The Queen: Yorkshire mourners speak of the "sombre, serious silence" at Buckingham Palace procession

Thousands travelled from across the UK to watch the procession, which saw members of the Royal Family follow the Queen’s coffin ahead of its laying in state for the next four days.

Elizabeth Gawthorpe travelled from Church Fenton, near Tadcaster, along with her mother Brenda and daughters Poppy, 16, and Alice, 12.

The family decided on Sunday to travel to the capital to pay their respects, but did not realise when booking their tickets that the procession was going to be the day they would be in London.

Mrs Gawthorpe, a retail manager, said: “Everyone was having a chat and the atmosphere was nice – until you heard the drums come towards your part.

"Then it fell completely silent. It was really respectful and lovely and you just gasped because you knew you were seeing a moment of history.

"People spontaneously just shouted ‘God Save The King’ – I’m choked up thinking of it.

"We’ve been a part of history.

"We couldn’t see the royals on the way there, but saw them in their cars on the way back.

"When I booked to come down, we didn’t know this was happening today. I just wanted to come to Green Park and pay my respects. I didn’t come down for the Jubilee and it’s one of my biggest regrets.

"This is never going to happen again.

"It’s been so busy, we’ve been moved from pillar to post, down the Embankment and over Westminster Bridge.

"It was brilliant, and just really moving.”

Mrs Gawthorpe met the King several years ago after she organised a fundraiser ball for the Prince of Wales Hospice in Pontefract in memory of her friend Caroline Robinson.

The hospice was named for the King, with the Queen’s permission, after he became involved in its fundraising appeal in the 1980s.

Mrs Gawthorpe said: “He was amazing. I’ve always said that, even when people haven’t liked him.

"He wanted to know all about the party, and he thanked us for the fundraising we’d done for the hospice.”

Poppy Gawthorpe said: “Mum’s always been a massive royalist, and every event we’ve always celebrated.

"We just wanted to come down for the atmosphere.

"They’re going to be teaching days like today in school in days to come.“We’ve just been to buy some flowers, and are planning to lay them down outside Buckingham Palace.”

James Henry, a tax director who works in London but is from South Milford, North Yorkshire, came out of his office along with colleagues to watch the procession, which he described as “silent, sombre and serious.”

Mr Henry said: “Her life is an embodiment of service, devotion and ultimate personal sacrifice, such values are seldom found and appreciated in modern society.

"Her passing reminds us that these values and dare I say virtues are what society needs.”

Thousands of mourners flocked to see the moving sight of the Queen departing the official residence where she spent so much of her working life at the heart of the nation, with viewing areas declared full ahead of the procession starting.

At Horse Guards Parade, crowds of mourners, many in tears, applauded as the Queen’s coffin and procession entered the vast ceremonial parade ground, with the bells of Big Ben continuing to sound every minute.

Hundreds of thousands more are expected in London over the coming days, with contingency plans put in place to potentially dissaude people from travelling if the capital is deemed as “full.”