Queen's Queue
21 images Created 17 Sep 2022
There had been rumours throughout the day but when it was actually announced at 6.30pm on the 8th September, that Britain's longest-serving monarch of 75 years, Queen Elizabeth II, had quietly passed away at her Scottish castle, Balmoral, there was disbelief around the country.
The Union Jack fluttering on an early autumn breeze was immediately lowered to half-mast and Operation 'London Bridge (is down)', the multi-authority code phrase for the Queen's demise, swung into action. This nine-day consitutional metamorphosis from Queen Elizabeth to King Charles would affect every strand of public and governmental life culminating with a state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday, 19th.
As with the late-queen's own mother who died in 2002, there would a lying-in-state procession and thereafter, a public invitation to form an orderly queue to see for themselves, the royal coffin in Westminster Hall.
And so, the first monarchists wanting to be the first, camped out near Lambeth Bridge and behind them, over the following days, hundreds of thousands of their fellow-royalists shuffled along a five mile route from Southwark Park to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.
Along the way, I made it my purpose to photograph this astonishing historical phenomena. For 24-hrs a day and over four days, in the warmth of autumn sunshine alongside the Thames river and the chill of nights in foot tunnels and narrow medieval lanes, the people kept coming. Eight-hour waits became twelve hours or more.
As with Geoffrey Chaucer's classic 'Canterbury Tales', the 14th century Old English language stories of those making their pilgrimage to Canterbury Canterbury, the Southbank borough of Southwark again became the backdrop for these royal penitents. One woman interviewed on the BBC hinted that because the Queen had meant so much to her, she felt she needed to suffer. This began to make sense to me and I pursued them more. Ordinary Britons mixed with celebrities. Former England football captian, David Beckham even spent 11 hours in the queue, making his own journey 'in tribute to his grandad'.
By the time the pilgrims reached the vast hall that housed the dead queen, they were exhausted and, emerging into daylight again, dazed at what they'd just witnessed.
The national anthem's words have rapidly been swapped to 'God Save The King' but in the national conscience, life for millions in the United Kingdom will never be the same and yet, the future of King Charles's kingdom has never felt so fragile.
The Union Jack fluttering on an early autumn breeze was immediately lowered to half-mast and Operation 'London Bridge (is down)', the multi-authority code phrase for the Queen's demise, swung into action. This nine-day consitutional metamorphosis from Queen Elizabeth to King Charles would affect every strand of public and governmental life culminating with a state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday, 19th.
As with the late-queen's own mother who died in 2002, there would a lying-in-state procession and thereafter, a public invitation to form an orderly queue to see for themselves, the royal coffin in Westminster Hall.
And so, the first monarchists wanting to be the first, camped out near Lambeth Bridge and behind them, over the following days, hundreds of thousands of their fellow-royalists shuffled along a five mile route from Southwark Park to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.
Along the way, I made it my purpose to photograph this astonishing historical phenomena. For 24-hrs a day and over four days, in the warmth of autumn sunshine alongside the Thames river and the chill of nights in foot tunnels and narrow medieval lanes, the people kept coming. Eight-hour waits became twelve hours or more.
As with Geoffrey Chaucer's classic 'Canterbury Tales', the 14th century Old English language stories of those making their pilgrimage to Canterbury Canterbury, the Southbank borough of Southwark again became the backdrop for these royal penitents. One woman interviewed on the BBC hinted that because the Queen had meant so much to her, she felt she needed to suffer. This began to make sense to me and I pursued them more. Ordinary Britons mixed with celebrities. Former England football captian, David Beckham even spent 11 hours in the queue, making his own journey 'in tribute to his grandad'.
By the time the pilgrims reached the vast hall that housed the dead queen, they were exhausted and, emerging into daylight again, dazed at what they'd just witnessed.
The national anthem's words have rapidly been swapped to 'God Save The King' but in the national conscience, life for millions in the United Kingdom will never be the same and yet, the future of King Charles's kingdom has never felt so fragile.
