New Yorkers living in London say sense of unity after Queen Elizabeth II's death is similar to the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy
NEW YORK -- The line to see Queen Elizabeth II's coffin has grown so long that wait times could be as long as 24 hours.
Waiting that long in line, along with other customs during the United Kingdom's period of mourning, can seem incredibly foreign for some Americans.
CBS2's Ali Bauman bridged the gap, talking to some former New Yorkers who moved to London almost a decade ago.
Leeor and Jessica Cohen are New Yorkers at heart but have lived in London for the past eight years, ever since their twins were just 10 months old.
"I thought the queen was amazing, and she was very kind and helpful, and that she helped the world and inspired lots of people," 8-year-old Beatrice Cohen said.
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For the past week, as the U.K. comes together in mourning, the Cohens are acting as "royal correspondents," if you will, for their loved ones back home.
"Family and friends all over the world are mesmerized and fascinated by it, so everybody sends emails and tweets and messages, so to speak. They just want to know what's going on," Leeor Cohen said.
Thousands of people waiting upwards of 20 hours in line to see the queen lying in state at Westminster Hall can be hard for many Americans to fathom.
"Queueing is part of the national culture here, but also, I mean," Leeor Cohen said.
"It's a sense of pride as well," Jessica Cohen said.
"She's an enormously unifying element," Leeor Cohen said.
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New Yorkers would be hard-pressed to think of any celebrity as enduring as Queen Elizabeth.
"I think what you see from over this side of the Atlantic, it's really not just the person, it's also the position and the place that makes it a very important element in this country," Leeor Cohen said.
Bauman asked the Cohens what in the United States could compare to the energy throughout London right now.
"It does remind me of when we were in New York and we were in Manhattan during the storms and Sandy and how people came together to help neighbors, and it's very similar to here," Jessica Cohen said.
There's such a grandness to the pomp and circumstance around the royal family, and many of the traditions taking place this week are older than the U.S. itself.
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So why are Americans so bewitched by the Windsors?
"Everybody has lost somebody or has had family members die, and this reminds us that the royal family is just like our families," Jessica Cohen said. "We may not have the jewels and the houses and the palaces, but there are links."
The Cohens say experiencing this togetherness with the other residents of London has made the city feel even more like home to them.