Many of those gathering at Buckingham Palace were in London for business or other reasons before deciding to visit to pay their respects to the Queen.
Rosemary Lawson, from north London, had an appointment in the capital on Tuesday afternoon but felt the compelled to walk to the palace and wait to see the Queen’s coffin.
“There has been an incredible atmosphere,” she says. “Observing the floral tributes has been wonderful.”
Recalling the late monarch as a “lovely Queen”, Lawson says her closest brush with royalty came at a garden party some 20 years ago when she briefly met Sophie, the Countess of Wessex.
“Now I’m here, I’ll stay to see her,” she adds of the Queen’s cortege. “It is historic.”
As the rain beat down heavily, the crowds lined up outside Buckingham Palace in anticipation of Queen Elizabeth’s final homecoming.
Just before 6pm, King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, arrived at the palace. A ripple of applause broke through the crowds, some cheered, as their car entered the palace gates. Moments after the King arrived, the Royal Standard was raised above the palace, signifying the arrival of the monarch.
As crowds huddle under umbrellas, and police guard the barricades, they wait for the Queen’s coffin to arrive – the mood is sombre.
