Access to the queue to view the coffin of Elizabeth II was suspended in London on Friday due to high attendance, the government said.
• Read also: Pope Francis will not attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral
Initially, he announced that this suspension should last “at least six hours”.
“The slots for the followingnoon have been filled,” he then clarified.
“Do not try to join the queue before it reopens”.
Before this announcement, the waiting time had risen to 2 p.m., people waiting night and day for miles to be able to gather briefly in front of the coffin of the sovereign exhibited in Westminster Hall.
Midday on Friday, a sign posted where people enter the queue read: ‘Entry to the queue to view Her Majesty’s coffin is temporarily suspended. The waiting time from here is at least 14 hours”.
Thousands of people, some from very far away, had joined the queue once more in the morning.
The 24-hour coffin display is scheduled until 6:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Monday, before the funeral service at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT).
