Mourners are continuing to arrive at the closed queue to see the Queen lying in state – and have been placed in a holding pen.

The official queue to Westminster Hall was closed after hitting capacity at 9.50am, with officials saying it would not be reopened for at least six hours.

Despite this, mourners continued to show up at Southwark Park, where they were placed in a holding pen. The entrance to Southwark Park has also now been closed

Before being closed, the queue had reached 4.9 miles long and the wait time was estimated at 14 hours.

Margaret Wallwork, 76, from Newcastle, arrived in London this morning and was placed in the holding pen.

She says she will wait as long as it takes to pay her respects to the Queen.

“She’s been the Queen for as long as I can remember. She’s been my Queen and she has served this country very well and she’s a lovely lady,” she says.

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“I just want to come down and pay my respects – she’s our matriarch.

“She’s someone that I really admire.”

Despite an estimated waiting time of 14 hours, Ms Wallwork said: “We’re hoping it isn’t because we’re booked on a train for 8.30pm today back to Newcastle.

“Failing that we’ll get on the train later tonight if we have to.

“I’m this far down it would be a shame to go back. I’m going to wait.”

Paul Banks, 72, from London, said he will waiting in the holding pen for as long as it takes as “this will only happen once in my lifetime.”

“It’s very well organised in that there are plenty of stopping points and toilets so it’s all organised,” he said. “Should anyone feel faint there will be someone there to pick them up.”

He added: “I only live about five miles away but most of the journey has been walking to join the queue.

“It’s an extremely long queue at the moment.”

Also in the holding pen was Annie Slater, 40, from Peterborough.

She said: “I came here today because I wanted to pay my respects to the Queen.

“Her strength is inspirational to me and having a woman to run our monarchy was incredible and I feel quite passionate about that.

“When I heard she had passed away it was like it was a family member.

“When someone in your family dies you go through grief on your own whereas the grief that we’re going through now we are experiencing with the nation.

“It’s a shared grief which I don’t think we’ll see again.”

On the wait before her, she said: “The Queen did 96 years so I can do 14 hours.”

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