'Queen Elizabeth Day': Iain Duncan Smith leads calls for annual bank holiday amid popular petition

Her Majesty sadly passed away on September 8, at the age of 96, at Balmoral Castle.

Thousands of mourners are waiting in a queue to see the Queen lying-in-state, on the last day the visitors can see the coffin.

A campaign is underway to enshrine the late monarch’s memory in the national calendar.

Calls are also going to be made in parliament this week for a statue to be erected on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, from politicians across the political divide.

Ex Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith is leading the movement, and he told the Daily Express it was a ‘brilliant idea’.

He said: ‘We would want all the countries of the United Kingdom to celebrate on the same day.

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‘I would hope it would be a joyful celebration, as she would want it, of all the things she represented in her life – her love of her country, her ability to bring people together, her decency, her kindness and her sense of fun. All of these things could be commemorated on one day of the year’

Nearly 140,000 people have signed the change.org petition.

King Charles III declared a bank holiday so people across the UK can mourn the loss of Her Majesty and pay their respects.

The funeral service will start at 11am tomorrow – being livestreamed on The News website for free.

Her lying-in-state at Westminster Hall ends at 6.30am tomorrow.