David Beckham was among mourners who spent hours queuing to see the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall.
The former England captain reportedly queued for over 12 hours on Friday to honour the Queen, who died aged 96 last week.
“I grew up in a household of royalists. If my grandparents would have been here today, I know they would have wanted to be here. So I’m here on their behalf, and on behalf of my family, and to celebrate with everybody else here,” Beckham told ITV News.
“I think Her Majesty meant so much in so many different ways. I can speak on my behalf of the amount of times I was able to meet her through my career and I was very lucky.
“To represent my country, to be captain of my country… every time that we stood there and wore those Three Lions shirts and I had my armband and we sang ‘God Save Our Queen’, that was something that meant so much to us. Every time that we did it, it was something special.
“So this day was always going to be difficult, and it’s difficult for the nation, it’s difficult for everyone around the world because I think everyone is feeling it, and our thoughts are with the family and obviously with everybody here today.
“Because it’s special to be here, to celebrate, and to hear the different stories that people have to say.”
The queue to see the Queen lying in state hit capacity on Friday as entry was paused for six hours, with people snaking five miles from Westminster Hall to Southwark Park in south-east London.
Speaking about the queue, Beckham added: “I thought by coming at 2am it was going to be a little bit quieter. I was wrong.”
Beckham represented England 115 times and scored 17 international goals.
Source: Eurosport