People have been welcomed into Westminster Hall to say final farewells to the Queen’s coffin.
Hardy royalists have queued in the capital for nearly two days, despite rain and wind overnight.
Vanessa Nathakumaran, 56, was first through the doors of Westminster Hall this evening.
She had started to queue on Monday at Lambeth Bridge.
‘I really really want to be part of it’, she had told reporters. ‘I don’t want to miss it in case… they said they are probably going to control the crowds if [the queue] gets too long.’
Anne Daley, proudly wearing a Welsh rugby top and large hat, was second through the doors of Westminster Hall.
The 65-year-old from Cardiff had been desperate to attend to ‘represent Wales’, she told WalesOnline.
Many of those paying respects this evening could be seen wiping away tears as they passed the coffin.
Others fell to their knees as they bowed heads toward the casket.
Behind Vanessa and Anne through the doors of Westminster Hall was Grace Gothard – who had also secured an early spot in the queue.
The trio had been filmed singing at the front of the queue as they were joined by the Archbishop of York earlier today.
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Ms Gothard, from Mitcham, South London, said she had been desperate to pay her respects to the ‘inspirational figure’ of the Queen.
Westminster Hall will be open for four days to allow the public to view the late monarch’s closed coffin until her state funeral on Monday.
Anticipating the dizzying queues, security staff have been placed around Parliament, Victoria Tower Gardens, Lambeth Bridge and along the Covid Memorial Wall.
But security officials anticipate the lines will even spill all the way to Tower Bridge.
Doors opened at 5pm tonight, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is running a live queue tracker to pinpoint the end of the line.
At 5.20pm, the tracker showed the queue was around 2.9 miles long, stretching as far as London Bridge.
Inside Victoria Tower Gardens, portable toilets and crowd control infrastructure has been added.
No 10 has advised commuters to ‘change their working patterns accordingly’ as London will be ‘extremely busy’ in the coming days.
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