The breadth of the Queen’s global influence is evident among the thousands of mourners queuing by the River Thames to see her lie in state this week.
Those queuing to pay their respects came from all parts of the globe but, incredibly, each shared their own personal connections with the Queen, including countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Canada and New Zealand .
The queue has now reached Southwark Park, with people facing a 14-hour wait before entering Westminster Hall. But many have traveled much further than the line’s 4.9 miles to pay their respects.
Among them is Anne Muirhead, 70, who traveled from Canada, where she said the Queen’s death had had a huge impact. While Canada is an independent country, it is part of the Commonwealth.
“She was also the Queen of Canada,” Ms. Muirhead said. “She had been to us 22 times and she came twice to my town – Prince George in British Columbia.”
Ms. Muirhead remembers well when, 25 years ago, the Queen opened the University of Northern BC and impressively walked down a grand set of stairs without ever looking at her feet while wearing a lemon yellow dress.
“Some people [in Canada] they think we should no longer have a monarchy, but they liked him as a person. She had been many times,” she said.
Some traveling to the UK from around the world are still traveling by plane, train and road hoping to get a place in the queue before it closes as the period of national mourning continues.
Francis Tipene, from Auckland, New Zealand, decided to come with his wife Kaiora after hearing the news of the Queen’s death.
Mr. Tipene, who spoke to of before embarking on the 28-hour journey to London, he said he was coming to soak up the atmosphere and pay his respects in his own way.
“First of all, I love the lady, she’s a great leader, so I just wanted to witness this moment in history,” he said.
Mr Tipene, 38, who is a funeral director and New Zealand reality TV star keyboard, said he wanted to do the honors in his own way. He would get in line if the wait wasn’t too long, he said.
If he couldn’t make it in time – queuing has already stopped on Friday as Southwark Park reached capacity – he intended to soak up the atmosphere in London and visit royal monuments, talking to other mourners about their response to her death.
Tipene, who is Maori, said the monarchy and colonialism had a complicated legacy in some respects, but that he respected the Queen as a person.
“She was very committed to traditions and rituals and did not deviate much from royal protocol. And I compare it to my culture with our Maori protocols on the marae (meeting house) and in life, and I loved that she never moved from where she was,” he said. “She was steadfast and stuck to it. true to those values and that’s something we can learn from.”
Annette Bangura, 55, joined the queue wearing a bright silver medal in her black suit, in memory of her father.
He was John Amadu-Bangura, who served as Chief of Defense Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Sierra Leone between 1968 and 1970, and was previously ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Amadu-Bangura played a role in the country’s post-colonial environment, forming the Revolutionary Anti-Corruption Movement, and in 1968 he led the Sergeant’s Coup d’état in an attempt to restore democracy to the African nation, successfully restoring civilian rule in Sierra Leone. , where the British monarch remains head of state.
In the Queen’s Birthday Honors in 1969, Amadu-Bangura was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was later executed for his actions during the coup.
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Ms Bangura said she wanted to wear a medal owned by her father as she approached the Queen’s coffin because her father had once met the Queen and she often looked at a photograph of the two of them.
“I feel like I have a piece of him with me today,” Ms Bangura said. She wanted to pay her respects to the queen, who she felt had a unique presence.
“I think she was a wonderful head of state, she reigned supreme and was so dignified and professional,” she said.
Zobida Gadsdon, 68, lives in Reading and is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, where the monarch is also head of state.
She recalled the Queen and Princess Margaret visiting her hometown in Tobago in the 50s and 60s and lining up to be greeted as children.
“Since I have loved the queen, she has a good heart,” she said. “My mother is saying please go and give the queen some flowers!
“She loves the queen, she always calls the queen ‘queenie.’
