I know people are sick of hearing about Queen Elizabeth at this point, but can we talk about that line to view her lying in state at the Palace of Westminster.
The U.K.’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said the wait time reached 24 hours and the queue was cut off at points because it had reached capacity. The estimate was that 250,000 people passed by the coffin.
For comparison’s sake, consider that Queen Elizabeth’s viewing isn’t even the biggest in her family, as her father, King George VI, was reported to have had 300,000 people pass by his coffin in 1952.
In the United States, 250,000 people were said to have passed by assassinated President John F. Kennedy, but that line reached a maximum wait of 10 hours because wider lines of people filed through the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in 1963.
These queues are a study of cultural differences, both in terms of location and era.
I would argue that there isn’t an individual alive today in the United States who, upon death, could convince modern Americans to wait in line for 24 hours to pass by their coffin. There are several reasons for this.
I think the closest you could come in modern America would be an event upon the death of Donald Trump. The former president definitely brought a rock-star quality to the position of Commander and Chief. For his supporters, his rallies are events not to be missed. Surely a funeral for the former president would be the largest gathering this country could muster.
But there is no way the line to pass the coffin would pass 24 hours. One reason is that Trump is not a unifying presence the way Queen Elizabeth was. Even as president, he never became a symbol of the country. He is not on our money or postage stamps. “God save Trump” is not a unifying call. Half of the country would have no respects to pay at his funeral.
And this leads me to my bigger argument against a 24-hour line for any funeral in this country – Americans simply aren’t wired that way. We aren’t patient. We are lazy and we want to be catered to.
People in this country are used to everything landing at their doorstep, the sooner the better. We want fast food, next day delivery and eyeglasses made while we wait. We are a nation of Veruca Salts and we want everything now.
Amazon isn’t an American monster because of service with a smile and customer service – it’s fast and convenient. Amazon’s website relies on American laziness, offering one-click purchases because sometimes two clicks is just too much work.
Be honest, everyone reading this has aborted a fast food choice at some point because there were too many cars in line. We are not a people who will block off an entire day for an endeavor, like a coffin viewing, that pays us no reward at the end.
And you might argue “You bird brain. Americans wait longer than 24 hours in line for Black Friday deals, new iPhone releases or tickets to sporting events. To this I would offer an argument on two fronts.
The first is, those lines aren’t in constant motion. They are lawn-chair friendly. People bring tents and coolers filled with food when they plan for a stationary queue. Queen Elizabeth’s line hit a maximum length of 10 miles long – with nearly a 7-mile backup along the River Thames until you reached the 3-mile zigzag queue closer to Westminster Hall.
Basically, a moving line versus a stationary line is the difference between hiking and camping.
Anything you needed in Queen Elizabeth’s line would need to be brought with you. Chairs, coolers and even purses weighed down with phone-charging banks would get pretty heavy by mile two. Not to mention, how do you sleep in a 10-mile moving line? You sit down for a minute to rest your eyes and you might wake up with 10,000 people having quietly stepped over you.
My second issue with the American Black Friday, phone, ticket queue argument is that we killed all of those things because we didn’t want to stand in line. We created apps and digital queues for tickets. We started pre-ordering phones which are mailed to our houses. And I don’t know if you heard but Americans have obliterated the idea of Black Friday. First we started giving Black Friday deals online, but that wasn’t good enough. Some Black Friday deals are now available in October. Look it up. They are available right now.
Another issue working against the idea of a 24-hour line in America is that we aren’t as polite as the British. I can’t imagine the kind of the shouting matches and displays of amateur wrestling you would see in a 10-mile American line.
Allegations of line cutting would be rampant, because American’s always think they are being cheated on some level. The security necessary to maintain a 10-mile queue in the United States might require the National Guard.
-Chad Williamson is the managing editor of the Journal-Tribune.