What’s The Queue? People are spending hours in miles-long line to see queen’s coffin

The death of Queen Elizabeth II led to outpourings of grief from all around the world – and a 4.9 mile-long line of people in London.

This is The Queue.

The Queue has its own live tracker, highly detailed guide, colored wristbands, onlookers and more. It has drawn admiration and fascination, but mostly it has drawn hundreds of thousands of people waiting their turn to pay respects to the queen at the lying-in-state, The Guardian reported.

The queen’s coffin, resting on a raised platform called a catafalque, is on display to the public at Westminster Hallfor five days, the U.K. government said. The lying-in-state began the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 14, and will continue 24 hours a day until 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 19.

The Queue began over 2 days before the doors opened, CNN reported. By the time the doors opened, some people had been waiting over 30 hours, BBC reported.

When full, The Queue is about 5 miles long, stretching through central London, a map from the U.K. government shows. Beginning at the Palace of Westminster, The Queue stretches across the Thames River, past the London Eye, and along the Embankment river walkway down to London Bridge and continues to Southwark Park, the route map shows.

Walking this route would normally take about two hours, according to Google Maps. But people aren’t walking. They are queuing.

To join The Queue, people must find the end of the line at that exact moment. The U.K.’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport launched a live tracker on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for updates on the length of The Queue and estimated wait time.

The Queue was 4.9 miles long with an 8.5-hour wait at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 15.

When people join The Queue, they are given a numbered and colored wristband, the U.K. government explained in its guidelines. Wristbands cannot be taken off or transferred to others. People cannot leave The Queue except to get food or take a brief bathroom break at a portable toilet along the route.

Chairs and tents are prohibited. People sit, stand, or lean as The Queue moves slowly but steadily through London, the government said.

Then people wait. Sometimes overnight, as photos from The Associated Press show.

“The Queue is a triumph of Britishness. It’s incredible,” one person wrote on Twitter. “It is art. It is poetry. It is the queue to end all queues.”

“There’s reports that people are arriving to just look at ‘The Queue,’” another person tweeted. “Not join it. Just look at it. If too many people do that, they’ll need to set up a queue to look at ‘The Queue’.”

After hours of waiting and miles of trudging along, people enter Westminster Hall to see the queen’s coffin. The lying-in-state is live-streamed by DW. People shuffle past, bowing or curtsying to the deceased monarch.

Mourners will spend only a few minutes in view of the coffin, The Guardian reported. Afterward, they will leave both Westminster Hall and The Queue.

The Queue goes way back – not just literally, but also historically. Mourners also queued up to pay their respects after the death of The Queen Mother in 2002, George VI in 1952, and George V in 1936, photos shared on Twitter by The I Paper show.

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