“It’s overwhelming,” said Natalie Gladin, a 47-year-old mum from north Essex, whose tears were still flowing. “It’s like losing your own family. I lost my dad last year, and my mum,” she said.With Violet, her 11-year-old, holding her hand tightly, she explained: “In the queue it was really friendly and quite jovial. The minute you get to the doors, it changes. “It’s total silence and really, really sombre.”She said she was prepared to queue for days but they set off at 03:30 BST and by 17:30 BST they were filing very slowly, one by one, through the hall.Her daughters said they bowed their heads and curtsied when they reached the end of the coffin.As she bowed her head, Ms Gladin said she wished the Queen well in the next life and to be reunited with those she has lost.
