To think it's a shame we can't pay our respects

[KeepYaHeadUp]

When we initially heard about the funeral plans DH and I said it might be "nice" to take our DC to London (we're just outside) to walk past the Queen in Westminster Hall. They've been very interested in the whole event and are old enough now that they'll remember it and be able to talk about it, etc. so when they independently asked to go we looked into it.

It quickly became apparent it wasn't going to be feasible due to the huge queues etc, so that was knocked on the head. I feel it's a shame but there's no way I'd have them queuing in the rain.

On the news this morning there are a number of people who's caught flights from all over the world to come and be part of it. One pair - a mother and adult son from New York flew over as soon as they heard the Queen had died and are queuing now.

I know it's unreasonable really, but I felt a pang of something - jealousy, irritation, not sure - at these people with money and time to fly for hours to come and pay their respects to our monarch adding to numbers which effectively deny other groups the opportunity. I know there are allowances made for people with disabilities who are unable to queue for up to 30 hours, but what about children/families for whom it's impossible?

I personally think, and I know it's an unpopular opinion but people wishing to pay their respects should be Great British (England, Wales etc), then Commonwealth nations and not tourists from just any old country.

I want to pay my respects but would be slightly pissed off if a load of tourists are using it as a 'tourist trip' and be ahead of me, who has to work. I mean sure, tourists should be allowed to pay their respects but not ahead of the people I mentioned above.

I think it's all a bit OTT really, it's almost turning into a major tourist event. I'm not anti Royal at all, and I thoroughly respect Liz's incredible lifetime of service. But it's starting to feel a bid morbid that millions of people are queuing up just to walk past her coffin. There's photo's of it on the front page of every newspaper every day, and on every news website.

I do think that maybe it would have been a better idea to have driven her down from Scotland to London rather than flying, but organising and policing that would have been a logistical nightmare.

OP - if you want to come, surely you'd make the effort.

Current estimtes say the queue will be ten miles longe. Ten. Miles.

But I wouldn't go to USA to see if e.g. Joe Biden died, to pay my respects, because he's American and I'm not. I don't even have a tenuous connection like a friend of mine who has an American mother (deceased) which would be ok for her to visit USA and him,

This is correct

@GonnaGetGoingReturns Great Britain and Northern Ireland - which is Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England.

If you're british then you hold queuing to be the most sacred act a human can do. Ergo, first come first serve regarldess of origin.

But for an American citizen the Queen means nothing to them! Apart from the fact that she was the ruler of the United Kingdom. Why should they need/want to pay their respects to her?

It's different if you're from a Commonwealth country and have that connection.

Take a breath and ask yourself what the Queen herself would advise. She'd tell you (nicely) to get a grip and if you don't fancy the crowds just go to your local place of worship or community centre and pay your respects there. Or watch it on TV and raise a glass to her.

Tiered queuing system? Number One is the English queue (with a priority lane for Waitrose card holders presumably)?

This is the most bizairre thread.

There are so many ways to be part of this..

If famies went to the front, the certain age group then the poor people who don't fit into any catagory?

You can go into London though and walk to BUckingham Palace and Green Park and see all the flowers and be part of it that way - that is what we are thinking about doing?

Who are you to judge if she meant something or not?! This is all sounding very disrespectful fighting over who should get priority to see her coffin.

Don't be so ridiculous.

First come first served is bollocks.

I still don't see how if you're American and come here to queue to see her coffin, that it makes things any more meaningful for you as an American. When I visited Ground Zero (I have American New Yorker friends) I paid my respects, went/didn't go out of respect to my American friends.

But if you wanted to you should feel able to.

When it's me who's queuing then sorry, yes, she was our Queen.

Like I said, Americans and other non Commonwealth countries, it has little or no meaning to them, unless they're descended from Mayflower descendants and even then it's a tenuous link.

Yeah, right Read your own post and your possessiveness about our monarch.

I know it's unreasonable really, but I felt a pang of something - jealousy, irritation, not sure - at these people with money and time to fly for hours to come and pay their respects to our monarch adding to numbers which effectively deny other groups the opportunity.

You're backtracking now because you're realising just how xenophobic you sound. And other posters have picked up on it too.

Naturally. But I'm a British citizen, I hold a British passport.

My friend holds a dual national American/British passport.

Plenty of Americans have recent UK heritage. It's not like some people went on the Mayflower and then all movement between our countries stopped. 🙄

Don't be so ridiculous.

'Don't be ridiculous' says the person angry forrinnners are also insane enough to want to queue for 10 miles gawk at a box.

There are 100s of ways to show your respect to the Queen.

All areas in the UK have books of condolence to sign, websites to sign, prayers & candles to light in churches or other religious places, flowers to be placed at certain sites.

You can make a donation to a charity

You can plant a tree

You can write a poem, song, paint a picture

You can do your own personal thing

All these things are accessible to everyone

Did you know the Queen well, OP ??

That's not what I mean and you know it. I work right now. It'd look bad if I took a day or so off work to queue to see HRH Queen lying in state. Therefore, I have after work and weekends to do this. It's important to me as a British subject to do this. I didn't think it would be this important, but it is.

No, she was the Queen, your queen, but not your Queen. You didn't own her. She ruled over you.