The queue to see the Queen: bags for life, fun in the cold and a visit from the King

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Having waited hours in line to see the Queen lying in state – and with hours more left to go – well-wishers gave the new King Charles and Prince of Wales an upbeat reception during their surprise visit to the queue that in just a few days has become a London landmark.

With William telling a child “you’re over halfway” and his father telling a woman “I hope you’re not too frozen”, the royals were met with cheers and raised mobile phones as they greeted those waiting in Lambeth with smiles and handshakes.

The phenomenon of “the queue”, as it’s become known, has attracted fascination, confusion and awe around Britain and across the world.

Who would be willing to wait outdoors for as long as 24 hours , braving the elements along the Thames, for a few seconds alongside the Queen’s coffin – and why?

Now, as the Queen’s lying in state in Westminster approaches its final hours before Monday’s state funeral, researchers believe they have found the answer. A narrow majority vote Conservative, almost two-thirds backed remain and most of them are enjoying a feeling of “subdued positivity” as they wait in line for hours.

The queue to visit Westminster Hall, where the Queen’s coffin arrived on Wednesday, winds several miles along the south bank of the River Thames from Southwark Park, past Tower Bridge, Tate Modern and Waterloo to Lambeth Bridge.

It then doubles back along the north side of the river, through Victoria Tower Gardens, the park alongside the Palace of Westminster, before reaching the hall where visitors steadily flow past the Queen’s guarded candlelit coffin in silence. An experience that is over in a matter of seconds.

On Saturday morning, the government reported a wait time of “at least 24 hours” – which later dropped to a slightly more reasonable 16 hours before starting to climb again. And yet, despite single-digit temperatures on Friday night, thousands continued to join the queue.

Rob Johns, a politics professor at the University of Essex who has been analysing the demographics and motivations of those queueing, said it is less a case of royalists simply wanting to mourn the Queen in person, and more “a collective gathering that is as much about the queue as it is about reaching the end of all the queueing”.

Those gathered are less nationalist or royalist than might be expected, on “the liberal side of the average Briton”, 58% female and 60% remain-voting, Johns said.

As opposed to the highly charged emotions of the crowds after Princess Diana’s death, those in the Queen’s queue are, despite the circumstances, enjoying themselves as they wait.

“It’s not grief-stricken, it’s not about weeping and wailing,” said Johns, who has so far surveyed about 400 members of the queue and will continue over the weekend.

He added: “They reported more positive than negative emotions. People are enjoying it.

“Not in a festival kind of way but in a kind of mutually satisfying way. Enjoying the collective, enjoying the gathering.”

Meanwhile, in a sign of the wide-ranging and grave issues facing Britain today, a short distance across the river, others were coming together for a different purpose. Protesters gathered outside New Scotland Yard to call for justice for Chris Kaba, the 24-year-old unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police earlier this month.

In the queue for the Queen’s lying in state on Saturday morning, people were cold, tired and bleary eyed but generally upbeat.

Slowly making their way across Lambeth Bridge, many wrapped in blue blankets handed to them by officials as they queued overnight, those waiting seemed to prove Johns’ findings largely true.

The mood was one of stoic endurance combined with the buoyant energy – and dress code – of a National Trust visit.

But once the crowds reached Westminster Hall the mood shifted to solemnity and emotion. Slowly walking in silence past the coffin, surrounded by guards and four flickering candles, most paused to bow, while some blew a kiss, put their hand to their chest or crossed themselves.

As they walked away, many were visibly emotional, wiping away tears.

Often carrying provisions in rucksacks or bags for life and dressed in warm jackets, well-wishers filed along the South Bank before reaching the final stretch across the river and into Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Palace of Westminster.

Among them was mother and son Sarah and Charlie Calloway, 58 and 20, who had travelled from east Sussex to join the queue at 10pm on Friday. Sarah, a retail assistant, said despite having not slept for 27 hours after joining the queue straight from work, it had been enjoyable but chilly. “It’s been fun, it’s been OK, it’s been cold. We’ve had a bit of fun on the way so all good,” she said.

Although she describes their family as “very royalist” the decision to see the Queen lying in state was “spur of the moment”. “It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” she said. “The Queen was extraordinary. I grew up with her, I’m part of a very royalist family.”

The queue was also a place to start new relationships. Jack and Zoe, two strangers who first met on Friday night at 10.30pm while waiting to see the Queen lying in state, said the “banter and snacks were so good we have been together throughout the whole thing”. The pair said they were now planning to watch the Queen’s funeral together.

Others plan to watch it on TV, in one of 125 cinemas showing it live or on one of the large screens being put up in public places throughout the country.

At Riverside Caf? on Lambeth pier, business owner Ramzi Hedari, 49, said hot croissants, custard tarts, bacon baps, coffee and tea have been the most popular items with those in the queue.

They started serving at 7am but were unable to stay open overnight as planned due to staff shortages caused by Brexit. Overall he described the mood as friendly, but said some customers had been tetchy.

“We understand they are tired because they’ve been queueing for 11 to 15 hours. But we take it easy with them. Some of them are moody but we don’t blame them because they are tired.”

However, while he said he respected the Queen, you would not catch Hedari queueing for hours. “I don’t have the patience,” he said.