Britain’s longest-serving queen, Queen Elizabeth II, died at 96. The UK will observe 10 days of mourning.
Her demise after 70 years on the throne sparks a top-secret military operation known as ‘London Bridge’ – the ceremonial formalities when the British monarch dies.
The British Broadcasting Corporation paused newscasts and media was blacked out when Union flags around the nation were lowered to half staff.
White House and Capitol Building flags will also be lowered to half-staff.
The state funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey in London after 10 days of sorrow.
While funeral arrangements begin, the accession procedure for a new leader begins.
Prince Charles, 73, is already king, but custom requires that he be proclaimed monarch the day after the queen’s death.
This will happen at the Accession Council’s St. James’s Palace meeting.
King Charles’ ascension is codenamed Operation Spring Tide.
Since Her Majesty died in Scotland at her beloved Balmoral Castle, Operation Unicorn is underway.
The protocol is part of the 1960s-era Operation London Bridge preparations that have never been formally released.
The Queen’s coffin will be transported 103 miles from Balmoral Castle to Edinburgh, where she will lie in state at Holyroodhouse.
The coffin will be taken to St Giles’ Cathedral on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile for a funeral.
Her Majesty will then return to Buckingham Palace in London for the next eight days of mourning.
Another backup plan, Operation Overstudy, will be initiated if the voyage is made by air, most likely flying the coffin on a Queen’s Flight aircraft to RAF Brize Norton or RAF Northholt.
All elements of the British state will need to take extraordinary action, including a massive security operation, to manage the huge crowds and traffic problems that might lead to London being proclaimed ‘full’
The Queen’s final public photo was taken in the Drawing Room of Balmoral Castle, Scotland. She met Liz Truss, the next British PM
Tens of millions of people will mourn the lady who led Britain through 9/11, the Cold War, and the coronavirus outbreak.
Her death marks the end of the second Elizabethan Era, when the Queen forged a strong relationship between the UK and the US.
She met 13 of the last 14 presidents, from Harry Truman to Joe Biden. Johnson was the exception.
The Queen died at Balmoral, where she was’most happy’ and made wonderful memories with her family and late husband Prince Philip, who died at 99 on April 9, 2021.
A day following the Queen’s death, the Accession Council will meet at St James’s Palace.
The conference will include Privy Counsellors, Great Officers of State, and the Lord Mayor and City Civic party.
High Commissioners and senior British civil servants are also on the council.
Britain will announce King Charles, formally the Prince of Wales, at this gathering.
After the Queen’s death, the new line of throne succession. Prince Charles is king
The day the Queen died is called D-Day.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss was the first person outside Buckingham Palace to learn of the Queen’s death.
Before sending a “official notification” to the leading British broadcasters, including the BBC, a “call cascade” was made to members of the British Cabinet, the privy council, and senior officials in the Armed Forces.
According to London Bridge plans, they will have read a script that said, “We just learned of the Queen’s death.” We need discretion.
Once the public was informed, an email was set to be sent to ministers and civil workers saying, ‘With regret, I notify you of the death of Her Majesty The Queen.’
Whitehall in London and state buildings nationwide have lowered or will lower their flags.
Parliament will be summoned in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The Royal Family’s website is black with a notice of the Queen’s death.
Government websites now display pre-designed banner ads.
Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will turn dark and pause all tweets save those already agreed.
From Downing Street, the PM will pay tribute to Her Majesty.
Later, the PM and Cabinet members will attend a Remembrance ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Her Majesty appears on the Buckingham Palace balcony during her Platinum Jubilee’s final day in 2022. It was her last time on the London balcony.
A new image of the Queen unveiled by the Royal Windsor Horse Show for her 96th birthday this year.
10am
All Privy Counsellors, Great Officers of State, the Lord Mayor and City Civic party, Realm High Commissioners, and top government workers will meet at Buckingham Palace for the Accession Council.
They’ll announce King Charles as the new king, but he can change his name.
Using his Christian or middle name, he may become King Philip, Arthur, or George instead of Charles III.
Every new monarch since George I in 1714 has sworn to ‘inviolably defend and safeguard the genuine Protestant Religion’ in Scotland.
All males at the ceremony must wear morning dress or lounge suits with dark ties. Medals and decorations are banned.
40-year-old Prince William becomes heir to the throne. After William’s children, Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3, Prince Harry, 37, is next in line.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall will be Queen Consort after Queen Elizabeth II’s consent.
The Accession Proclamation will be read and signed at St. James’s Palace and other places, including Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast.
A 41-gun salute will be fired in Hyde Park at the Council’s order.
After that, politicians would vow loyalty to the new monarch.
The Prime Minister will lead tributes in the House of Commons at noon.
