Queen lying in state: Boy crashes Edwina Bartholomew’s live Sunrise segment

Gloomy scenes of Britons paying their respects to the Queen as she lay in state were interrupted by two excited children who were caught smiling and waving during a live Australian news broadcast.

The children, possibly brother and sister, realized just before 10 p.m. local time that they were in front of the camera during sunrise reporter Edwina Bartholomew’s live cross from London.

The young girl first noticed the camera crew, smiling and waving a few feet behind Bartholomew as she spoke to co-anchors Natalie Barr and David Koch, who were broadcasting from outside Buckingham Palace.

The boy then began to wave his arms in the air before sheepishly walking away.

Thousands of mourners waited for hours on Thursday in a line that stretched nearly seven kilometers through London for the chance to spend a few minutes past Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as she lay in state.

King Charles III spent the day in private reflecting on his first week on the throne.

The line to pay tribute to the late Queen at Westminster Hall was at least nine hours of waiting, winding over a bridge and along the south bank of the River Thames past Tower Bridge.

But people said they didn’t mind the wait, and authorities brought in portable toilets and other amenities to make the slog to bear.

“I’m glad there was a queue because that gave us time to see what was ahead, prepared us and absorbed the whole atmosphere,” says healthcare professional Nimisha Maroo. “I wouldn’t have liked it if I just had to run through it.”

A week after the Queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after 70 years on the throne, the commemoration centered on Westminster – the heart of political power in London.

Her coffin will be in state in Westminster Hall until Monday, after which it will be taken across the street to Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s funeral.

Buckingham Palace released details on Thursday about the service, the first state funeral to be held in Britain since the death of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1965.

The 2,000 attendees are expected to host royalty and heads of state from around the world, with a smaller funeral service scheduled for later Monday at Windsor Castle.

At the end of Monday, the Queen will be buried in a private family service in Windsor, along with her late husband Prince Philip, who died last year.

The guest list for the state funeral is a roll call of global power and splendor, from Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and King Felipe VI of Spain to US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, who first met the monarch when he was a child and his father Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s leader, said the Queen was “one of my favorite people in the world.”

“Her conversations with me were always candid, we talked about anything and everything, she gave her best advice on a range of issues, she was always curious, engaged and thoughtful,” he said at a special session of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.

After a day of high ceremony and high emotion on Wednesday, as the Queen’s casket was carried in a somber procession from Buckingham Palace, the King spent Thursday working and in ‘private reflection’ at his Highgrove residence in western England.

Charles has held talks with Biden and Macron and has spoken with many world leaders.

Prince William, the heir apparent, and his wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales, paid a visit to the Royal Family’s Sandringham estate in eastern England on Thursday to admire some of the tributes left by benefactors.

The pair walked slowly past metal barriers as they received bouquets from the public and chatted with ordinary Britons.

Other royals fanned out across the UK to thank people for their support, with the Queen’s youngest son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie visiting Manchester and the Queen’s daughter Princess Anne in Glasgow.

On Wednesday, the Queen left Buckingham Palace for the last time, carried on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the whirling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall.

Charles, his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and the queen’s diamond-studded crown on a purple velvet pillow.

The military procession underlined Elizabeth’s seven decades as head of state.

Her lying in state enabled many Britons to bid a personal farewell to the one monarch most have ever known.

It’s also a huge logistics operation, with a designated 16-kilometer queue of first aid posts and more than 500 portable toilets.

There are 1,000 stewards and marshals on duty at any given time, and 30 religious leaders of different faiths to talk to those in line.

Monica Thorpe said she walked for two hours to get to the back of the line and get in line.

“People were walking and walking and the police officers said, ‘Keep going, keep going.’ It was like the yellow stone road,’ she said.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Church of England, wore a highly visible vest with the words ‘Faith Team’ as he spoke to mourners.

Welby, who will deliver a sermon at Elizabeth’s funeral Monday, paid tribute to the Queen as “one you could trust completely, completely and absolutely, whose wisdom was remarkable.”

On Thursday, young and old, dressed in dark suits or jeans and sneakers, walked in a steady stream through the historic hall, where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried, where kings and queens hosted beautiful medieval banquets, and where previous monarchs stand.

After passing the coffin, most of the mourners stopped to look back before going out through the large oak doors of the hall. Some were in tears; others bowed their heads or bowed. One sank to one knee and blew a goodbye kiss.

Keith Smart, an engineer and veteran of the British Army, wiped his tears as he left the room. He had waited over 10 hours for the chance to say goodbye.

“Everyone in the crowd behaved impeccably. There was no malice, everyone was friends. It was fantastic,” he said.

“And then, to get into that room and see that, I just collapsed. I did not bow – I knelt on the ground, on my knees, bowed my head to the Queen.’