle, with St George’s Chapel on the far left. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP
This involves the official “crown jeweler” removing the imperial crown from the coffin to symbolically separate the Queen from her crown. It also features Lord Chamberlain Baron Parker, former head of MI5, breaking his ‘wand of office’ and placing it in the coffin signifying the end of his service to the Queen.
PA Media reports:
During the service, which will be led by the Dean of Windsor, David Conner, the Imperial State Crown, Orb and Scepter will be lifted from the Queen’s coffin by the Crown…