THOUSANDS of people have been queuing for a glimpse of Richard III’s coffin 530 years after he fell in battle.

The line stretched from the south door of Leicester Cathedral yesterday, following Sunday’s spectacle of the king’s procession.

At the service of compline at the cathedral, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, described Richard as a man born of his own time – “a child of war”.

Before the service there had been almost celebratory scenes as more than 35,000 lined the route of a procession through the county and city of Leicester, as Richard travelled to the cathedral.

It passed near to the place at Bosworth battlefield where he is thought to have died. The king’s grave site had been thought lost to history until archaeologists discovered his skeleton beneath a Leicester City Council car park. On Thursday, his remains will be lowered into a purpose-built tomb made of Yorkshire Swaledale stone.

• The huge and multicultural crowds at Richard III’s reburial ceremony were an excellent example of how different communities can come together in the name of British values, Theresa May has said.

The Home Secretary said the tens of thousands who turned out were an example of the partnership of individuals and communities to promote British values she insists is a crucial tool in fighting extremism.

She spoke after veteran Tory Sir Edward Leigh highlighted the ceremony on Sunday as a “fine example of British values”.

Sir Edward said: “Huge crowds turned out in our most multicultural city, Leicester, to celebrate English history.”