Lying in state in the context of "Westminster Hall"

A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition. Generally, state funerals are held in order to involve the general public in a national day of mourning after the family of the deceased gives consent. A state funeral will often generate mass publicity from both national and global media outlets.

George V, King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, died at Sandringham House in Norfolk on 20 January 1936, at the age of 70. He was succeeded by the eldest son, Edward VIII, who abdicated later that year. On 23 January, the King's coffin was brought by train to Westminster where it lay in state for four days, during which more than 800,000 members of the public attended. On 28 January, the coffin was carried in procession to Paddington Station and then on to Windsor Castle where a relatively simple funeral service was held, broadcast live on radio.

Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia and leader of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, died on 4 May 1980 following a prolonged illness. His state funeral was held four days later on 8 May, drawing a significant amount of statesmen from Western, Eastern and Non-Aligned countries across the world. The attendees included four kings, six princes, 22 prime ministers, 31 presidents, and 47 ministers of foreign affairs. In total, 128 countries out of the 154 UN members at the time were represented. Also present were delegates from seven multilateral organizations, six movements and forty political parties.

Tito had become increasingly ill throughout 1979. On 7 January and again on 11 January 1980, Tito was admitted to the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana, the capital city of SR Slovenia, with circulation problems in his legs. His left leg was amputated soon afterwards due to arterial blockages, and he died of gangrene at the Medical Centre Ljubljana on 4 May 1980 at 3:05 pm, three days short of his 88th birthday. The Plavi voz, Tito's personal train, brought his body to Belgrade where it lay in state at the Federal Parliament building until the funeral.

Between 14 and 19 September 2022, a queue of mourners waited to file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II while she lay in state at Westminster Hall in London, England. Elizabeth II had died on 8 September, and had previously lain in rest in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh from 12 to 13 September. On official signs the queue was named "lying-in-state queue" and in contemporary media coverage it was simply called "The Queue".

Two separate queues were operated. The main queue had a length of up to 10 miles (16 km) and a maximum waiting time of more than 24 hours; this was the queue that attracted the more media attention. There was also a shorter accessible queue, for people with disabilities or long-term health conditions.

On 2 April 2005, at 21:37 CEST (UTC+2), Pope John Paul II died at the age of 84 in his private apartment at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. His funeral, held on 8 April, was one of the largest gatherings of Christianity's faithful in history, with approximately four million mourners converging on Rome. The ceremonies followed the revised papal funerary rites that John Paul II himself had established in 1996 through the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed both the selection of his successor and the rituals surrounding his death and burial.

The funeral rites included a lying in state at St. Peter's Basilica, a Mass of Repose, and a Requiem Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then Dean of the College of Cardinals. John Paul II's burial was conducted according to his wishes for simplicity, and he was interred beneath St. Peter's Basilica. Dignitaries and religious leaders were present from around the world, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I—the first such attendance since the East–West Schism. Many countries declared periods of national mourning, and prayers were offered worldwide for the late pope. The funeral was followed by the Novendiales, nine days of official mourning and liturgical observances.

A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to its final disposition.

In Christian burial, the bier is often placed in the centre of the nave with candles surrounding it, and remains in place during the funeral.