Published: Less than 10 min ago
The Queen has landed in London.
Tomorrow Big Ben will toll and tens of thousands and tens of thousands of Britons will line the streets.
Everyone wants to see Queen Elizabeth’s coffin travel in cortege through the city to Westminster Palace.
For a chance to say a final goodbye, people are already sitting on the street waiting.
At 8pm on Tuesday evening, the plane carrying the Queen’s coffin landed at RAF Northolt airport in west London.
On board the plane, an RAF C-17, a giant military air transport plane, was her only daughter, Princess Anne, and her husband Tim Laurence.
Slowly, slowly, the coffin was carried out of the plane to the waiting car, with large windows and a glass roof, where the illuminated coffin was clearly visible.
Princess Anne sighed deeply as the coffin with her mother was carried past her as she stood outside the plane.
– It is an honor and a privilege to accompany her on her last journeys, says Princess Anne in a statement.
Along the road to Buckingham Palace thousands of Britons braved the rain to catch a glimpse of the car and pay their respects to the Queen.
In oncoming lanes, traffic stopped in double and triple rows as the Queen’s car, behind three flashing motorcycles, sped past.
At Buckingham Palace, King Charles and his wife Camilla waited to receive the coffin along with Prince William and Kate.
There the coffin will stand, guarded, inside the Bow Room, until Wednesday afternoon.
Now only a short, but oh so important part of Queen Elizabeth’s very last journey remains.
Eight kilometers of queue
At 2.22 British time, 15.22 Swedish time, the coffin will be taken by horse and carriage in procession through the streets to Westminster Palace.
Big Ben will ring, salutes will be fired and along the streets people will stand in multiple lines to catch a glimpse of the carriage carrying the Queen’s coffin during the 38-minute journey.
In Westminster Hall, the Queen will lie in repose until the early hours of Monday morning, September 19, the day of the funeral, in Westminster Abbey.
During the roughly four and a half days, everyone who wants has the chance to say a final goodbye to the queen.
But the question is whether everyone who wants will get the opportunity.
Up to a million people are expected to come to London and Westminster Palace these days – and the queue is expected to be up to eight kilometers long, according to Daily Mail.
People are now being warned that they could be forced to queue for up to 35 hours for a chance to enter the Palace of Westminster. And many will probably queue in vain.
Open Twentyfour Seven
Westminster Palace will be open 24 hours a day until Monday morning, at 7:30 a.m. Swedish time, so that as many people as possible will have the chance to enter and parade past the coffin – still, it will not be enough.
The British authorities calculate that around 3,000 people per hour should be able to enter – that’s a total of 328,000 people during the 109.5 hours the coffin is there.
Hundreds of thousands may be forced to turn away without having been given the chance to enter.
10,000 police officers will be on duty daily patrolling the area.
Bajamajor and water stations have also been placed to make it easier for those queuing.
Hotels in London have already doubled their prices in anticipation of the expected rush – and many are preparing to sleep on the streets.
Already on Monday afternoon, the first people in the queue were in place, prepared to sit on the pavement until Westminster Palace opens on Wednesday evening at 18:00 Swedish time.
However, they are not allowed to sleep on the street and will be given numbered wristbands, so they can leave, but still keep their place in the queue.
The marmalade sandwiches cause problems
First in line is Vanessa Nathakumaran, 56, from Harrow.
She has admired the British royal family since she was ten years old and has great respect for them.
She herself grew up in Sri Lanka, but moved to the UK in the 1980s to study and stayed here.
– I wanted to see her lying there, with my own eyes. I will pray from my heart, wish her a peaceful rest and thank her for everything she has done for 70 years, she tells Daily Mail.
The mountain of flowers outside Buckingham Palace has only continued to grow since Queen Elizabeth died on Thursday, September 8, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
There’s just one unexpected problem – the marmalade sandwiches.
Many have come up with it, as a reminder of the immensely popular sketch from the 70th anniversary of the throne this summer, when Paddington the bear is invited to tea with the Queen and she tells that she always has a double sandwich with marmalade in her purse.
The British don’t forget that.
Many want to pay tribute to the Queen with a marmalade sandwich, but now the park officials are appealing to people not to leave marmalade sandwiches, considering the animals in the park.
Maybe they get to eat a marmalade sandwich at home instead – as a tribute to the woman who was queen for so many years and loved by so many, around the world.