Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

Determined members of the public joined a lineup that stretched for kilometres along the south bank of the Thames River on Wednesday, waiting hours to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II as she began lying in state.

Equipped with sleeping bags, books and backpacks of food, they formed a queue that was nearly four kilometres long as of 6 p.m. local time. With Westminster Palace silhouetted across the river, people waited patiently as the line wound its way past the London Eye and across Lambeth Bridge.

As he stood between wind-whipped Canadian flags on a podium in Iqaluit in 2017, Prince Charles recalled his official first visit to Canada's North nearly half a century earlier.

"I have never forgotten the warmth of the welcome from the Inuit people, which made me feel instantly at home, as indeed I have with all Canadians on my subsequent visits," said Charles, who drew applause from the crowd in Nunavut's capital with a halting attempt at an Inuktitut greeting.

Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, are set to begin a three-day tour of Canada this week that will focus on Indigenous reconciliation and climate change — and on connecting with a Canadian public that is increasingly skeptical of the monarchy.