(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – Mourners wishing to pay their final respects to the Queen have been warned to expect long queues.
Details have been revealed about how people can attend the lying-in-state, which will take place at the Palace of Westminster.
Large crowds are expected and there are warnings those wanting to take part in the historic occasion may have to wait for hours and even overnight.
People are advised to bring food and drink as well as suitable clothing.
The lying-in-state begins at 17:00 BST on Wednesday and will last until 06:30 on Monday 19 September – the day of the Queen’s funeral.
It will be open 24 hours a day between those times.
The last member of the Royal Family to lie in state in the hall was the Queen Mother in 2002, when more than 200,000 people queued to view her coffin.
The Queen’s funeral will be “living tradition in action”, the Dean of Westminster has said.
The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle said it would be “an opportunity for us to give thanks for an extraordinary life… and an opportunity, if you like, for us to give the grief somewhere to go.”
Since the Queen died peacefully at her Balmoral home on Thursday thousands of mourners have been leaving floral tributes at places she loved, including at Buckingham Palace, Sandringham House and Windsor Castle.
Crowds gathered to watch the Queen’s funeral cortege travel from Balmoral to Edinburgh on Sunday, as her coffin began its journey to London ahead of the funeral.
On Monday members of the Royal Family will follow behind the hearse as it travels to St Giles’ Cathedral in the Scottish city, where the Queen’s coffin will lie under vigil for 24 hours.
There will be a service and the coffin will rest at the cathedral for 24 hours for members of the public to pay their respects, before it is flown back to RAF Northolt to then make its way on to Buckingham Palace.
