Queen funeral – latest: Mourners face 10-mile queues as coffin to move to Westminster

Coldstream Guards are at Buckingham Palace in preparation for the procession taking the Queen’s coffin from there to Westminster Hall.

Large Union flags were positioned above the crowds, who are packed in behind temporary barriers.

Uniformed police officers stood in front of those who had lined up to catch a glimpse of the procession from the palace down The Mall to Westminster Hall.

Tens of thousands of people have lined the streets ahead of the coffin’s leaving Buckingham Palace around 2.15pm.

All ceremonial viewing areas for the procession of the Queen’s coffin from the palace to Westminster Hall are full, London’s City Hall said.

All ceremonial viewing areas for the Queen’s funeral procession from Buckingam Palace to Westminster Hall are full, officials have said.

Separately, no representatives from Syria, Venezuela or Afghanistan have been invited to the state funeral on Monday, a Whitehall source said.

North Korea and Nicaragua have been invited only at ambassadorial level, the source added.

John and Catherine Schulthess, who were standing waiting to see the royal procession on Whitehall, said they had come all the way from California to take part in the ceremonies to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s death, writes Saphora Smith.

“When we’d heard the Queen had passed … I was on to the airlines that afternoon to get tickets to London,” said Mrs Schulthess, 64, who is originally from Australia.

Mrs Schulthess said she had watched the Queen and Prince Philip come up the Brisbane River on the royal yacht Britannia in 1963 and had taught her husband, 80, to love the royal family.

The pair have since been in London for the diamond jubilee and the royal wedding of Prince William and Princess Catherine and didn’t want to miss this historic moment.

“She’s an extraordinary woman,” said Mrs Schulthess of Queen Elizabeth II. “Seventy years of reigning in the changing world we had to deal with in seven decades – rock solid, stable, selfless service – just an extraordinary woman.”

Mr Schulthess agreed, describing the late Queen as one of the most “dominating women” in history.

The pair, who said they had always planned to come to London when the Queen died, said they had the “utmost admiration” for the way the royal family had had to grieve in front of the world’s cameras.

“That is such a difficult thing to do,” said Mrs Schulthess.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have met people waiting to join the queue to view the Queen’s coffin.

The churchmen spoke to some of those who have camped out overnight, and will later walk along the bank of the Thames to Westminster Hall for the lying in state.

The Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said a prayer.

Visitors hoping to see the Queen’s coffin at Westminster Hall may face waits of up to 35 hours between 5pm today and Monday, the day of the funeral.

A 30-hour long shuffle through the streets of London isn’t practical or humane. It is hardly befitting the memory of her late majesty, writes Sean O’Grady.

Read Sean’s full piece here:

The Queen’s death marks the end of an era, the passage of time and ultimately underscores that no thing – and no person – lasts forever, writes Andrew Buncombe.

Read Andrew’s full piece here:

The queue to view the Queen’s lying-in-state will be temporarily closed to new entrants if it reaches 10 miles, it has been confirmed.

The route for members of the public waiting to pay their respects to Her Majesty during the four days her coffin will rest in Westminster Hall stretches 6.9 miles over the Thames and along the South Bank to Southwark Park.

Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports:

I am hopeful that your reign will bring about yet more understanding and tolerance, and that nations across the world will continue to put their faith in the monarch, writes Salma Shah

Read Salma’s full piece here:

Details of the route for mourners queuing to see Queen Elizabeth II lying-in-state in London have been announced by the government.

Following her death at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, the Queen’s coffin was taken to St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, where tens of thousands queued through the night on Monday to pay their respects, some filing past as the late monarch’s four children – including King Charles III – led a 10-minute vigil by her side.

My colleague Andy Gregory reports: