What is it like to wait 30 hours to see the Queen's coffin?
By the time the rain - which had fallen as drizzle on Tuesday afternoon - grew stronger and became a deluge, there were about 50 of us in the queue.
"I saw these ladies completely unprepared so I decided to bring five chairs from my flat so they could sit down," he said. "Then I realised they would be soaked all night, so I brought bags and blankets." "When Princess Diana died [in 1997], my son and I queued up at Kensington Palace to sign the book of condolences. Then when the Queen Mother died [in 2002], I lined up on my own. I'm a royalist at heart."When I woke up two hours later, Michael and his daughter Mandy were still smiling, despite not getting any sleep.
"I'm so excited, even though I'm lacking sleep," she said. "It's a beautiful experience. This is the highlight of my 36 years in England." Although the rain had long since passed, and the sun was now shining, a sombre atmosphere quickly set in as we snaked past Victoria Tower. Gone were the jokes and the camaraderie of our night under umbrellas.
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