Thank you for reading. We’re going to close this blog now. A new one will be launched on Tuesday 13 September, at about 6am UK time. People warned not to camp along Queen’s coffin route People have been warned not to wait or camp along the route where the Queen’s coffin will be taken for the lying in state in London On Wednesday afternoon, the late monarch’s coffin, adorned with the Imperial State Crown, will be transported on a gun carriage of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, and make its way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. The UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport has warned: “Please do not wait or camp in advance of the processional day. If you camp before this time, you may be asked to move on.” King Charles III, members of the royal family and senior staff of the late Queen and King’s households will walk slowly behind in a dignified silence without music along a route that will take 38 minutes. The ceremonial procession will move along the Mall, Horse Guards Road, across Horse Guards Parade, on to Whitehall and into the Palace of Westminster after 2.22pm. Viewing areas along the route with limited capacity will open at 11am on the day, with people admitted in order of arrival time amid expected large queues, the DCMS said. If a person leaves the area, their readmission cannot be guaranteed. Tents, gazebos or camping gear, barbecues and equipment for fires, and alcohol are prohibited. Mourners must keep noise to a minimum when the procession passes them and have been told to behave appropriately, dispose of litter properly, and follow the instructions of police and stewards or face being asked to leave. There will also be large screens at Hyde Park where those who cannot access viewing sites can watch the procession, which will be broadcast on national television and radio. The Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service following the coffin’s arrival. The Met has issued a statement saying people “absolutely have a right to protest” The Metropolitan police have said “the public absolutely have a right to protest” during the days following the death of the Queen. Since the proclamation of King Charles III, several arrests have been made and protesters were moved on in London, Scotland and Oxford. The force issued a statement following a viral video filmed in Parliament Square in London, when a barrister who was holding up a blank piece of paper was asked for his details by a police officer. Deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “The overwhelming majority of interactions between officers and public at this time have been positive as people have come to the capital to mourn the loss of Her Late Majesty the Queen.” The Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) said: “Time and again the police act in an arbitrary manner and abuse their powers to crush dissent.” They added: “This isn’t the first time that spurious arrests have been made during royal events. In 2011, people dressed as zombies were arrested during the royal wedding while sitting in Starbucks. “In 2002, during the golden jubilee, 41 people sitting in a pub were arrested. Any time there is a royal event, the police act disproportionately to ensure that opposing voices are not heard on our streets.” Geneva Abdul Our reporter Geneva Abdul has been talking to those who are at the head of the queue to pay their respects to the Queen during her lying-in-state in London. The Queen’s coffin will remain in Westminster Hall from Wednesday morning until the day of the funeral, next Monday. A member of security said they were expecting between 750,000 and 1 million people to attend. Many thousands of people are waiting for hours in long queues through central Edinburgh to see the Queen lying in rest at St Giles’ Cathedral, with some facing a wait until early morning before they pass the coffin. Mourners queueing in George Square, an early Georgian square now part of the University of Edinburgh, have been waiting for over three hours, with the line six to eight people abreast in places. The Scottish government responded by increasing the number of lines at the security checkpoint on George IV Bridge, dramatically increasing the numbers of people being cleared to move on to the cathedral. Officials estimate that up to 6,000 people per hour were being allowed through. Aaron Kelly, 32, a psychotherapist originally from Belfast, who lives close to George Square, had been timing his wait on iPhone. It had clocked up three hours and five minutes by about 8.15pm. He felt it was essential to be there. “This is a moment in history and I think the Queen has done so much for the nation; it just felt it was apt to come and pay our final respects,” he said. Behind him stood Corey Docherty, 14, and his mother, Mary, and their friend Janis. After travelling from the Glasgow area, and with school tomorrow, he faced getting home after midnight. Docherty has visited Balmoral, Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, the king’s former residence in London. “It’s just the most famous royal family in the world,” he said. Of the new king, he said: “He’s the king. We must support him. He has waited 73 years.” Norman Davenport, 68, who recently retired after 18 years as an officer in the RAF reserve and before then 20 years as an army reservist, began queueing for the cathedral at 2pm on Monday, in good time for it to open to the public at 5.30pm, and arrived there by around 7pm. By 8.30pm, he was in George Square for a rest and a sandwich. The queen was honorary air commodore of his RAF reserve unit, 603 (City of Edinburgh) Sqdn. He