The lying in state of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth: Southsea couple tell of their London pilgrimage

The News’s head of print, Alan Cooper, from Southsea, tells what it was like to visit the lying in state of The Queen

The lying in state of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a moment in history that would never be repeated. So my wife Marion and I felt completely compelled to visit London to pay our last respects to our monarch.

The Queen has been a constant part of my life, just as she has been for tens of millions of us. Now she was gone. Long Live The King! We can all feel the white heat of history being forged before our very eyes.

During the Silver Jubilee in 1977 I was listening to Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols rather than going to street parties. By the Golden Jubilee I had a better idea of what the monarchy meant to Britain, and by the Diamond Jubilee I knew that the Queen was so intrinsic to Britain’s make-up that the alternatives were unthinkable. President Boris? No thanks.

So, at 11.30pm on Friday, having travelled to London after work, Marion and I joined the back of the queue in Southwark Park, Bermondsey amid a sea of humanity all there for the same reason. Some gruelling 13 hours later, I emerged from the Palace of Westminster after one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life.

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The hardships along the way vanished in an instant. Having zig-zagged around Southwark Park for nearly three hours we emerged to be issued with purple wristbands printed with LISQ and we knew we were on our way.

High points were seeing Tower Bridge sparkle at 3am. Low points were coming to a halt for long periods where you couldn’t even sit down. Somewhere around the Golden Hinde around 4am we were losing the will to live as the Thames chill seeped into our bones and we began to ache all over.

All forgotten now. We went to London and we visited the Queen. And we know we can never do that again.