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Queen Elizabeth's funeral: For one day, the nation stood still


It was a day when people stood still - on the streets and in their homes - to witness Queen Elizabeth II's final journey.

Royals and world leaders were inside Westminster Abbey. But outside there were many more, ordinary mourners lining the streets of central London. And further beyond - in living rooms and parks, in pubs, cinemas and town squares - the British public marked the first state funeral for nearly six decades in millions of individual ways.


In Doncaster, Alistair Mitchell brought afternoon tea and sandwiches for his mother, who had not been able to make the journey to London. At the Curzon cinema in Sheffield, there were no pre-show trailers, or the sound of rustling popcorn - just an audience dressed mostly in black as they watched the ceremony. Blackpool's illuminations were switched off.


At 06:32 BST, the final mourner filed past the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall as her four-and-a-half-day lying-in-state drew to a close. The Queue had come to end. But overnight, Monday's crowd was already gathering. At Horse Guards Parade, it was 10-people deep before 08:30. By 09:10, viewing areas for the procession route were full.


At The Mall, the Rowlassons - Kyre, 23, his mum Beveley, 41, and granddad Fred, 72 - had secured a front-row spot, after setting off from Birmingham the previous day. All three had spent the night on the ground in their sleeping bags. Had they slept? "Not a wink," says Kyre.

And then, at 10:44, the Queen's coffin began its short journey to Westminster Abbey.


As she went to switch on her television, Liz Perry, 59, was struck by the silence outside her living room, in Derby. It was, Liz thought, as if a blanket had been draped over the entire street - clearly, all her neighbours were tuning in too.

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