How long is the queue?
The queue has grown since our last update around 6pm and is now 4.9 miles long.
The estimated wait time is at least nine hours, according to the government tracker.
If you head there now, the tracker says the closest landmark to the end of the queue is Southwark Park.
The code given to locate the end in the What3Words app is Gained.Yarn.Relay
Updated at 10.12pm BST
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Marc Carney, 58, walked past the Queen’s coffin at 6.40pm after traveling from his home in Kent on Thursday morning.
The moment he got to say his personal goodbye left him “surprised by the realism” of everything that’s happening. He said: “You’d be surprised how touching it all is and how much love and support there is for the Queen.”
Carney, who joined the queue around 11.30am, continued: “It was hard to find the end of it because the line just kept growing as I went towards it.”
Pesach Neussbaum, a retired computer company owner from Montreal, Canada, described seeing the Queen’s coffin as a “very special and extraordinary” experience. Having arrived in Britain on Wednesday, he had just finished a walking tour of central London when he managed to join the queue in Blackfriars, south London, on Thursday afternoon.
He said: “I was thinking that even if I didn’t make it to Westminster, and it was too far for me to walk, I was still paying my last respects to the Queen.
“I went on for five and a half hours, and seeing it well makes me feel accomplished.” My wife, Shari, who is back in Canada, is a big fan of Queen Elizabeth. I thought if my wife was here, she would want me to continue.
“The Queen is an inspiration not only to me, but to the whole world.”
Updated at 21.58 BST
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan will attend the queen’s funeral in a move that has drawn complaints from a group of British Conservative MPs who have been banned from traveling to China because of their campaigns against Chinese repression.
Wang will be the most senior Asian political leader to attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey and among representatives of authoritarian states, a group that also includes Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Egypt’s president. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to lead a delegation to London, although his attendance at the funeral has yet to be confirmed.
The Foreign Office is refusing to release a full list of guests at this stage for security reasons, and most Middle Eastern leaders, apart from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, have not revealed their plans for to attend But confirmation that Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al Thani will attend suggests other Gulf leaders will also attend.
Updated at 9.43pm BST
The Queen’s grandchildren are expected to honor her memory by holding a vigil at her coffin with the Duke of Sussex in his military uniform, according to reports.
Prince Harry, who served on the front line for two tours of duty in Afghanistan, was denied the chance to wear his military uniform as he publicly mourned the fact that he is no longer a working royal.
Despite being a former army officer, he has been dressed in civilian clothes for official events, including when he walked behind his grandmother’s coffin on Wednesday as it was carried into Westminster Hall to lie in state.
But the Daily Mirror said Palace officials had changed their minds, with a source saying: “Common sense has prevailed.”
Harry will reportedly join his brother the Prince of Wales and cousins Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall in holding a vigil around the Queen’s coffin on Saturday.
An exception has been made for the Duke of York, who is no longer a working royal but will wear his military uniform as a “special mark of respect” for the Queen when he stands guard over her coffin during a vigil with the his brothers on Friday. evening.
Updated at 9.24pm BST
Summary
If you’re just joining us, here’s a quick rundown of all the news for the day.
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Prince William has said walking behind his grandmother’s hearse on Wednesday was “a challenge” and “brought back memories”.
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As of 9 p.m., the government tracker said the queue for Westminster Hall was 4.9 miles long, with an estimated wait time of at least 8.5 hours.
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People continue to unite, with one woman describing the Queen’s lie to the state as a “piece of history that will never be repeated”.
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The Queen’s state funeral will “unite people from all over the world” and “pay a fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign”, said its organiser, the Duke of Norfolk.
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The House of Commons will sit again from next Thursday and the next recess will be shortened by almost a week, it has been announced.
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Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack joined other members of the Royal Company of Archers to watch over the Queen’s coffin.
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Heathrow Airport has announced it will halt all flights for 15 minutes before the national two-minute silence on Monday and 15 minutes after as a “mark of respect” to the royal family.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has paid tribute to the Queen, reflecting on first meeting her as a child and saying Canadians “feel like they’ve lost a family member.”
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Vehicles in US President Joe Biden’s motorcade have been spotted in London as the city prepares to welcome hundreds of foreign dignitaries ahead of the Queen’s funeral.
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A group of parliamentarians and peers under Chinese sanctions have expressed serious concerns about the Chinese government being invited to the funeral.
Updated at 21.07 BST
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has paid tribute to the Queen, reflecting on a relationship that began when he was just a child.
Speaking during a special session of Canada’s House of Commons, Trudeau, whose father served as prime minister almost continuously from 1968 to 1984, said: “The first time I met her was year 1977, when he was just a little boy.
“When I was to meet her as Prime Minister almost four decades later, in 2015, I joked that the last time we met she had been taller than me. She responded with a joke about me making her feel old
“Her sense of humor was one of her many great qualities and one of the many reasons why she was one of my favorite people in the world.
“Her conversations with me were always honest. We talked about everything and anything. She gave her best advice on a range of issues, was always curious, engaged and thoughtful.”
He said that for most Canadians, the Queen was “the only sovereign most of us have ever known” and that “her sudden absence has affected us all in a palpable and profound way.”
“The Queen had a deep appreciation for our culture,” he said.
“In 1964, she said she was happy to know that there was a place in our Commonwealth where she was expected to speak officially in French.
“It’s a language he loved very much and spoke impeccably well.”
He added that Canadians “feel like they’ve lost a family member who grew up next to us.”
Updated at 20.46 BST
Here’s a graphic showing the route the Queen’s coffin will take on the short journey from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey on Monday.
At 10.35 a party of pallbearers will place the coffin in the State Armory, which was previously used for the funerals of King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Sir Winston Churchill and Lord Mountbatten.
The procession will leave at 10.44am, led by the massive Pipes & Drums of the Scottish and Irish regiments, the Gurkha Brigade and the Royal Air Force, a total of 200 musicians.
It will arrive at the West Gate of Westminster Abbey at 10.52am, where the pallbearers will lift the coffin from the state hearse and carry it into the Abbey for the State Funeral Service.
A graphic showing the route the Queen’s coffin will take during the short journey from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey. Flowers left in tribute to the Queen at the gates of Sandringham House Picture: William Conran/EPAEls Prince and Princess of Wales read a card with floral tributes to the Queen Picture: William Conran/EPACrowds gathered outside Sandringham House Picture: Toby Melville/PA
The Queen’s state funeral will “unite people from all over the world” and “pay a fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign”, its organizer said.
The Duke of Norfolk, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, holds the post of Earl Marshal, making him responsible for state ceremonial occasions such as coronations and funerals.
“The Queen occupied a unique and timeless position in all our lives,” he said. “This has been felt most acutely in recent days as the world comes to terms with his death.
“Her Majesty’s death has left many people on many continents with a deep sense of loss.
“The respect, admiration and affection with which the Queen was held makes our task both humbling and daunting. An honor and a great responsibility.
“It is our aim and our belief that the state funeral and the events of the coming days will unite people from around the world and resonate with people of all faiths, while fulfilling the wishes of Her Majesty and her family to a fitting tribute to an extraordinary reign.”
Updated at 20.02 BST
Caroline Davies
Windsor will be the Queen’s final resting place, in the George VI Memorial Chapel within the grounds of Windsor Castle, said to be her favorite home, and where she will be buried alongside the Duke of Edinburgh.
If the state funeral is the farewell to the nation, the committal service at St George’s Chapel will have a more personal air, with the congregation including many of those loyal staff, past and present, who worked for to her in her houses and estates.
Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets to watch…