LONDON, UK — Soccer great David Beckham has joined the miles-long queue of people waiting to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II as she lies in state.
People spotted the former England captain in the line of mourners near Britain’s Houses of Parliament at lunchtime on Friday. He is believed to have joined the queue at 2 a.m. and to have lined up for more than 10 hours with thousands of others.
Beckham explained to ITV News that he grew up in a "household of royalists," so it was important to pay his respects.
"If my grandparents would have been here today, I know that they would have wanted to be here. So I'm here on their behalf, and on behalf of my family and obviously to celebrate with everyone else here," Beckham said.
Officials temporarily halted people joining the back of the line on Friday after a park at the farthest end became full. People who arrived were directed to holding areas and slowly allowed to join the queue.
The queen is due to lie in state at Westminster Hall in Parliament until Monday morning, when her funeral will be held at nearby Westminster Abbey.
After a day out of the public eye Thursday, King Charles III traveled to Wales on Friday on the final leg of his tour of the nations that make up the United Kingdom.
Charles, who for decades before his accession to the throne was the Prince of Wales, visited Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff for a service of prayer and reflection in honor of his late mother. After the service he and Camilla, the queen consort, got out of their car to greet crowds of wellwishers including flag-waving schoolchildren as people chanted “God save the king!”
Charles returns to London later Friday and will briefly stand vigil at his mother’s coffin in the evening with his siblings, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.
