David Beckham, Sharon Osbourne and “Good Morning Britain” anchor Susanna Reid are among the hundreds of thousands of mourners who have spent hours queuing for a chance to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II
The former footballer said every time the national anthem had been played at England matches was special.
“Every time that we stood there when we wore those Three Lion shirts and I had my armband and we sang God Save Our Queen, that was something that meant so much to us,” he told ITV.
Beckham was among scores of sports stars from across Britain and the world who paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth after death aged 96 last week.
At Westminster Abbey on Monday morning, the queen will be honoured with Britain’s first state funeral in nearly six decades, with more than 2,000 guests expected.
Osbourne was spotted in the queue on Wednesday evening by ITV News. “I love the Queen and I came over for this because I’m a royalist and I love the royal family,” she told the interviewer.
Reid, who used to co-host “GMB” with Piers Morgan before he stormed out of the job over comments regarding the Queen’s granddaughter-in-law, Meghan Markle, said on Thursday she had spent just over seven hours waiting in line with her mother and a friend. On Twitter she advised others who were planning to brave the queue to “wear the comfiest shoes you own” and “don’t carry too much in a bag.” Responding to someone who asked whether her mother had the chance to sit down while the queue inched forward, Reid replied: “A number of times on the public benches along the route. It is a challenge standing for that long.”
David Beckham, Sharon Osbourne and “Good Morning Britain” anchor Susanna Reid are among the hundreds of thousands of mourners who have spent hours queuing for a chance to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II while she lies in state ahead of her funeral on Sept. 19.
Beckham told Sky News — who caught up with him while he was still waiting in line — that he had joined the queue at 2 a.m. on Friday morning. “Well, we all want to celebrate our Queen, Her Majesty,” he told the camera crew as the line inched forward. Later that day, at around 3 p.m., the BBC’s livestream of the lying in state showed Beckham, dressed in a black suit and tie, finally entering Westminster Hall. As the soccer star approached the Queen’s coffin, which is sat on a catafalque draped in the Royal Standard flag and the Imperial State Crown, he stopped and bent his head, pausing for a moment before following the others mourners out.