had met her twice. “I have a huge connection with her, from that point of view, as a personal thing. She was my sovereign, my commander in chief, my honorary air commodore.” Summary Here’s a round-up of today’s updates: The Queen is lying at rest in Edinburgh, as thousands of people are expected to walk past her coffin in St Giles’ Cathedral before it is taken to London on Tuesday. Her children, King Charles, Prince Andrew, Princess Anne and Prince Edward held a vigil to watch over the coffin earlier on Monday evening, standing around it with the Royal Company of Archers. A thanksgiving service for the Queen’s life took place on Monday afternoon, attended by members of the royal family. King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort attended a condolences session at the Scottish parliament. First minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Queen was “intrinsic to the story of modern Scotland”. The Queen’s children, along with Princess Anne’s husband, Commander Timothy Laurence, walked behind a hearse carrying the late monarch’s coffin as it made its way from Holyroodhouse to St Giles. Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has spoken of his final audience with the Queen, held on Tuesday. In an interview with the BBC he said: “She seemed very bright, very focused. She was clearly not well. I think that was the thing that I found so moving when I heard about her death on Thursday – I just thought, how incredible that her sense of duty had kept her going in the way that it had.” Prince Harry has given a statement on his grandmother’s death, calling her his “guiding compass”. He said he was “forever grateful for all of our first meetings”. Three Premier League football matches have been cancelled this weekend due to “policing issues” caused by the Queen’s death and thousands coming to London. Mourners who are heading to Green Park, near Buckingham Palace, to pay tribute have been discouraged from bringing marmalade sandwiches and teddies of Paddington Bear. Several retailers, including supermarkets, will shut on the day of the Queen’s funeral. Thousands of NHS procedures and appointments have been cancelled on the same day, according to news website OpenDemocracy. That’s all for today. Tomorrow the Queen’s coffin will leave Edinburgh and be flown to London. Here is what will happen in the next few days. Thank you for following along. Sharon O’Neill, from Airdrie, was one of the first people inside St Giles’ Cathedral to view the Queen’s coffin, which will be laying there to rest until Tuesday. Speaking after paying her respects, she said: “It was beautiful inside the cathedral, it was lovely, the guards were lovely. The flowers were lovely, with the crown sitting on top of the coffin. “I came from Airdrie, to come and pay respects. It was stunning, it really was, but also very sad, and a very poignant moment. “It’s been a great opportunity to allow the Scottish people to come and pay their respects.” There are signs that the Queen’s death is now moving into popular culture, as BBC One soap opera EastEnders opened with a tribute to Her Majesty. Characters in the long-running TV programme, set in east London, said her death was likened to the country “losing its nan”. The main pub on the show is named after Queen Victoria, and residents Linda Carter, Denise Fox and Kathy Beale gathered around a picture of her in the famous venue in the fictional Albert Square. The Queen visited the set, based in Elstree in 2001, where she met the late Barbara Windsor, who was famed for playing Peggy Mitchell, and Steve McFadden, who played Windsor’s on-screen son Phil. An episode made earlier this year to mark the platinum jubilee featured appearances from King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort. Beale, played by Gillian Taylforth, says: “Just feels so personal though, doesn’t it? Just devastating.” “It’s like we’ve lost our nan,” Fox replies. “Well, we have. I mean the country’s lost... we’ve all lost our nan. She dedicated her entire life to serving us,” Linda added. King Charles then leads his siblings away, through the nave of the St Giles’ Cathedral and outside. He looked understandably emotional in the minutes stood at the head of his mother’s coffin. Applause can be heard from the crowd outside as King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward emerge, along with Camilla, Queen Consort and Sophie, Countess of Wessex and get in to their cars, before they are driven back down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Members of the public wave as they go past. Queen"s children take part in vigil at St Giles" Cathedral Footage live from St Giles’ Cathedral shows the royals being escorted by members of the household through the body of the church. King Charles, Camilla, the Queen Consort, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward then walk to the coffin. They have chosen not to be armed with swords, as they have the right to do so. Charles stands at the head of the coffin, the crown behind him on top of it. He and his siblings, facing outwards, bow their heads. They are stood next to the Royal Company of Archers. Camilla is sat off to the side alongside Sophie, Countess of Wessex. Prince Andrew and Princess Anne can be seen with their eyes closed. Members of the public are still filing past the coffin. Members of the Royal family are arriving at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh for a vigil as the Queen’s coffin is lying in rest. King Charles, Camilla, the Queen Consort, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward will watch over the coffin. The King arrives from