Joe Biden lands in UK ahead of Queen’s funeral
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive at London Stansted Airport. Photo: Susan Walsh/AP
US President Joe Biden arrived in the UK on Monday ahead of the Queen’s funeral.
He landed at Stansted Airport with his wife Jill, after leaving Maryland in the northeastern United States on Sunday. World leaders from around the world will arrive in London in the next 24 hours to attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is among those already in the UK capital, meeting King Charles on Sunday.
Biden will meet with Liz Truss on Wednesday in New York. Earlier plans for a discussion in London on Sunday have been cancelled.
Updated at 10.27pm BST
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A member of the public wearing a union jack dress queues inside Westminster Hall on Saturday. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
As queuewatch continues, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has said in its latest bulletin that the estimated wait for people queuing to see the Queen lie in state is 17 hours, an increase of four hours in its last update a couple of hours ago.
The snake tail still starts in Southwark Park, about five miles from Westminster Hall.
Temperatures are expected to drop Saturday night, and people are advised to keep warm.
Updated at 10.29pm BST
Joe Biden lands in UK ahead of Queen’s funeral
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive at London Stansted Airport. Photo: Susan Walsh/AP
US President Joe Biden arrived in the UK on Monday ahead of the Queen’s funeral.
He landed at Stansted Airport with his wife Jill, after leaving Maryland in the northeastern United States on Sunday. World leaders from around the world will arrive in London in the next 24 hours to attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is among those already in the UK capital, meeting King Charles on Sunday.
Biden will meet with Liz Truss on Wednesday in New York. Earlier plans for a discussion in London on Sunday have been cancelled.
Updated at 10.27pm BST
Miranda Bryant
The Guardian’s Miranda Bryant has looked at the long queues of people who have come up to five miles south of London to see the Queen lie in state.
After queuing for hours to see the Queen lying in state – and with hours more to go – supporters gave the new King Charles and the Prince of Wales an upbeat welcome during their surprise visit in the queue that he has had in a few days. become a London landmark.
With William telling a boy ‘you’re more than half’ and his father telling a woman ‘I hope you’re not too frozen’, the royals greeted each other with cheers and raised their mobile phones as they greeted those waiting in Lambeth with smiles and handshakes. .
The phenomenon of “the queue”, as it has come to be known, has attracted fascination, confusion and admiration in Britain and around the world.
Who would be willing to wait outside for up to 24 hours, braving the elements along the Thames, for a few seconds next to the Queen’s coffin, and why?
Read more:
Updated at 10.26pm BST
Details are being released of where public screens will be erected in parks and venues across the UK for people to watch the Queen’s funeral on Monday.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has said it will be shown in a number of locations, from Hyde Park in London to Coleraine Town Hall in Northern Ireland.
Around 125 cinemas across the UK will screen the event, along with churches and pubs.
Sky News, ITV and the BBC will broadcast the event for those watching at home.
Two thousand people will attend in person at Westminster Abbey when the event starts at 11am. The Queen’s coffin will be moved from the Palace of Westminster 15 minutes earlier, and there will be a two-minute national silence at 11.55am.
A public procession will begin at 12.15pm as the Queen’s coffin makes the 1.5-mile journey from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch, near the corner of Hyde Park.
It will then be taken by hearse to Windsor in Berkshire.
According to PA Media, locations where public screenings will be held include:
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Hyde Park, London.
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Cathedral Square, Sheffield.
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Centenary Square, Birmingham.
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Bitts Park, Cumbria.
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Holyrood Park, Edinburgh.
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Coleraine City Council, Northern Ireland.
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Bedford Corn Exchange, Bedfordshire.
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Bradford Cathedral, Yorkshire.
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University Square, Coventry.
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Northernhay Gardens, Exeter.
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Sandy Park Conference Centre, Exeter.
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Exeter City Football Club, Exeter.
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Millennium Square, Leeds.
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Manchester Cathedral.
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Old Eldon Square, Newcastle.
