Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan has revealed the estimated number of mourners who queued to visit Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin.
The British monarch passed away peacefully on September 8 aged 96, at her Scottish estate of Balmoral.
The Queen lay in state at Westminster Hall for four days before her state funeral which took place on Monday, September 19.
It has since been revealed that more than 250,000 people queued to pass through Westminster Hall to see the beloved late monarch lying in state.
The queue for mourners was shut several times after the immense crowds exceeded the planned 10 miles.
At its longest, the wait time in the queue was over 24 hours.
The Culture Secretary explained that the final tally is still being worked out, but more than a quarter of a million people have been confirmed to have filed past Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin over the four-day period.
Speaking to Sky News, Michelle said: “Over 250,000 people went through Parliament. We are just crunching the final numbers so that’s an approximate figure at the moment.”
She added that while she couldn’t put an estimated figure on the cost of the state funeral, she thinks “the British public would argue that was money well spent.”
“You saw so many thousands out there and I don’t think anybody can suggest that our late monarch didn’t deserve that send-off, given the duty and the selfless service that she committed to over 70 years.”
The 10-day national mourning period came to end of Monday following Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
More than 500 foreign dignitaries attended the event at Westminster Abbey to pay their respects to the late British monarch who reigned for 70 years.
Back in 2002, more than 200,000 people passed through Westminster Hall to pay their tributes to the Queen Mother when she lay in state.
