Mourners may wait in line for up to 20 hours to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II while she lies in state, with lines expected to be up to five miles in length.
Members of the public who wish to pay their respects to the UK’s late Queen Elizabeth II may end up waiting in a line up to five miles long, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to come to Westminster Hall to say their goodbyes to the monarch.
The UK government has now issued guidance to those who wish to pay final respects in person before the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on September 19, with physical constraints on how many people can physically pass through Westminster hall at once looking to place some severe logistical strain on the organising parties.
According to a report by The Times, as many as 750,000 people could go to pay their respects to the Queen over the coming days, with the monarch’s coffin under constant guard to stand in Westminster Hall for 24 hours a day from Wednesday until the early hours of Monday. The public will be able to file past the coffin at any time of day or night on these dates.
Those who wish to pay their respects in this way could be left waiting in line for up to 20 hours, with officials warning would-be attendants to be well prepared if they decide to make the trip to see off the monarch.
“Please note that the queue is expected to be very long. You will need to stand for many hours, possibly overnight, with very little opportunity to sit down, as the queue will keep moving,” advice published on the UK government’s website reads.
“Please consider this before you decide to attend or bring children with you,” it goes on to read.
Officials are also urging attendees to bring food and drink with them, as well as suitable clothing and even phone chargers.
Mourners will also be required to go through airport-style security, while flags, placards, and clothing with political or offensive slogans will be banned from Westminster for the duration of the event.
The Times meanwhile notes that the funeral itself, which is due to take place next Monday, appears to be posing an ever greater logistical problem for UK officials, with it even being predicted that London could hit its maximum capacity during the event, and are reportedly ready to issue advice telling the public to not travel to the capital.
To make matters worse, while it is expected the number of people attending the Queen’s Lying-in-State, as well as her subsequent funeral, could rival the 1 million mourners at Princess Diana’s in 1997, security sources have reportedly admitted that the terror threat has substantially changed since that time.
As a result, as many as 10,000 police officers are expected to be put on standby for the event, with 1,500 and bomb disposal squad officers also to be kept available should they be needed for the occasion.
The publication also notes that there is concern that so-called “single-issue protesters” could make attempts at disrupting the event. The processing of the Queen’s coffin in Edinburgh has already been the subject of shouted abuse by a lone protester, although others shouted down the man.
Climate change fanatics are in particular singled out by The Times as a possible concern for the event, with demonstrators from various Extinction Rebellion splinter groups now frequently making a nuisance of themselves at major events throughout Europe over the past year.