Accessible queue to see Queen’s coffin closes as main queue wait drops to 22 hours
There are problems for people who want to join the accessible queue, which was created for people who have health problems that make them need help to attend lying in state.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) has said it is at capacity today and no wristbands are being handed out at the moment. He has warned against people trying to join this line to see the Queen’s coffin until it reopens.
Meanwhile, for people in the main queue still lining up at Southwark Park five miles from Westminster Hall, there is good news as the waiting time has been revised downwards to just 22 hours. Queue tracking can be viewed online here.
The accessible queue is at capacity for today and entry for wristband allocation is currently paused
Those with wristbands and entry times will still be able to view the Lying-in-State
Please do not attempt to join until it resumes
Check back for more updates pic.twitter.com/rrpqTlvwyu
— Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (@DCMS) September 16, 2022
Updated at 7.19pm BST
Key events
Show only key events
Please enable JavaScript to use this feature
We’re just waiting for King Charles and his siblings to start the vigil over the Queen’s coffin at Westminster Hall, which will start shortly
He, together with Prince Andrew, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, will stand guard at the catafalque from 7.30pm for 15 minutes.
The guard has just changed around the coffin, which suggests that the Royals are not far behind.
He will repeat a ceremony they held on Monday, where they watched as his coffin lay in rest at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Prince and Princess of Wales watch New Zealand troops perform haka – video
Accessible queue to see Queen’s coffin closes as main queue wait drops to 22 hours
There are problems for people who want to join the accessible queue, which was created for people who have health problems that make them need help to attend lying in state.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) has said it is at capacity today and no wristbands are being handed out at the moment. He has warned against people trying to join this line to see the Queen’s coffin until it reopens.
Meanwhile, for people in the main queue still lining up at Southwark Park five miles from Westminster Hall, there is good news as the waiting time has been revised downwards to just 22 hours. Queue tracking can be viewed online here.
The accessible queue is at capacity for today and entry for wristband allocation is currently paused
Those with wristbands and entry times will still be able to view the Lying-in-State
Please do not attempt to join until it resumes
Check back for more updates pic.twitter.com/rrpqTlvwyu
— Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (@DCMS) September 16, 2022
Updated at 7.19pm BST
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has spoken to ITV after arriving in the UK for the Queen’s funeral. He has already been seen paying his respects at the Queen’s coffin during the lie in state on Friday.
Ardern said she felt privileged to have the Queen to look up to as a female leader.
He added: “In the case of New Zealand with not one but two female prime ministers who have preceded me, I have said before that there was nothing to suggest that I could not be a woman in leadership because I was a woman. .
“I put it down collectively to the fact that with all these role models around me, some more distant than others, but role models nonetheless.”
Updated at 18.59 BST
King Charles is “worried” about how people will cope in what will be a “difficult winter”, according to Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford.
Drakeford met Charles at the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff Bay on Friday lunchtime, after a session where he offered his condolences to the new monarch and MPs led by Charles (see 1.09pm) .
The Prime Minister told Talk TV: “The King has always had a very direct interest in the things that are happening in contemporary Wales, the future of our agriculture, the impact of climate change. He mentioned the impact of the cost of living crisis and how it will affect people here in Wales.”
He added: “He [Charles] he is worried about how people will handle what will be a difficult winter.
“He was interested in talking to me about some of the projects he’s heard about, or getting involved in dealing with, say, food waste, making sure we don’t waste a precious resource when some people might be left know without
“Interested, as always, in renewable energy generation here in Wales, and how it could play a bigger role in future energy security.”
Updated at 18.58 BST
Details continue to emerge about some of the people who will be among the 2,000 guests attending the Queen’s funeral on Monday.
Seven Victoria Cross and 10 George Cross medals will be in service, including soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as former police officers. The group represents the Commonwealth, with one from New Zealand and four from Australia.
The group includes George Cross holder Jim Beaton, who was Princess Anne’s personal police officer in 1974 when she was ambushed by a gunman who tried to kidnap her. Beaton protected the royal princess from the gunman and was injured in the process.
Willie Apiata and Johnson Beharry are two of the assistants who received the Victoria Cross for their service in Afghanistan and Iraq respectively.
Alongside the ex-servicemen will be the founder of an LGBTQ+ choir network, Hsien Chew, who was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors in June.
Chew created the Proud Voices network which brings together choirs from the UK and Ireland, and was honored for voluntary and charitable services to the LGBTQ+ community.
“Obviously it’s an incredible privilege and I’m really flattered to be a part of it and to be able to experience what is a really unique period in history,” he said.
Updated at 18.47 BST
Prince William has said the Queen will “look down” on his funeral during a visit to an army barracks in Surrey on Friday, where he and the Princess of Wales met Commonwealth troops.
William and Catherine spoke to military personnel from Australia, Canada and New Zealand, who have been rehearsing this week for a procession at the Queen’s funeral on Monday.
The prince, speaking to troops in Australia, was heard saying the difference between June’s celebrations and funeral preparations showed “the ups and downs of everything”, according to PA Media. He was heard talking to New Zealand Defense Force troops about how the Queen would oversee Monday’s proceedings.
Greg Gifford, 31, told the PA news agency: “One of the key things I took away from what he said was how the Queen will definitely look down on the whole funeral service.
“He said he would be interested in the detail of the soldiers, how the drill is done, the accuracy, our dress, things like that.”
Meanwhile, Catherine, who was speaking to Canadian military personnel, said: “Based on this [the jubilee] this in a few months is very strange.”
Updated at 18.52 BST
King Charles says he has a “duty to protect the diversity” of Britain
King Charles has said he has a “personal duty to protect the diversity of our country”, at a meeting with 30 religious leaders at Buckingham Palace.
He said that as a sovereign he believes his task must include “protecting the space of faith itself” and the valued differences that people live by.
According to PA Media, the monarch said: “I have always thought of Britain as a ‘community of communities’.
“This has led me to understand that the sovereign has an additional duty: less formally recognized but no less diligent.
“It is the duty to protect the diversity of our country, including by protecting the space for faith itself and its practice across the religions, cultures, traditions and beliefs to which our hearts and minds are directed as individuals “.
Updated at 18.48 BST
The Prince and Princess of Wales talking to members of the Canadian military. Commonwealth troops have been deployed to the UK to take part in the Queen’s funeral. Photograph: Jonathan Buckmaster/Daily Express/PA The Princess of Wales speaking to members of the Canadian military. Picture: Jonathan Buckmaster/Daily Express/PAPrince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, viewing tributes outside Windsor Castle on Friday. Picture: James Manning/PASophie, Countess of Wessex, meeting the public and receiving flowers outside Windsor Castle. Photo: James Manning/PA
Updated at 18.50 BST
King Charles will lead the brothers in the vigil over the Queen’s coffin
King Charles and his siblings will watch over the Queen’s coffin at Westminster Hall tonight.
At 7.30pm on Friday, the King, along with Prince Andrew, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, will stand guard at the four corners of the catafalque for 15 minutes.
All will be in military uniform, including Prince Andrew, who, as a non-working royal, has been granted permission to wear uniform. The king’s son, Prince Harry, will be able to do the same on Saturday when the grandchildren perform the same ceremony.
It is a repeat of the same vigil they held on Monday at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
King Charles III, center, and other members of the royal family hold a vigil at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh on Monday. Photograph: Jane Barlow/AP
The king was in Wales for part of Friday but has since returned to Buckingham Palace, where he was due to meet with religious leaders ahead of the vigil.
Updated at 17.37 BST