While keeping vigil next to the Queen’s coffin as she lays in state within the Palace of Westminster, a guard collapsed and fell off the stage.
Following her passing on Thursday at Balmoral, tens of thousands of mourners have been lining up to pay their respects to the queen.
But the minute a guard started wavering on his feet before he fell, witnesses gasped in horror.
Moments earlier, when other troops joined him for a changeover, the guy temporarily stepped down off the stage before returning to it.
However, a little while later he passed out, slumped forward, and landed splayed on the stone floor to the loud gasps of onlookers waiting in line to pay their respects.
As police helped the guy, the live broadcast also stopped for a while.
The Sovereign’s Bodyguard, the Household Division, or Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London are providing round-the-clock security for the Queen’s coffin, which is lying atop a catafalque, a high platform.
As police officers hurriedly rushed to the guard’s rescue this evening, the guard suddenly slumped forward onto the stone floor.
Crowds lined the streets of central London on Wednesday as she was transferred from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.
At 2.22 pm, King Charles, Prince William, and Prince Harry gathered to grieve and marched behind the casket as it left Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family participated in a brief ceremony at the Palace of Westminster before allowing members of the public access starting at 5 o’clock to pay their respects.
Pictures of the Duke of Sussex at the emotional moment when the late monarch’s coffin was put in the hall show him holding his head in his palm, squinting his eyes, and looking down.
He is standing close to the Duchess of Sussex, who is gazing down and sporting a sombre expression, and is wearing a suit that is embellished with medals.
Together with his spouses Meghan and Kate, Prince Harry and Prince William set aside their acrimonious rivalry to pay their respects to their grandmother.
The Countess of Wessex and Camilla, the Queen Consort, travelled in separate vehicles with Meghan and Kate, while the siblings walked side by side for the emotional 38-minute procession from Buckingham Palace.
The ‘Fab Four’ stood in formation during the service facing the coffin on its purple-covered catafalque, which was flanked by a tall, yellow flickering candle at each corner of the wide scarlet platform in the centre of Westminster Hall, which served as the setting for some of the most well-known events in British history.
The Sussex family took a back row position behind the other royals, with Harry standing behind William and Meghan behind Kate. The heartwarming scene is the first time the spouses have been seen together since their unexpected walkabout at Windsor Castle on Saturday.
The Westminster Abbey and His Majesty’s Chapel Royal choirs played Psalm 139 as the Queen’s casket was carried into Westminster Hall. Charles, William, and Anne gave the Queen a salute as she arrived. Harry and Prince Andrew, who were not allowed to wear military garb, bowed in place.
Into the course of the evening and into the early hours of today morning, thousands of well-wishers came through the ancient hall.
Color-coded wristbands have been distributed to mourners in line to pay their respects so they may briefly leave the line to purchase food and use the restroom.
The route’s stewards have also been instructed to look out for those who may be having difficulty and remove them from the line for a “cup of tea.” They could then be permitted to go up front.
On Monday, the day of the Queen’s funeral, the Palace of Westminster will be open twenty-four hours a day until six thirty in the morning.