In a nutshell: queue
(noun) the physical embodiment of Britain’s grief after the death of Queen Elizabeth II
Although the death of the elderly monarch was inevitable and the ceremony had been long planned, the public reaction still took the public by surprise. I was willing to wait.
At its peak, The Queue stretched for five miles through London, mostly along the River Thames, and took 24 hours from start to finish. Still, very few people attended, and no one I spoke to said they regretted participating.
The Queen’s death on September 8th came at a moment of public anxiety over energy prices. Such concerns have temporarily disappeared. Thousands of people have found a desire to be with their time.
Volunteers, many of them civil servants, lined up the lines. The atmosphere was friendly, but wristbands were issued to stop cue jumping, and celebrities like David Beckham attended. Queues sometimes reached capacity, leading to informal “queues to join the queue”.
The climax inside medieval Westminster Hall was a scene from another era. The mourners were divided into rows on either side of the coffin in half-light watched by royal guards known as the Beefeaters.
How many people lined up? The Ministry of Culture estimated 250,000. This would be less than her reported 306,000 who attended the reign of the Queen’s father, King George VI. It’s also less than her reported 320,000 in Winston Churchill’s lying state, but the accuracy of the historical estimate isn’t clear.The Queen’s reign was a record-breaker, but her procession wasn’t. maybe it wasn’t.
The Queue was a break from the rush, cynicism and individualism of modern society. if only she could see it.
https://www.ft.com/content/746adefd-affc-4b07-8b62-fb8c4c509ed5 In a nutshell: queue