Jersey woman queues nine hours to honour 'selfless' monarch

Thousands of people have queued to see Her Majesty lying-in-state at Westminster Hall

A Jersey woman was pleased to have paid her respects to the Queen after queuing in London for more than nine hours.

Huge queues have formed along the banks of the River Thames of people waiting to pay their respects to Her Majesty.

Clare-Louise Whiley said the selfless monarch would be "sorely missed".

She said it had been "very much a British queuing experience", where everyone was "very jolly", introducing themselves and chatting to each other.

Ms Whiley had been celebrating her birthday before she began queuing at 18:00 BST on Wednesday and viewed the Queen's coffin at about 02:55 BST on Thursday.

Clare Whiley started queuing at 18:00 BST on Wednesday

"I was due to go to an event in London, which was cancelled, following Her Majesty's passing and I thought I'd still like to be in London anyway," she said.

Of queuing Ms Whiley said: "There was opportunities for people to have times to dash off to the retail outlets to get something to eat or drink and bring it back to the queue.

"People perhaps nipped off to the bathroom and came back and everyone was very kind and saving people's spaces."

The Grenadier Guards were seen practicing for the funeral in the night

• Queen's lying-in-state: The symbolism and ceremony explained

• What to know before you join the queue

• The dazzling crown resting on top of the Queen's coffin

At the South Bank side of Lambeth Bridge she was issued a wristband, which was checked regularly to make sure no one was jumping the queue "particularly the point before we entered Victoria Tower gardens".

Whilst waiting, the queue came to a standstill as rehearsals for the funeral were carried out.

"The security staff came out and were very apologetic, but the military personnel who were dealing with the movements of the coffin on the gun carriage were having their practice and they'd closed off the hall so we had to wait outside and at that point actually some people did leave the queue," she said.

Clare Whiley described the atmosphere inside Westminster Hall as "bright and overwhelmingly colourful"

Ms Whiley said Westminster Hall was "very bright and overwhelmingly colourful".

She said: "We walked down the steps, the ushers were there, it was almost like a private viewing because we were the first people allowed back into the hall again."

Ms Whiley said when she arrived at the Queen's coffin, a multitude of thoughts passed through her mind.

She said: "My precise thoughts going through my head when I had a moment to look at her coffin and her crown was, I actually said it in my head. I just said, 'thank you Your Majesty'.

"What an amazing woman to do what she did for her entire life, completely selfless service to the country and to help people, the Commonwealth... what an example she set absolutely amazing."

Ms Whiley said Her Majesty would be "sorely missed".

She said: "I don't think she will ever be replaced with how well she did her duties and gave herself so selflessly to England and the Commonwealth and the world."

The Queen's lying-in-state will continue 24 hours a day until 06:30 BST on Monday 19 September, before her state funeral.

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