People disturbed by one Royal protocol involving Queen's coffin and compare it to zoo exhibit

One Royal protocol involving the Queen's coffin has left people disturbed and led some to compare it to a 'zoo exhibit'.

Thousands of people have walked by the Queen's coffin as she lay in state in Scotland, and thousands more are waiting to do so when it is taken down to London.

Her body was first driven from Balmoral Castle to Edinburgh, where it lay in state in St Giles' Cathedral, and it will now be flown down to London ahead of her state funeral on 19 September.

However, one aspect of the ceremony has left people feeling disturbed as they believe having the Queen's children stand vigil around her coffin is a bit like an exhibit at the zoo.

For 10 minutes the Queen's children stood around her coffin accompanied by four members of the Royal Company of Archers.

It's a (relatively) new Royal tradition which can be part of the protocol for a monarch's funeral known as the Vigil of the Princes.

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It is a mark of respect, but some people are finding it a bit strange that many members of the public saw the Queen's coffin as her children were standing silently and unmoving beside it.

One person said they found it 'weird' that the new King and his family were standing silently around the coffin 'while the public walk by staring'.

Another said the public going to see the coffin and the Royals 'like they're an exhibit at the zoo' was 'so weird'.

Someone else said they 'want to know exactly who decided it was a good idea' to have the Queen's children standing around her coffin 'while tourists walked past like they're at a zoo'.

The Royal Family are expected to hold another vigil for the Queen at Westminster Hall after her body has been flown down to London.

As a tradition, the Vigil of the Princes is actually less than a century old and this is only the third time it has been performed.

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It was first done for King George V's funeral in 1936, with King Edward VIII, Prince Albert (later King George VI), Prince Henry and Prince George standing vigil over their father's body.

During that occasion Westminster Hall was closed to the public, making it a moment of privacy for the late monarch's sons to remember their father.

There was no vigil for King George VI, the late Queen's father, when he died in 1952 as he had daughters and his grandchildren were very young at the time.

The second Vigil of the Princes was held in 2002 for his wife, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, where Charles, Andrew, Edward and David Armstrong-Jones, Princess Margaret's son, stood vigil over her body.

With the third Vigil of the Princes held for the late Queen, Princess Anne has become the first woman to participate in the tradition and unlike the previous two occasions the public were allowed in while members of the Royal family stood their vigil.