Holyrood where he attended a session of the Scottish parliament earlier on Monday evening. They are staying in Edinburgh overnight before the coffin is taken to London on Tuesday afternoon. The Queen’s funeral and lying-in-state presents the biggest security challenge of its kind the UK has ever faced, a former head of public order at the Metropolitan police has said. Bob Broadhurst, who served as gold commander for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine, and for the London 2012 Olympics, said the authorities faced “headaches” ranging from terror threats to protests to crowd collapses. As many as 750,000 people are expected to travel to the capital from Wednesday to pay respects to the late monarch as she lies in state for four days before her funeral on Monday. About 200,000 visited Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the Queen Mother before her funeral in 2002. As many as 10,000 officers will be assigned to the operation each day, Broadhurst estimated, some of who will be drawn from forces across the country. Downing Street has said 1,500 military personnel will be on hand to assist in the capital. Civil liberties campaigners and others have expressed alarm about the response of police to anti-monarchy protesters amid a number of incidents, the latest of which included the arrest of a man in Edinburgh for apparently heckling Prince Andrew. The advocacy group Liberty said that new powers recently given to the police to curtail protest, and how they were being enforced by officers, were a cause for deep concern. The Labour MP, Zarah Sultana, said in response to incidents in Edinburgh, London and Oxford: “No one should be arrested for just expressing republican views. Extraordinary – and shocking – that this needs saying.” Police Scotland said a 22-year-old man had been arrested in connection with a breach of the peace on the Royal Mile shortly before 3pm on Monday. It came after police were seen pulling a man out of a crowd of people, some of whom appeared to push him, after he was seen shouting at the procession accompanying the Queen’s coffin on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Retailers including Aldi, John Lewis, Waitrose, Primark and Homebase are to shut their stores on Monday, the day of the Queen’s state funeral – while Morrisons has made its checkout beeps quieter and turned off tannoys. Aldi said as a mark of respect its 970 UK stores would be closed on Monday 19 September “to allow our store colleagues to pay tribute to Her Majesty the Queen”. John Lewis confirmed it would also shut its department stores, along with its sister company Waitrose, all day for the funeral. Supermarket Sainsbury’s has joined the list. A spokesperson said: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In honour of Her Majesty and so our colleagues can pay their respects, all Sainsbury’s supermarkets and Argos stores will be closed on Monday, 19 September. “This includes groceries online and Argos fast track delivery. Our convenience stores and petrol filling stations will be open from 5pm-10pm to allow our customers to pick up essential items, while select stores in central London will open to serve those attending the funeral in person. We thank our customers for their understanding.” Thousands of patients could have hospital appointments cancelled because of the Queen’s funeral, a investigative journalism website has found. A number of NHS Trusts have said that all non-urgent procedures and clinic appointments will be postponed, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery, maternity checks and some cancer treatments. Patients have been waiting months for surgery, only to have it cancelled a week beforehand. In a letter to one patient, seen by OpenDemocracy who have reported the story, the NHS blamed “unforseen circumstances”. Doctors at one hospital trust in central London were told to start rescheduling patients as Monday, the day of the Queen’s funeral, will be treated as a bank holiday. St Giles" Cathedral opens to public to view Queen"s coffin St Giles’ Cathedral has now opened for the public to file past the Queen’s coffin, with some having queued up from the early hours of Monday morning. One man, who had spoken to Sky News, was an NHS worker who had finished a night shift before starting to line up. The cathedral will be open until tomorrow afternoon, giving mourners about 24 hours to pay their respects. A thanksgiving service took place at St Giles’ earlier today. Prince Harry has spoken of his great sadness at the death of the Queen, his grandmother, calling her his “guiding compass”. He said he was “forever grateful” that she had met his wife Meghan, and hugged the couples two children, Archie and Lilibet, who is named after her. He is understood to have delayed the statement so it did not coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. In celebrating the life of my grandmother, Her Majesty the Queen – and in mourning her loss – we are all reminded of the guiding compass she was to so many in her commitment to service and duty. She was globally admired and respected. Her unwavering grace and dignity remained true throughout her life and now her everlasting legacy. Let us echo the words she spoke after the passing of her husband, Prince Philip, words which can bring comfort to all of us now: ‘Life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings’. Granny, while this final parting brings us great sadness, I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings – from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my commander-in-chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren.