Thousands of mourners have been paying their last respects to the Queen of Soul as the singer’s body lays in repose ahead of her funeral on Friday. Aretha Franklin’s fans have been paying their final respects to the Queen of Soul on Tuesday during a two-day public viewing.
The iconic singer’s body was displayed in an open, gold-plated casket, while her hits played from loudspeakers outside the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, where her body will lay in repose ahead of her funeral on Friday.
She was transported to the museum on Tuesday morning in a vintage white Lasalle and passed by hundreds of fans who had stayed up all night to see her and be the first to pay their respects to the singer.
The soul star, who was surrounded by flowers, was dressed in a striking red cocktail dress and matching red stilettos.
“Forever Our Queen,” a banner at the museum read.
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The Queen of Soul’s sequined dress, heels, lipstick and earrings were all a matching ruby red -
Her soaring voice poured out from loudspeakers outside the Detroit museum, stirring fans to sway and sing along and others to weep as they lined up for a last glimpse of the Queen of Soul -
She was transported to the museum on Tuesday morning in a vintage white Lasalle -
Franklin’s body was displayed in an open, gold-plated casket -
“She was a symbol for us,” Ann Fortson, 63, said after emerging from the rotunda. The retired teacher had driven seven hours from Charleston, West Virginia, with two friends the previous day. “There was no way we’d miss paying our respects” -
Her body was displayed in an open, gold-plated casket that glowed beneath the grand rotunda’s glass dome ceiling -
She was surrounded by clouds of pretty purple and pink flowers -
Fans gathered to pay their respects -
“Aretha made a lot of women look at themselves differently and changed how a lot of men looked at women,” Alma Riley, 67, said after waiting in line outside the visitation -
The preacher’s daughter first topped the charts in 1967 with “Respect,” her no-nonsense reworking of a modest hit for Otis Redding into an enduring anthem for feminism and the civil rights movement -
The vintage white Lasalle -
Fans had been camping outside the museum all night -
Detroit is treating Franklin’s death as the passing of royalty, with a week of mourning, including a free tribute concert at a park on Thursday evening 
While Friday’s funeral is closed to the public, the streets outside are due to be lined with dozens of pink Cadillacs, the Detroit-built luxury cars -
Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson, Ronald Isley and Stevie Wonder, among others, are due to sing at her funeral on Friday at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple -
Reverend Jesse Jackson walks out of the Charles H. Wright African American Museum -
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who had Franklin sing at his 1993 inauguration celebrations, will be among the speakers at her funeral on Friday -
She also sang at former President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009(Image: AFP)18 of 19 -
Franklin died last week at the age of 76 from pancreatic cancer 
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