On the first full day of lying in state, huge queues have formed in London

The first mourners to see the Queen lying in state have told how they were overcome with emotion as they paid their respects.

Some doffed their hats, others said prayers and shed tears, while one woman said she wanted to sing Ave Maria.

Thousands queue on streets of London to file past Queen after procession from Buckingham Palace

Guardian columnist Andy Beckett has written today about how there is no single “national mood” in the aftermath of the Queen’s death, in a country where support for the monarchy has fallen significantly over the last decade.

The idea that the whole country is mourning the Queen and welcoming her successor is a fiction: energetically disseminated, seductive for many in a time of division, but a fiction nonetheless. There is no single ‘national mood’ about the royal family, and there never has been, whatever most journalists and politicians say. Instead there is an assortment of feelings, even right outside Buckingham Palace.

But over the longer term, the reign of her more divisive, less historically resonant son may cause that surge to fade, and the decline in royal popularity to resume, even accelerate. With Charles, known for his impatience with staff and extravagant lifestyle, the sense of entitlement, which is as fundamental to the royal family as a sense of duty, is more obvious.

The poorer country that the UK is likely to become over the next few years may also be less tolerant of one of the world’s most lavish monarchies. The Queen’s old-fashioned, relatively plain public persona, and the length of her reign – to an extent, she continued to be judged by rather deferential, mid-20th century standards – means that modern Britain’s appetite for a less self-effacing ruler has not yet been tested.

Queen’s coffin expected to arrive at RAF Northolt at 6.45pm BST before being transported to Buckingham Palace

If you’re wondering why there’s such a fuss about the Queen’s death, our weekly science podcast published today might have some answers.

Our science editor, Ian Sample, has been talking to Prof Michael Cholbi, chair in philosophy at Edinburgh University, about what grief is, how losing a public figure can have such a profound impact on our lives,​​ and why there’s value in grieving.