London Mayor Sadiq Khan told CNN the British capital expects hundreds of thousands of people to visit Queen Elizabeth II as it is in Westminster ahead of her funeral on Monday, adding that the situation was “unprecedented”.
“We expect to see over the next few days hundreds of thousands of people personally paying their respects to Her Majesty, but we also expect to see prime ministers, presidents, members of the royal family and others from around the globe,” he continued.
He added: “The really reassuring thing is that our king, King Charles III, had the best possible teacher, the best possible training, and that’s why I’m very confident that he’s going to be an amazing monarch.”
As world leaders and their teams arrive in London for the Queen’s funeral, Khan said the city had never seen such a crowd and such presence.
“In just two days, we will have approximately 300 world leaders, their teams and escorts coming to London. I don’t think our city has ever seen the kind of attendance we’ll see over the next few days,” Khan told Sky News.
He said the number of mourners far exceeds the scale of other events, such as the London Olympics and other royal events, suggesting that the crowds for the Queen’s death are larger than all of those events combined.
“If you think of the London Marathon, the carnival, the past royal weddings, the Olympics – all in one,” Khan said.
“This is a huge operation and we are working very hard together to make sure that we can do it, we can do King Charles, we can do the royal family, our city, our nation, the Commonwealth, what they deserve,” the Mayor of London added.
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