Queue of 20,000 people at Queen Elizabeth’s coffin. Salvation Army vans offer hot drinks and buns

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Approximately 20,000 people waited in a line of at least one kilometer to see the Queen’s coffin in Edinburgh, the BBC reports. The queue stretches along the lanes of the town’s meadows, south of St Giles’ Cathedral, where the Queen’s coffin lies. The mourners began to enter the cathedral on Monday, at 5:30 p.m.

The Salvation Army vans offer hot drinks and buns for the cold night ahead, and there are toilets and water stations along the queue.

People in line spoke about the importance of living this historic moment and paying tribute to the queen.

Those who have already been able to see the coffin have told BBC Scotland of their “exciting” experience in the cathedral.

Gillian and Michael Hainsworth, from Garforth, Yorkshire, waited seven hours before entering the cathedral. “It was so emotional,” Gillian said. “It’s hard to explain. It hits you all at once.” “You’re only a few feet away from the coffin,” Michael added. “You can linger there for a while and say a prayer.”

Rodney Matthews, a retired Baptist minister and member of Old Saint Paul’s, a Scottish Episcopal church in the heart of Edinburgh, said the moment was “very emotional”.

“There’s a moment where you can stand there and look at everything, the dignity of the whole place. It was very well done, very well organized, once you get through security and you get that sense of space.”

Matthews received an MBE for his work on a millennium project about pilgrims crossing Scotland. “The Queen was very kind when I met her and I wanted to acknowledge her in the same way,” he added.