Queue for queen’s coffin ‘paused’ as wait hits 14 hours

A surging tide of people — ranging from London retirees to former England soccer captain David Beckham — have lined up to file past Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as it lies in state at Parliament, so many that authorities on Friday had to call a temporary halt to more people joining the miles-long queue.

A live tracker of the queue to get into historic Westminster Hall said it was “at capacity” and entry was being “paused” for six hours as waiting times reached 14 hours and the line stretched 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Parliament to Southwark Park in south London and then around the park. There was even an informal queue of people waiting to join the official one.

King Charles III and his siblings will be standing vigil around the flag-draped coffin on Friday evening.

Beckham was spotted in the line of mourners near Britain’s Houses of Parliament at lunchtime Friday. He’s believed to have joined the queue at 2 a.m. and to have lined up for more than 10 hours with thousands of others.

Wearing a white shirt and black tie, he bowed briefly to the coffin before moving out of Westminster Hall.

He told British broadcaster ITV, “we can all see, with the love that has been shown, how special she is and how special she was and the legacy that she leaves behind.”