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The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth will unite people from across the globe, the official in charge of the huge ceremonial event says, as mourners from all walks of life queued for hours to file past the late monarch's coffin.

Presidents, prime ministers and royalty from around the world will gather on Monday for the funeral for Elizabeth, Queen for 70 years whose global stature was almost without equal.

She will be finally laid to rest at a chapel at her Windsor Castle home alongside her husband of 73 years Prince Philip, who died last year, ending 10 days of national mourning.

The body of the late Queen Elizabeth is now lying in state in London's ancient Westminster Hall, where tens of thousands are waiting patiently in line to pay their final respects to the United Kingdom's longest-reigning monarch.

"These events are taking place against the backdrop of an outpouring of grief, affection and gratitude for people in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and across the world," said the Earl Marshal, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, England's most senior peer who is in charge of state occasions.

"The Queen held a unique and timeless position in all our lives. It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and events of the next few days will unite people across the globe," he told reporters.

As he spoke, the queue to see the Queen's coffin stretched more than 6.5km along the south bank of the River Thames, past such landmarks as Tower Bridge, crossing Lambeth Bridge as it neared Westminster Hall.

Officials expect about 750,000 people to view the coffin before the lying in state ends at 6.30am on Monday.

Charles, who has returned to his Highgrove home in southwest England after a hectic schedule of events since Elizabeth's death age 96 last Thursday, and his three siblings, Princess Anne and Princes Andrew and Edward, will themselves hold a silent vigil alongside the catafalque on Friday evening.

Some of those queuing to see the coffin had travelled from abroad, dropping off bags at nearby hotels to join those moving slowly through Westminster Hall.

There were former soldiers with military medals and babies being carried by their parents.

For the first time, palace officials also provided details of the funeral, likely to be one of the grandest ceremonies ever seen in the UK capital, involving thousands from the military and with details overseen by the monarch before her death.

"It was her majesty the Queen that went through the plans and made sure they were alright and the King is implementing those plans," a spokesman for Charles said.

After the lying in state ends early on Monday morning, the coffin will be carried onto the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy where 142 naval service personnel will pull it to Westminster Abbey, the same church where Elizabeth was crowned in 1953, for the funeral.

The service will begin at 11am (8pm AEST) and last for about an hour.

At its conclusion the Last Post will sound and there will be a two minute silence to be observed across the UK.

The body will then be taken on the gun carriage in a large procession, with Charles and members of the royal family walking behind, from the Abbey to the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner.

Guns will fire and parliament's Big Ben bell will toll every minute.

The state hearse will then convey the coffin to Windsor Castle where there will be a further solemn procession before a service at Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel.

In a later private ceremony, Elizabeth will be buried with Philip at the King George VI Memorial Chapel where her parents and sister Princess Margaret were also laid to rest.

Buckingham Palace said it would not provide a list of those who will attend the funeral but royalty, presidents and other world leaders are expected to be there, although certain countries including Russia, Afghanistan and Syria were not extended invitations.

Charles will hold an official state event on Sunday to meet the dignitaries who are attending.

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King Charles will be joined by his siblings to mount a silent vigil at the coffin of their late mother Queen Elizabeth as thousands of mourners stand in line for several kilometres to pay their last respects to the monarch during her lying-in-state.

Charles, his sister Princess Anne, and brothers Princes Andrew and Edward will join the ceremonial guard for the 15-minute vigil at Westminster Hall in central London where their 96-year-old mother's coffin has rested since Wednesday evening.

Already tens of thousands of people from all walks of life from Britain and around the world have patiently queued for the opportunity to pass by the coffin, with the line stretching back almost eight kilometres.

Officials expect about 750,000 people to view the coffin before the lying-in-state ends at 6.30am (3.30pm AEST) on Monday, the day of Elizabeth's state funeral

Before Friday's 7.30pm (4.30am AEST) vigil, Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, will travel to Wales.

The trip will mark the end of a tour of the United Kingdom where the King has performed ceremonial duties to acknowledge his status as the new monarch and head of state, and to greet the public mourning the loss of Elizabeth, who reigned for 70 years.

The royal couple will be greeted with a 21-gun salute, attend a cathedral service, and travel to the Welsh parliament.

Charles will meet the Welsh first minister and other politicians.

Wales has a particular significance for the new King, who for five decades preceding last week's accession had the title Prince of Wales - longer than anyone previously.

"His passion and affection for Wales has been clear", his spokesman said.

