A MUM from Yate has spoken of her incredible experience after visiting the Queen lying in state.

Sian Donoghue queued for over 14 hours to pay her respects to the monarch.

Sian was inspired to go by her grandfathers, one of whom served in the RAF and the other who was head of the Queen’s guards at Buckingham Palace.

Sian said: “I had already been to lay flowers at Buckingham Palace on the Sunday and I just had to go back.

“I went because I have always loved the royal family.

“The Queen is the perfect reflection of our country- if something has ever happened with her the country comes together and that as exactly what happened in the queue, everyone was together.”

Sian got the train from Parkway at 5am and joined the queue after walking an hour and half to get to the back.

It took over thirteen hours for Sian to enter Westminster to walk past the coffin as The Queen was lying in state.

“By the time I got to the Queen, I was so emotional- I had a good cry as I walked down the steps and said a quick thank you from me and my Papa.

“There was a change of the guards whilst I was at the coffin and that was brilliant to watch.”

Sian arrived in central London on Friday morning and was on schedule to get to the Queen around at the time of the Princes Vigil, when the Queens children King Charles, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Duke of Wessex stood guard.

“We missed the princes vigil by a few minutes but as the King arrived the crowd erupted into a version of God Save the King and that was also phenomenal,” Sian added

“I really glad I went, not only to go and do what I went to do, see the Queen, but for the whole atmosphere.

“I went on my own and made myself eight friends, the walk took you all round parts of London that I wouldn’t have normally seen and those friends are now friends for life.

“But, that created part of the emotion, we had been together for 13 hours, as we left Westminster we looked at each other and knew it was a once in a lifetime experience- that we had experiences together, we exchanged numbers, to keep in

contact.

“The funeral was incredible, I am proud to be British and I might be biased but I think no one else can do it as we do.”