Posted on 09/18/22
| News Source: Washington Post
The line to see Queen Elizabeth II lie in state at Westminster Hall – which Brits have affectionately dubbed “the Queue,” and which has taken on a life of its own in recent days as thousands wait for a glimpse of the monarch’s coffin – grew so long that the government said Friday it would have to temporarily prevent new people from joining it.
“The Queue” – which began forming Monday before the start of the queen’s lying-in-state period – is officially five miles long, though in reality it is longer due to an uncounted section where it zigzags. It extends all the way from Westminster Hall in central London to Southwark Park, a more than 60-acre public park in southeast London, according to a government tracker. Well-wishers have been warned they could face at least a 22-hour wait to reach Westminster Hall.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the government agency responsible for managing the queue, warned early Friday that entry to the line at Southwark Park would “be paused if it reaches capacity.”
Less than an hour later, at 9:50 a.m. local time, the department said entry would be paused for at least six hours and warned people not to “attempt to join the queue until it re-opens.”
The news came as a disappointment to the people who had traveled near and far to pay their respects to the queen. On social media, it also raised many questions – chief among them, where the people who wanted to rejoin the queue when it eventually reopened should go. “Is there a queue for #thequeue now?,” some wondered on social media, as others joked that the failure to rejoin the queue would be an affront to their Britishness.