"He has shown a life-long commitment to the country's people."

Meanwhile the new Prince of Wales, Charles's son William, will visit troops from New Zealand, Canada and Australia who are in Britain to take part in events surrounding Elizabeth's state funeral on Monday.

He will be accompanied by wife Kate, the new Princess of Wales.

That title was most recently held by William's mother, Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997.

Her death prompted a similar national outpouring of grief, and William spoke on Thursday of how the solemn events of the last week had revived memories of the funeral procession for Diana.

On Wednesday, William, alongside his younger brother Harry and their father, walked in a sombre procession behind a gun carriage carrying the Queen's coffin from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster.

It was a scene highly reminiscent of when, as boys 25 years ago, the princes had followed Diana's casket.

"The walk yesterday was challenging ... brought back a few memories," William said as he and his wife Kate spoke to well-wishers and viewed the sea of floral tributes outside the royal residence of Sandringham in eastern England.

Britain is gearing up to welcome presidents, prime ministers and royalty from around the world for Monday's funeral, which is likely to be one of the grandest ceremonies ever seen in the British capital, involving thousands of military personnel.

"It is our aim and belief that the state funeral and events of the next few days will unite people across the globe," the Earl Marshal Edward Fitzalan-Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, who is England's most senior peer and is in charge of state occasions, said.

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Prince William has told well-wishers that walking behind his grandmother's coffin has been challenging and had brought back memories, alluding to the day 25 years earlier when, as a boy, he followed his mother's casket on the way to her funeral.

William, the heir to the throne, walked behind his father King Charles and side by side with his younger brother Prince Harry during Wednesday's solemn procession taking the late Queen Elizabeth from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.

"The walk yesterday was challenging," William told members of the public who were sympathising with him over his loss while he viewed flowers laid outside the royal Sandringham Estate in eastern England to honour the Queen.

"Brought back a few memories," he could be heard saying in video footage of the exchange on Thursday.

William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, followed their mother Princess Diana's coffin through central London in the glare of the world's media after she was killed in a car crash in Paris aged 36 in 1997, a defining image of their lives.

The brothers, whose relationship has become strained in recent years, have spoken in the past of the lasting trauma they endured after their mother's death and that walk, during which they maintained a stoical facade despite their grief.

While the circumstances were different this time, the Queen having died peacefully aged 96 at her Scottish home, there were similarities - the emotion, the solemn pageantry and the sense of a momentous event unfolding in front of crowds and cameras.

William and his wife Kate, both 40, stepped out of a dark Range Rover near to the Norwich Gates and took time to read messages on the many tributes.

Thousands of well-wishers gathered behind metal barriers to see the couple, who stayed for almost an hour speaking to people.

William told retired dry cleaner Peggy Butcher: "This sea of flowers is unbelievable."

He also extended his thanks to everyone for going to the Norfolk estate on Thursday.

Butcher, 89, and from March in Cambridgeshire, said afterwards: "He seemed to care about us because we cared about the Queen."

Receptionist Jane Wells, 54, of Long Sutton in Lincolnshire, said: "I said how proud his mother would have been of him, and he said how hard it was yesterday because it brought back memories of his mother's funeral."

Caroline Barwick-Walters, 66, of Neath in Wales, said: "He told us how difficult it was yesterday, how it brought back memories of walking behind his mother's coffin."

She said she told William "thank you for sharing your grief with the nation" and that he replied "she was everybody's grandmother".

Gregory Hill, headteacher of Howard Junior School in King's Lynn, was with a group of children aged seven to nine, and he said that William and Kate noticed a Paddington Bear tribute they had made.

"It's got our same logo on the badge as our school uniform and they both commented about that," he said.

Kate then invited eight-year-old Elizabeth Sulkovska to walk with her to place a corgi teddy and a bouquet of flowers among the tributes.

"Elizabeth was overwhelmed, she cried with joy at being chosen," Hill said.

"It's just a wonderful, amazing opportunity."

He said that the Queen's death has "touched a young generation as well", adding: "The older generation obviously knew the Queen for longer but young children that haven't experienced the Queen for long on the throne still are greatly moved by her passing, and really want to do their best to celebrate her life and legacy and never forget her."

Mental health counsellor Julie Young, 51, from March in Cambridgeshire, said: "We asked about the children and how the children are coping with it all.

"He said he thinks George understands but the other two are not really, don't understand."

with PA

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