The hall will be open round-the-clock until Monday morning, when Elizabeth's funeral will be held in nearby Westminster Abbey.
The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II on its purple-draped platform — a catafalque — is the fixed point at the center of the vast medieval hall, the oldest part of Britain's Houses of Parliament. Around it, people flow in two lines in a silent river of humanity.
It was a chance for ordinary Britons — plus a sprinkling of dignitaries and tourists — to pay last respects to the country's longest-reigning monarch,The mourners moved at a steady walk, down steps under the great stained-glass window at one end of the hall, then past the flag-draped coffin that's capped with the diamond-studded Imperial State Crown and a wreath of flowers.
From outside came the muffled chatter of everyday life, the occasional siren from the busy streets. Under the soaring hammerbeam roof inside, there was only the muffled sound of shoes on a carpet newly laid over the flagstone floor.“The overwhelming atmosphere was very somber but beautiful as well," said Roma Quinn from Kent in southern England. “Her crown was glistening. And it was just really lovely and very respectful.
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