A guard has collapsed off the podium while keeping vigil beside the late Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin at the lying-in-state ceremony holding at the Palace of Westminster in London.

According to the UK Daily Mail, the unnamed guard had moments before his collapse briefly taken some minutes off the stage. He resumed his position just as other guards joined him for a changeover.

However, thousands of mourners present were left in shock when the guard swayed on his feet and eventually fainted.

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He was said to have “blacked out and landed heavily on the palace’s stone floor”.

Police officers present at the event rushed to the spot and came to the guard’s aid.

This was as thousands of mourners gathered to pay their final respects to the 96-year-old monarch who ruled for 70 years.

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After the queen’s death on September 8, Prince Charles, her first son, immediately became the sovereign of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms.

Now known as King Charles III, the 73-year-old monarch was the longest-serving heir apparent and oldest person to assume the throne in British history.