LONDON    -   US President Joe Biden was in London on Sunday to pay his last respects to Queen Elizabeth II, as or­dinary mourners waiting in marathon lines were warned that time was running out to view her cof­fin lying in state.

After witnessing the sombre scene in parlia­ment’s Westminster Hall, Biden, Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and other world leaders were due to at­tend a reception with the late queen’s successor, King Charles III.

Biden, who flew in late Saturday, has said that Elizabeth “defined an era” after she reigned for a record-breaking 70 years leading up to her death on September 8, aged 96. Australia’s anti-mon­archy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who viewed the lying-in-state and met Charles on Sat­urday, told Sky News Australia that the queen was “a constant reassuring presence”.

There was also a private audience at Bucking­ham Palace for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, which like Australia and 12 oth­er Commonwealth realms now counts Charles as its sovereign. “You could see that it meant a huge amount (to Charles) to have seen the sheer scale and outpouring of people’s love and affection for her late Majesty,” she told BBC television Sunday