At Westminster Hall Members of the House of Lords and
Commons were waiting to receive the coffin. The whole idea of the body of the late Chief of our Constitutional system being received in this way and deposited temporarily within the precincts of Parliament was admirable. The coffin was placed on a catafalque, and a service was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who delivered a short address remarkable for its excellently chosen words. When the Royal mourners had withdrawn the hall was opened to the public, who formed a queue of considerably over a mile long on the Embankment west of Westminster. During Wednesday and Thursday from six in the morning till ten in the evening the ceremony of lying-in-state continued, and there was at times a queue four miles long in a straight line, not to mention a reverse queue of people moving away from Westminster in order to take up their places eventually in the queue proper. It was computed that the mourners passed through West- minster Hall at a rate of about ten thousand an hour. At the head of the coffin stood four Gentlemen-at-Arms with halberds reversed ; at either side were two officers of the Grenadier Guards standing with bowed heads and leaning on their swords ; at each corner was a Yeoman of the Guard; and at the foot was a Gurkha officer with drawn sword.
