Two years on since The Queue – will we ever wait in line for that long for anyone else again?

It’s been two years since the famous ‘queue’ snaked ten miles through London as well-wishers looked to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Around a quarter of a million people are estimated to have paid their respects, and the fervour surrounding the ritual reinforced a globally held stereotype: that Brits love queueing.

A behaviour specialist has now broken down the psychology behind queuing and given a verdict on if Brits are truly the best. 

Simbarashe Shamu explained that queuing is a cultural behaviour – meaning it’s shared and learned through belonging to a certain group of culture.

He said: ‘Engaging in this behaviour reveals several things, one of which is that we are amenable to following rules. This rule-governed behaviour is further strengthened through the avoidance of social disapproval from members of our culture. The same is true for other behaviours such as politeness, patience and respect for traditions.

‘When others queue it gives us a sense of order. This is because by queuing they demonstrate cooperation by engaging in the same rule-governed behaviour as us.’

As for the Queen’s enormous queue in 2022, Mr Shamu said there are two main reasons why people queued so long to pay respect to a woman most of them had never met. 

‘The first is that they placed tremendous value on the act of paying their respects. This would have outweighed the value placed on alternative engagements, regardless of the delay or the response effort involved,’ he said.

‘The second is that the significance and uniqueness of the event would have been an establishing operation for queueing, in behavioural terms. In other words, people would have shown more patience for standing in queues as a result of the significance of the event.’

The need for Brits to see the Queen, despite never meeting her, comes from ‘conditioned reinforcement’. This can be attributed to the Queen symbolising tenets important to our society, Mr Shamu explained. 

‘These included stability, continuity, tradition and unity. Seeing the Queen was one way people could honour the connection that was developed over time.’

Before Her Majesty was laid to rest during her state funeral on September 19, 2022, Westminster Hall was open 24 hours a day for people to pay their last respects.

One well-wisher said in 2022: ‘She may be the Queen but she is also somebody’s mum, aunt and granny. I just think she is part of us as well. We have been lucky to have her.’

Firefighters were seen handing out bottles of water, while St John Ambulance volunteers were also at the scene.

At least 400 people in the queue had to be treated at one point, but all eventually made it to see the Queen before she was laid to rest.

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