Hundreds of people queue in Windsor to see the Queen’s final resting place in George VI memorial chapel

29 September 2022, 10:57 | Updated: 29 September 2022, 11:20

Hundred's of people are queuing outside Windsor Castle to see the Queen's final resting place, as the castle reopens to the public for the first time since the monarch's death.

It is the first opportunity for the public to see the ledger stone inscribed with the Queen's name, situated in the George VI memorial chapel.

Anne Daley, 65, from Cardiff, and Grace Gogharg, from Ghana but who lives in London, were the first people in the queue, and had arrived at Windsor Castle at 7.30am.

Ms Daley said she felt emotional about entering, adding: "The castle feels like empty, gloomy. Nobody's living in it. You know, you've lost the Queen, you've lost the duke, you lost the corgis.

"It's like when you've sold your house and all the history is gone."

Both women are long-time supporters of the monarchy.

Ms Daley said: "My father was in the Irish Guards and he did the coronation. So I had an interest from when I was a little girl."

Ms Gogharg added: "I am from the Commonwealth so I knew the Queen before I came here.

"She did a good job as head of the Commonwealth. She was a good woman and a good mother. Everybody loves her."

The pair became friends at the unveiling of the Diana, Princess of Wales statue outside Kensington Palace in July 2021, and they were also amongst the first people to see the Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall.

Ms Daley said: "We waited at Lambeth Bridge on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, when we eventually got in at 5pm."

Read more: Rapper Coolio dies aged 59: Tributes led by Michelle Pfeiffer after he ‘collapsed at friend’s house’

Read more: Sadiq Khan rules out Trafalgar Square Queen statue with fourth plinth reserved for art commissions

Darren Martin, 43, from near Melbourne in Australia, was the next person in the queue. He travelled to the UK two weeks ago because of the Queen's death. Mr Martin said: "I arrived in time to do the queue and camped out for the funeral. I've driven all the way to Balmoral, Holyroodhouse and Sandringham.

"I then had a little bit of a holiday in Sussex and Cornwall. I've come here today for my final send-off before I go back home.

"She was somebody that I admired very much for her service, everything that she did and everything she stood for."

The reopening comes as the Mayor of London ruled out a statue of the late monarch on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth for the "foreseeable future". There are planned Fourth Plinth art exhibits for the next four years.

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith proposed the Fourth Plinth artwork scheme in 1994, when she was the chairman of the Royal Society of Art. Ms Leith voiced her support for the scheme continuing telling the Guardian that "it's really important the contemporary stuff stays in the square".

The Mayor of London voiced his support for a statue of the Queen at a "suitable location" within the capital.