The death of Queen Elizabeth II will trigger Operation “London Bridge”. Prepared since the 1960s, supervised by the sovereign herself, it details in detail the events of the ten days that will lead to her funeral. In a series of extremely precise documents, which leaked in 2017 in the Guardian, then, in 2021, on the site Politico, all the royal, political and diplomatic choreography is described to the millimeter, so as not to leave the slightest risk that emotion will lead to a faux pas. Everything is described, bells that will ring, including that of Big Ben, whose gavel is covered in leather for the occasion in order to muffle the sound, until the printing of the ten thousand tickets provided for the guests present at the funeral. The documents unfold the events chronologically, from D-Day to D+10.
D-Day. “London Bridge is down”
The code “London Bridge is down” is broadcast by Palace officials who inform the Prime Minister of the death. In 1952, on the death of George VI, the Queen’s father, the code was “Hyde Park Corner”, and the idea then was not to leak the information to the telephone operators. Current technologies, with secure lines, no longer require these precautions, but the principle has been maintained.
The media are informed by a press release sent to Press Association, the British press agency. The BBC, which has repeated the event regularly for years, is informed directly. Only three editors are empowered to order the presenter to announce the news. The sentence to pronounce has been written for ages: “You watch the BBC, from London. We interrupt these programs to announce the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Queen Elizabeth II is dead. » The instructions are strict: no “breaking news” banner, no sensational tone; is to read a “official announcement”not exceptional information.
For British private radios, a system of blue lights, tested once a week, is used in the event of “national disaster”. These are supposed to flash at the time of major events, allowing presenters to temporarily end their program to make way for a news flash. But what has been prepared for a long time does not always work: when the queen mother died in 2002, these lights were not switched on.
At Buckingham Palace, a black-framed announcement is placed at the entrance to the gates. Televisions from all over the world position themselves on locations reserved in advance in front of the Palace, where a fiber optic system is installed.
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