Mile-long queue to mourn Queen Mum

The queue of mourners stretched more than a mile across the River Thames

LONDON, England -- Thousands of people have formed a mile-long queue to pay their respects to the Queen Mother, who is lying in state until her funeral on Tuesday.

The 11th century Westminster Hall, where the coffin was taken on Friday in a procession full of pomp and pageantry through central London, reopened at 8 a.m. on Saturday after closing briefly.

Officials allowed public viewing throughout the night because of the surge of public interest. The Queen Mother, who died in her sleep last Saturday aged 101, was Britain's most popular royal and regarded as the nation's grandmother.

First in the queue on Saturday was Liz Fisher, a nanny, from west London. She said: "I came here to pay my respects yesterday but the queue was too long. I knew that if I came back today I would be able to get in, living so close."

Asked why she felt the need to come to Westminster, she added: "My father got the MBE from her (the Queen Mother) at Buckingham Palace. I like the Royal Family and she was a grand old lady."

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On Friday an estimated quarter of a million people lined the half-mile route from St. James's Palace to Westminster Hall to witness the funeral procession.

On top of the Queen Mother's coffin, among the white flowers and crown, lay a simple note from her daughter that read: "In loving memory, Lilibet" -- the Royal Family's pet name for Queen Elizabeth II.

The crowds -- sometimes 20 people deep -- watched as Princes Charles, William, Harry and Philip accompanied the gun carriage carrying the coffin.

The procession, which started at 11.30 a.m. (1030 GMT) on Friday, was punctuated each minute by a salvo from a 28-gun royal salute.

Just after noon the coffin arrived at Westminster Hall for a service attended by the queen and senior politicians, including UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Flanked by 1,600 troops, the procession was Britain's biggest ceremonial spectacle since wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill was laid to rest in 1965 and the Queen Mother's husband King George VI passed away in 1952.

The Queen Mother's coffin was draped in her personal standard and topped by her platinum diamond-encrusted crown, created for her on the occasion of her husband's 1937 coronation.

The Royal Family walked immediately behind the coffin, followed by members of the Queen Mother's personal staff.

In a break with royal tradition, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, joined the procession of 14 senior royals, a ceremony usually reserved for males.

The procession began at the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace, just yards from the Queen Mother's residence at Clarence House.

On almost every step of the procession there was something to evoke a memory of the life of the Queen Mother. Especially poignant was the moment her coffin passed by a statue of George VI, who also laid in state in Westminster Hall. The statue looks down on The Mall from a set of steps leading to Carlton Gardens.