At 3:30pm GMT, the PM and Cabinet will see King Charles. Spouses aren’t allowed.
The then Princess Elizabeth in a dance dress in 1932 and her first Christmas broadcast in 1952.
The Queen’s death at Balmoral implies the most complicated scenario under ‘Operation London Bridge’ – her mourning and funeral – will now be put in action.
The passing of the monarch in Scotland is covered under Operation Unicorn.
It involves suspending activity at the Scottish Parliament and transporting the Queen’s coffin from Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire to Edinburgh, where she will rest in state at Holyroodhouse.
People can pay their respects at St Giles’ Cathedral on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
The next leg of the Queen’s journey will be by train from Waverley Station to London’s King’s Cross, or by plane.
If the monarch’s body travels by train, thousands of people may pay their respects along the East Coast mainline.
Another backup plan, Operation Overstudy, will be initiated if the voyage is made by air, most likely flying the coffin on a Queen’s Flight aircraft to RAF Brize Norton or RAF Northholt.
When the coffin arrives in London, it will be received by the Prime Minister and her Cabinet.
The queen’s casket will be placed in Buckingham Palace’s Throne Room.
There will be an altar, a pall, the Royal Standard, and four Grenadier Guards with bearskin headgear and rifles pointing down.
New line of succession Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
Prince George Princess Charlotte Prince Louis Prince Harry
Archie Mtb-Windsor
Mountbatten-Windsor
Duke Andrew
Beatrice, Sienna, Mapelli, Mozzi
Eugenie Brooksbank
Lord Wessex
Lord Severn
Lady M. Windsor
Lady Anne
Peter Phillips Savannah
Isla Philp
Zayn Malik
Tindall
L. Tindall
Mr. Tindall
The Earl of Snowdon
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King Charles will commence his tour of the UK at Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament.
Parliamentarians will issue a “motion of condolence”
In Edinburgh, he’ll visit the Scottish parliament and attend a memorial service at St. Giles Cathedral.
Day 4
King Charles will next fly to Northern Ireland, where the devolved parliament will give another motion of condolence at Hillsborough Castle, the residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the monarch’s official residence there.
Then he’ll attend St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.
Operation Lion, the procession of the Queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Palace via The Mall, will begin in London.
Day 5
The Queen’s body will leave Buckingham Palace and lie in state at Westminster Palace.
It will be the first major military parade after Her Majesty’s passing.
A similar leisurely march for the Queen Mother in 2002 involved 1,600 people. It can hold a million people.
An event will be held when she arrives.
Day 6-9
Three days of Operation Feather, the Queen lying in state, commence.
Her coffin will sit on a dark catafalque to make it easier for the public to see it during the funeral or while in state.
Westminster Hall will be open 23 hours a day, but VIPs will go first. Timed slots will be available for tributes.
Meanwhile, Charles will go to Wales on his final UK stop. He’ll visit the Welsh parliament before a funeral service in Cardiff.
Royal household and Whitehall will be busy organizing for heads of state, VIPs, and dignitaries to attend the burial on Day 10.
The Department for Transport, Home Office, and Border Force have plans for how many Britons and foreign tourists will visit London in this period. More than a million could come.
10
Queen’s funeral is on day 10. It’ll be a “Day of National Mourning,” but not a statutory holiday in Britain.
Her Majesty will attend the state funeral at Westminster Abbey, followed by a two-minute silence at lunchtime. 2,000 are anticipated.
The pallbearers will lay the casket on the green gun carriage used for the Queen’s father, his father, and his father’s father, and 138 junior sailors will pull.
This tradition began at Queen Victoria’s burial in 1901 when horses threatened to bolt at Windsor Station and ratings jumped in to move the coffin.
The procession will reach the Mall. From Hyde Park Corner, the hearse will drive 23 miles to Windsor Castle, which holds British sovereigns. The royal household will wait on the grass.
The lift to the royal vault will descend in St George’s Chapel, and King Charles will drop red earth from a silver basin.
Her Majesty will be interred with Prince Philip.
When will Prince Charles be crowned? The Queen was crowned 16 months after King George VI died.
The Queen and Prince Charles at a banquet on Oct. 23, 2016. Charles is king
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip laugh at a welcome for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in March 2015.
Her state funeral was April 9, 2002. Here, Westminster Abbey’s congregation watches as pallbearers place her coffin on the catafalque. The hearse carrying Queen Mother’s casket to Windsor Castle in 2002
The royal standard at full staff flies over Windsor Castle behind King George VI’s coffin and the Queen’s carriage on February 6, 1952.
A royal parade through Norfolk in 1936 after King George V’s death. The Queen’s coffin will be mounted on a green gun carriage used by her father and his father.