The Queen’s grandchildren hold a silent vigil around the coffin: video
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed the condolence book at Lancaster House and tweeted:
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II served throughout her life and bore the weight of her duties with impeccable grace. Sophie and I are in London for Her Majesty’s funeral, and today we marked the solemn occasion by signing the book of condolence. (Photo: David Parry/PA Wire) pic.twitter.com/bossnrf2VJ
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 17, 2022
After meeting King Charles III at London’s Metropolitan Police Service’s special operations room to discuss the police operation for the Queen’s state funeral on Monday, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, said: “It was a privilege to introduce His Majesty King Charles to some of the teams working hard behind the scenes to deliver this monumental police operation, which will culminate in the largest deployment of officers in the Met’s history for a pre-planned event on Monday.
“It gave the officers and staff a real boost.”
Updated at 20.38 BST
The government tracker says the current waiting time in the queue is 13.5 hours and people in the line are in Southwark Park.
It adds “if the park reaches capacity, queuing will stop” and it’s expected to be a cold night tonight.
Updated at 21.04 BST
This Morning presenters ‘didn’t jump the queue’ say show
ITV’s This Morning has said its presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby did not “jump the queue” because the Queen was in state and were there to cover the event as media.
The couple have come under fire from some on social media after appearing inside Westminster Hall without queuing.
A statement shared on a story on the show’s Instagram account read: “Hi everyone, we’d like to clear something up. We asked Phillip and Holly to be part of a film for this Tuesday’s show.
“They didn’t skip the line, they didn’t have VIP access or walk past the Queen lying in state, but they were there professionally as part of the world media to report on the event.”
This morning’s announcement. Photo: This morning
Updated at 8.24pm BST
Vanessa Thorpe
The Observer’s Vanessa Thorpe has taken a look at the Observer’s coverage of previous state and ceremonial funerals, the new themes emerging and those that repeat themselves.
Muffled drums, the catafalque, plumed helmets and a new familiarity with the earl marshal; these are the characteristics shared by the great state funerals of the last century and a quarter of British history. But past press coverage of “national mourning,” as the Observer referred to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, reveals another common factor.
A state funeral, a rare event, must be told to every generation. Its pomp and arcane lore are always mysterious. So the news reads like a gloomy catechism; a list of conventions designed to give identity to a nation.
In 1910, on the death of Victoria’s son Edward VII, a writer in the Observer made this point when he praised Westminster Hall and Saint George’s Chapel at Windsor by quoting the Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle, who, he thought, ” never spoke a truer word.” that “every nation’s Bible is its own history” and in these two buildings … are two of the most glorious pages of that Bible, not printed on perishable paper, but carved in noble stone.”
Monday’s funeral will trace a pattern set at the end of Victoria’s reign. Elizabeth II, like her ancestors, will go to Windsor Chapel described on her grandfather’s death in 1936 by our special correspondent as “that perfect specimen of Perpendicular architecture”.
Updated at 7.45pm BST
PA Media has been speaking to people queuing to see the Queen lie in state.
According to the government, people could have to wait up to 13 hours before entering Westminster Hall.
Sarah Silas, 60, joined the queue to see the Queen’s coffin at around 6pm on Saturday, just over 36 hours before the period of lying in state ended.
He traveled from Walsall, in the West Midlands, to show his appreciation for “what Her Majesty and the Royal Family did” for the country of Zimbabwe, where he was born.
Asked how she felt about waiting overnight to attend the lie-in-state, she said, “I’m glad I at least have a chance to say goodbye because of the job they did.”
Speaking about the new King Charles, he said: “He actually came and gave the president, Canaan Banana, the constitution of Zimbabwe. So he gave us Zimbabwe.
“We are very grateful for him and we are very happy that he is now the King.”
Leo Jones, 42, traveled from Menorca to see the Queen lying in state.
He said: “Her Majesty has given her whole life to the UK and what is she waiting for one day?
“I just think the connection that the UK has with the royal family, that turns it on as well.
“I think it’s quite patriotic to see thousands of people coming together for this truly historic event in UK history.”
Updated at 7.42pm BST
Lifted spirits queue as King Charles and Prince William greet mourners: videoQueen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren (left-right) Zara…