Visiting HMQ Lying in State

[happyinherts]

My daughter would love to travel down to London for this, but time is somewhat limited due to working hours. What day / night would be best to travel bearing in mind queues. Obviously Day 1 might be the busiest? Night time?

I work in an office less than five mins from Buckingham palace. We have been advised to wfh for the whole week owing to potential transport issues with the volume of visitors. When I went to work on Friday morning the area was already more busy than usual at 7.30. Going home was really quite crowded. I can understand wanting to go though.

She’s being buried in St George’s at Windsor - I wouldn’t imagine they’ll need to move her husband’s coffin at all.

All the days will be horrendously busy. 7 miles of queues are expected I believe. People camping multiple nights overnight to be within a chance.

Joining the queue for the Queen Mother's lying in state , they estimated 6-7 hours. There are photos of George VIs queue in the middle of the night, 10 deep, very long.

Whatever time you go, expect hours of waiting. On a very practical point, I'm not sure I could do 6 hours without the need for the bathroom.

Philip has been in the Royal vault under St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle since his funeral.

In accordance with their stated wishes The Queen will be interred in the side vault with her Mother and Father (and Margaret's ashes), and Philips coffin will be moved into the same vault beside the Queen in a quiet private ceremony after the Queens funeral.

Yes I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole on the royal vaults and chambers last night 😳 morbid I know.

HM The Queen will go in the George VI Memorial chapel alongside her husband (who will be moved from the royal vault) and with her father,.mother and the ashes of her sister.

I didn't realise Henry VIII is in St George's chapel with Jayne Seymour.

I also didn't realise that some of the older kings and queens in Westminster abbey had such small stones on the floor commemorating them. I weirdly thought their would be a bigger more substantial memorial for them.

Now the burial ground at frogmore I'd never heard of and had a nose at that too. I learnt quite a bit at 2am on royal burials, and how they all get moved about over time 😳😂

Interestingly Charles 1st is also interred in the vault with Henry VIII and Queen Jane - and a child of Queen Anne. The vault was examined in 1813 and an artist painted a watercolour of the coffins in situ.

I was in St George's Chapel on Thursday afternoon, was very sad knowing that the Queen was dying or even dead. Had a sit down on a pew right beside Henry's stone.

I went to see the Queen Mum lying in state, we hadn't planned to but had been out for dinner at the oxo one night and when walking back to hotel we walked past the queue and it wasn't too bad, it mush have been about 10pm that we joined the queue and it was less than an hour that we waited.

It was a lovely peaceful environment, all the staff were friendly and good humoured in an appropriate way. One of the security staff told us to walk through slowly as they were about to change the guards and it was interesting to see.

It wasn't at all ghoulish as some posters have suggested, just a lovely way to honor an old ladies passing.

I went to see the Queen Mother lying in state but as we had Parly passes we didn't have to queue. I wouldn't have queued up to go in.

Ages ago my DM queued for something nuts like 14 hours to see the queen mother, I imagine a whole day could well be needed for this.

When you have to queue and file past certain tombs in Westminster Abbey it is relatively quick! Although you go in, around and back out the other side. Not sure if this is one straight line going past or around and back out?

Ah, thank you @BMW6 @CaptainBarbosa - didn’t realise there were more than one possible place at St George’s. But then I’ve never given it any thought really.

I’m sure it’s protocol blah blah but seems rather like a lack of forward planning not to have put Phillip directly where he’d ultimately stay, given that it was inevitably not going to be a long wait for his wife to join him! But perhaps he also had strong wishes, who knows. It’s all fascinating in a sort of historically morbid way.

@EmmaH2022

After posters were so nice and helpful, and worried about you, on another thread...well, I suppose we know not to bother again.

Do you have nothing better to do that trawl through people's posting history?

Accepting advice on a property thread doesn't mean I need to keep my opinions to myself on every other matter under the sun. That's a very odd belief to hold.

Chag I didn't look at your history. I was on that thread and felt so sorry for you. Just been through a nightmare with something falling through myself.

as for posting opinions on a thread...it's like if someone turned up on a pet thread and said "you're an idiot for having pets". I'm not the only one who was dismayed by your comment.

It doesn't. But it does show that you don't mind receiving empathy from others but don't feel it's something you need to show to others yourself. Not a good look. Your response was just needlessly antagonistic.

I think they didn't put him in for that exact reason.

It's a large marble lid l, cemented into the floor, on the vault. It would have meant opening it up twice in a short space of time sadly.

Probably more "cost effective" to wait for both to be ready to go in, and using the royal vault as a holding place.

It will be a private family ceremony when both HM The Queen and Prince Phillip are interred together, and I think that will be lovely for the family, to see them both together again, side by side for eternity, in private.

Well I was wrong- you just have to queue:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/attending-ceremonial-events-for-the-lying-in-state-and-the-state-funeral-of-her-majesty-the-queen/her-majesty-the-queens-lying-in-state-at-the-palace-of-westminster-houses-of-parliament

Derech eretz

On the news this morning they are suggesting the queues could be waiting for 12 hours.

Oh no, scrap that it's now estimated to be more like 30 hours. 😧

They should ban cameras and phones from inside the building, the queues will drop dramatically if all the Insta Wankers can’t get the money shot of the coffin.

With this talk of over night queuing, who would go? loo breaks? lose your place in the queue? eating? farting! personal hygiene?

As most will be older/elderly even, we could get people collapsing and literally joining her in spirit and body.

It all sounds horrendous.

I’d go if i wasn’t 200 miles away with work and child responsibilities.

i think about 4am is probably the best time- suspect it will be a horrendous wait with no toilets etc.
I’d hope that some food carts will pop up in useful places.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62872323

There's info on this BBC webpage regarding what to and what to e pect if you're going to pay your respects.

I just couldn't imagine queuing for 30 hours for something that would last a few seconds at most.
It sounds like it will be overwhelmed with people for days.