Sharjah24 - AFP: Thousands of people queued throughout the night in Edinburgh on Tuesday to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II before her coffin was to be flown to London ahead of a state funeral.

Her eldest son and successor, King Charles III, will meanwhile visit Northern Ireland to meet political and religious leaders before a church service.

Charles, 73, is on a tour of all four nations of the United Kingdom to mark the start of his reign. He is due to visit Wales on Friday before the queen's funeral on September 19.

In Edinburgh on Monday evening, Charles and his three siblings held a 10-minute vigil beside their mother's coffin in Saint Giles' cathedral, as people paid their respects at the 12th-century place of worship.

Four members of the monarch's Scottish bodyguard, the Royal Company of Archers, stood heads bowed at each corner of the oak coffin.

It was draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland and topped with the ancient Crown of Scotland and a wreath including heather from Balmoral, the remote royal retreat where the 96-year-old head of state died peacefully last Thursday.

Images of the poignant, pomp-filled scene dominated the front pages of Britain's newspapers on Tuesday.

"The Queen's guard," headlined The Times, alongside a photo of a sombre-looking Charles.