Former England football captain Beckham queues to view Queen Elizabeth’s coffin

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Former England soccer captain David Beckham waited in line for more than 13 hours alongside thousands of other mourners to see Queen Elizabeth in state in London on Friday.

The 47-year-old former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder and current co-owner of US Major League soccer team Inter Miami said he joined the queue at 2:15 a.m. ( 01:15 GMT).

“We all want to be here together, we all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our Queen. Something like this today is meant to be shared together,” Beckham, who wore a dark flat cap and suit dark with a black tie and appeared to be alone, told reporters in the queue.

He talked about snacking on chips, candies and donuts with his co-workers queuing to keep their energy up.

Television footage from Westminster Hall showed Beckham, who met the Queen on several occasions during her 70-year reign, looked in tears as he waited to walk past her coffin.

Stopping to pay his respects near the coffin around 3:25 p.m., Beckham lowered his head and momentarily closed his eyes.

On Friday, the government suspended access to the queue hours earlier after warning of waiting times of at least 14 hours.

It winds for miles through central London to the Westminster Hall of parliament. Some 750,000 people in total are expected to file past the coffin before Monday morning.

Last week, Beckham posted on Instagram that he was “truly saddened” by the Queen’s death.

“How devastated we all feel today shows what she meant to people in this country and around the world. How much she inspired us with her leadership. How much she comforted us when times were tough,” he wrote.

Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Angus MacSwan

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