Is There Anything More British Than ‘the Queue’?
While it fits with a national stereotype, the orderly 30-hour, 5-mile-long queue for the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II is about more than just lining up.
In the queue.
Photographer: ODD ANDERSEN/AFPIn his essay on the English people, George Orwell remarked that any foreign observer would be struck by their orderly behavior and in particular “the willingness to form queues.” It’s one of those British stereotypes that’s come to mind in recent days, as the mother of all queues lengthens and snakes along the south bank of the Thames river.
As many as 750,000 people were expected to travel to London ahead of the state funeral for the late Queen Elizabeth II on Monday. Queues began forming days earlier on the opposite side of the Thames from the historic Westminster Hall, where her coffin lies elevated on a catafalque. By Thursday late afternoon, the line was nearly 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) long.