Queen lying in state ends after outpouring of public devotion
The final mourners have paid their respects to the Queen lying in state in Parliament’s Westminster Hall.
Since Thursday, hundreds of thousands of members of the public have filed past the coffin until, early on Monday morning, the final people who had queued through the night left the cavernous medieval hall.
The process has seen a river of people snaking along the Thames around the clock, members of the public mixing with celebrities and foreign dignitaries beneath Westminster Hall’s hammer-beam roof.
Some bowed, some curtsied, others made the sign of the cross as they paused beside the coffin which was draped in the Royal Standard with the jewels in the Imperial State Crown, sceptre and orb, placed on top.
Members of parliamentary staff and, finally, Black Rod Sarah Clarke were the final people to pay their respects after the last of those who had queued had been through Westminster Hall.
For the Queen, it was the final duty in Parliament, an institution which she visited frequently during her 70-year reign.
She delivered her first Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament on November 4, 1952.
During her reign she only missed three state openings – in 1959 and 1963 when she was pregnant with Andrew, the future Duke of York and Edward, who would become Earl of Wessex and then in May this year as her health faltered.
On that occasion the then Prince of Wales opened Parliament, a role which will be his by right from now on as King.