People have been told the lengthy queue to see the Queen’s coffin in Edinburgh is now closed.
The Scottish government says more than 26,000 mourners have already passed through St Giles’ Cathedral and people should no longer try to access it.
It said it was “doing everything” it could to ensure those already in the queue could pay their last respects before 15:00 BST on Tuesday.
The lying at rest period will then end before the coffin is taken to London.
It will be transported by cortège to Edinburgh Airport on Tuesday afternoon before being transferred to Westminster Hall for a lying-in-state period from 17:00 BST on Wednesday.
Thousands headed to Edinburgh’s Meadows area on Tuesday morning to pick up wristbands and join the main mile-long queue.
Mourners had begun filing into the cathedral on Monday evening to be part of the historic moment.
The Scottish government tweeted that queue times were “very long” and there was “no guarantee” of entry to St Giles’.
Thousands waited through the night, joining the line at the Meadows, which is south of the cathedral where the coffin is lying at rest.
Council leader Cammy Day earlier told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that “tens of thousands of people” were expected to make their way through the city and through St Giles’.
He told the programme at one point on Monday evening the waiting time was in excess of 10 hours.
Heavy traffic congestion and disruption is also expected in Edinburgh later on Tuesday with a series of road closures around the route the Queen’s coffin will take from St Giles’ Cathedral to the city’s airport.
Stein Connolly, Transport Scotland’s operations manager, said the influx had already had an impact on the road network and urged people to avoid non-essential travel if possible.
Anyone planning to line the route as the Queen’s coffin is relayed to Edinburgh Airport from 16:30 should plan ahead, allow extra time for their journey and bring water and other supplies, he added.
BBC
