The final public mourners have filed past the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Hall. 

Officials estimate that some 400,000 people came to pay their respects to the longest reigning Queen in British history as she lay in state. 

‘The Queue’ as it came to be known, began at Southwark Park and snaked across London to the Palace of Westminster with waiting times of up to 24 hours for some mourners. 

The final people allowed into 'The Queue' by officials were Christine and Sarah Rogers from Suffolk. 

"It means a lot to come and pay our respects, because she's been a constant in my life. To just go there and say thank you… it means a lot," Ms Rogers told the BBC. 

"We'll never see this again," Rosamund from the Isle of Wight told Newstalk. 

"Right now we're all a bit shaken, we have to come together and celebrate what there was and draw a line in it and I think we needed a week of mourning because it's been a shock for us all."

Funeral service

At 10.44 the coffin will be taken from Westminster Hall to the nearby Westminster Abbey by gun carriage. 

The service will start at 11.00am and Ireland will be represented by President Higgins and Taoiseach Micheál Martin. It will be broadcast live on RTÉ - something that former Lord Mayor of Dublin Nial Ring said was "really over the top" and "perpetuating this national inferiority complex that we have". 

Afterwards the coffin will be taken to Windsor Castle for a private family interment at St George’s Chapel.

Main image: Arrival of the Coffin of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday 14 September 2022. Credit: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy Live News Credit: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy Live News