Thousands queue for Queen Mother

The coffin of Britain's Queen Mother is put into place in Westminster Hall in London, on Friday.

LONDON, England -- Thousands of mourners are queuing to pay their respects to Britain's Queen Mother, who is lying in state after the country's grandest royal procession for 50 years.

The queue of mourners snaked more than a mile from Westminster Hall back over Lambeth Bridge and along the south side of the Thames River, prompting officials to extend the opening hours of the hall.

The Queen Mother's coffin will lie in state until her funeral on Tuesday.

Officials, in consultation with Buckingham Palace, decided to leave the doors open beyond its scheduled closing on Friday until everyone who wished had paid their respects.

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An estimated quarter of a million people lined the route to witness the funeral procession earlier in the day.

On top of the Queen Mother's coffin, among the white flowers and crown, lay a simple note from her daughter which read: "In loving memory, Lilibet" -- the Royal Family's pet name for Queen Elizabeth II.

The crowds -- sometimes 20 people deep -- watched as Princes Charles, William, Harry and Philip accompanied the gun carriage carrying the coffin on its half-mile journey through central London.

The procession, which started at 11.30 a.m. (1030 GMT) on Friday, was punctuated each minute by a salvo from a 28-gun royal salute.

Just after noon the coffin arrived at Westminster Hall for a service attended by the Queen and senior politicians, including UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Flanked by 1,600 troops, the procession was Britain's biggest ceremonial spectacle since wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill was laid to rest in 1965 and the Queen Mother's husband King George VI passed away in 1952.

The Queen Mother's coffin was draped in her personal standard and topped by her platinum diamond-encrusted crown, created for her on the occasion of her husband's 1937 coronation.

The Royal Family walked immediately behind the coffin, followed by members of the Queen Mother's personal staff.

In a break with royal tradition, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, joined the procession of 14 senior royals, a ceremony usually reserved for males.

The queue of mourners stretched more than a mile

The procession began at the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace, just yards from the Queen Mother's residence at Clarence House.

On almost every step of the procession there was something to evoke a memory of the life of the Queen Mother, who died in her sleep on Saturday aged 101.

Especially poignant was the moment her coffin passed by a statue of George VI, who also laid in state in Westminster Hall. The statue looks down on The Mall from a set of steps leading to Carlton Gardens.

'Unwearied service'

In Westminster Hall a specially written prayer to mark the ceremony was read out by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The prayer gave thanks for her life and also praised her "unwearied service" and "loyalty" she inspired.

The full text of the prayer read: "Let us pray. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, we remember before thee our sister, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

"We give thanks for her example of faithful duty and unwearied service, and for the loyalty and love which she inspired.

"Hear Lord, the prayers of thy people, and grant that we who confess thy name on earth with her may be made perfect in the kingdom of thy son, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"Father of all mercies and giver of all comfort -- deal graciously, we pray, with these who mourn, that casting all their care on thee, they may know the consolation of thy love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."