British football legend David Beckham paid his respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II on Friday afternoon after standing in line for 12 hours alongside all the other mourners.
The footballer was seen inside Westminster Hall, where the Queen’s body is lying in state, at around 3:25 pm on Friday, over 13 hours after he was first spotted in the line.
While speaking to reporters in line earlier on Friday, Beckham said he’d been waiting for over 12 hours.
“We all want to be here together, we all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our Queen,” Beckham said.
“You know something like this today is meant to be shared together. So, you know the fact that we’ve been here. We’re eating Pringles. We’re eating Sherbet Lemons, sandwiches and coffee,” the football player continued.
Speaking to an ITV News reporter, Beckham said he “grew up in a household of royalists and had come on behalf of his grandparents who said would have stood in line had they still been alive.
Beckham also recounted how lucky he’d been to meet the Queen on several occasions, at least three by our count, highlighting the honor he felt while playing for England’s national football team.
“You know I always wanted to represent my country, to be captain in my country, and every time that we stood there when we wore those Three Lion shirts, and I had my armband and we sang, you know, ‘God save our Queen.’ That was something that meant so much to us,” he said.
The athlete was dressed in a black suit, navy coat, and flat cap. Despite being in the line for over 12 hours at the time, he said his knees were okay.
Beckham also took a few selfies with fans on social media, and one woman in the line standing near Beckham said that she had “big respect” for the sportsman, who she said “had paid his respects however he wanted.
The line snakes from Westminster halls for several along the south bank of the River Thames. It passes landmarks such as the Royal Festival Hall, the London Eye, and Globe Theater.
Plans are in place for the line to stretch as long as nine miles or 14.5 kilometers. Authorities had to close the line several times. As of Friday Afternoon, the government’s tracker was advertising the wait time to be up to 12 hours.
You can also watch a video about this story below.
And here’s another video showing the emotional football star at the queen’s coffin.
Thanks for reading. Please be so kind as to pass this story along to your friends and family?
Sources:
- “England football legend David Beckham queued for 13 hours to pay his respects to the Queen” CNN.