England soccer great David Beckham spotted in queue for Queen's coffin
Former England soccer star David Beckham was seen queuing alongside other mourners on Friday (September 16) in London to see the coffin of Britain's longest reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II who died last week.
Beckham - wearing a dark jacket, tie and a dark hat - gently smiled as others in the queue spoke with him and took selfies.
Elizabeth died in Scotland aged 96 last week, prompting an outpouring of emotion that drew tens of thousands out to see her coffin on its journey to London, and that has now compelled many more to join long lines pay their respects during a four and a half day lying-in-state ceremony.
The 47-year-old former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder and current co-owner of American Major League Soccer team Inter Miami said he had joined the queue at 2.15 a.m. (0115 GMT).
"It's hard to explain. You know, it's very, very emotional. You know, the silence....the feeling in the room is very hard to explain," said Beckham, who was wearing a dark flat cap and a dark suit with a black tie and appeared to be alone.
Television footage of Westminster Hall showed Beckham, who met the queen several times during her 70-year reign, looked tearful as he waited to file past her coffin.
Stopping to pay his respects by the coffin at around 3.25 p.m, Beckham bowed his head and closed his eyes momentarily.
The government paused entry to the queue for a few hours earlier on Friday after warning of waiting times of at least 14 hours.
It snakes its way for miles through central London to parliament's Westminster Hall. Some 750,000 people in total are expected to file past the coffin before Monday morning.
