Corby man shares his experience of queuing to say goodbye to the Queen

A Corby man who travelled to pay his respects to the Queen has shared his experience of being part of the huge queue.

Joseph Finnegan entered the queue at 6am on Thursday morning and queued for just over five hours, getting in to see the Queen lying-in-state at about 11.15am. He was also interviewed by CNN and the BBC.

He went not only to pay his own respects but to pay respects on behalf of his family.

Joseph said: “It was my mum's idea, she wanted to make some flowers for me to take down, so I went and I took them to an oak tree in Green Park next to Buckingham Palace.

"The Queen did mean a lot to us. My mum has got pictures everywhere.”

Joseph set off on his pilgrimage alone but made three friends in the queue: Georgina, an ex-navy veteran, Sarah, from London, and Karin, from Germany.

They called themselves ‘The Fantastic Four’, and ‘spoke about everything (but mostly about the Queen)’ for the five hours they were together.

They’ve all decided to keep in touch with each other on WhatsApp.

When Joseph made it to the front, he wasn’t sure what to do.

He said: “Coming down those stairs my legs were like jelly. I could feel tingling in the back of my neck. I didn't know what to do but I had already decided I was going to kneel.

“The Crown, the diamonds, the rubies, the jewels, were beautiful.”

He added: “The experience was phenomenal. It was something I’ll never forget.”