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've created a weather related thread.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/weather/4631688-weather-for-anyone-going-up-to-london-weds-through-to-the-funeral

I suggest reading the guidelines about what you are permitted to bring if you are planning on going: 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

I'm debating going on Wednesday night.
I queued to see the Queen Mother. From what I remember we got there around 11pm on the first night & it took about 5 hours.
People were turning up alone & others would hold their spot if they needed a toilet break.
I remember a man in the queue with his tween daughter & she stood with me whilst he nipped off to the loo & to get food for all of us.

Getting Just Eat or Deliveroo to the queue might be a shout.

It might take less time (than 30 hours) to drive up to Scotland and back and see her up there!

I'm still going on Saturday, I have a 11 hour window (due to trains) so I'm going to see what I can do!

I wonder if there's an element of trying to put people off in the media to try to reduce the unbelievably massive attendance a little bit? If you weren't determined all this 'the queue is going to be 30 hours, overnight, and there's no food, and you have to stand, and you can only have a small bag, and you have to be silent, and and and' might just change your mind. We'll see I suppose!

Very pleased to read no photos inside. That would have been totally inappropriate.

I'm hoping to go. Scared at the length of queue and number of people, but when I saw the Queen Mother's lying in state (didn't know about it until too late to go) I always said I would go for the Queen. I have been planning on going for 20 years so trying not to be put off now.

I'd love to pay my respects but no way can I stand (well shuffle slowly) for more than 4 hours.

I think the scenes are going to be unprecedented.

I'm thinking of getting a lunchtime train up on Wednesday in hope of getting a roadside spot to watch the cortege pass from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. But I strongly suspect that'll be crowded out by early morning.

They said the queues would be up to 20hours. This whole thing is really bewildering to me. I really just cannot understand it.

Does everyone believe she will actually be in the box?

In two minds myself (and certainly not going anywhere near London for the foreseeable).

There is a 30 hour queue I've just heard

Yes that's what I keep hearing, and queuing for 30 hours is absolute madness IMO.
In times like these they often say 'it's what <deceased person> would have wanted' but would she have wanted people to do that?

but would she have wanted people to do that?

Apparently in Norwich a bike lock rack was closed out of respect. In Hammersmith and Fulham they cancelled the car-free weekend out of respect as of course her maj would have wanted people to drive through the high street. This whole thing is more bonkers than I could have fathomed and I knew it would be bonkers.

Peak bonkers. Or maybe there's more to come. It's early days.

Sadly I think there will be more to come. Some people are only just getting into the stride of their performative grief and mourning.

I think given that people have started camping in line already, then it will be several hours wait. I don't know if them saying 30 hours is scare mongering, but it will probably be at least 12. For the whole time just shuffling slowly forward. It sounds like torture.

I don't live that far away and toyed with the idea of going but no way could I queue for that long. I think most Londoners will do the sensible thing and stay away! Crowded London streets are horrendous and very claustrophobic.

The thing is, no one know if the queue will be 4 hours or 4 days. There's no way of knowing how many people want to go. It's all guesswork at the moment. Until Wednesday evening it's just speculation.

Obviously it is looking like it will be quite a wait as clearly she meant quite a lot to a lot of people, but everything is estimates.

I imagine early evening will be absolutely the WORST time. People will be going after work/uni/school.

I’m baffled that you would compare this with a family day out that is clearly going to get quieter towards the end of the day 😆

All you can say is that it's going to be a long, long wait whatever I suppose.

So it's just been confirmed, lying in state opening for the public on 14th september from 5pm. It's going to be absolutely chaotic. I've taken steps to delete my twitter account because I really could do with not getting fired or arrested.

I would imagine there's a queue already...

Yup, tents and flasks abound. Do people really have nothing else to do? Do they honestly think the royal institution would help them in any practical way.

I always said I'd go for HM but like you I can't do the hours and hours. Shame, but there it is.

VladimirsPoutine exactly. Who on earth would queue for hours to look at a box which supposedly has the queen's body inside. I doubt if EW ever gave them any thought in her lifetime.

Weird that this still happens in 2022.

Well our local rubbish newspaper is telling us we need to stand on our doorsteps and 'Clap for the Queen' at 7pm tonight. WTF.

Listening to LBC, and apparently people have already started queuing. Utter madness.