It was with sadness, that Buckingham Palace announced the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday the 8th of September 2022.
She was of course taking a break from her official duties and was spending time at her Scottish retreat, Balmoral Castle at the time of her death.
However, due to the recent resignation of Boris Johnson and with Liz Truss being selected as his replacement as Prime Minister, the Queen did have to make time to speak to them both the day before her death and ask Truss to form a Government.
That process is known as the “Kissing of Hands”, and Her Majesty did, with her usual gusto, perform that ceremony, whilst official photographs of that event did show the Queen looking a little frail, no one would have thought the very next day she would die.
As you may be aware, there is a very strict protocol that comes into force once a British Monarch dies, and part of that protocol is that the United Kingdom now enters what is known as a period of National Mourning, which allows Citizens of the UK, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories to reflect on the demise of the Sovereign.
One aspect of National Mourning is that all Military Establishments, Government Buildings and Royal Residences will fly flags at half-mast, any other organisation is permitted to do the same should they desire, but they are under no obligation to do so.
Business owners are not required to close or suspend their operations during the National Mourning period, however many large privately owned visitor attractions, some UK casinos and other businesses have chosen to close their operations whilst the country is in Mourning.
All Public Services are expected to operate via a business-as-usual approach, however on the day of the State Funeral, it has been announced that day, which for reference is the 19th of September 2022, will be a Bank Holiday. As such most businesses and public services will suspend their operation for a number of hours or will close for the day.
Most religious buildings across Great Britain have chosen to keep their doors open 24 hours a day, to allow anybody wishing to enter to pray or spend some time in silent reflection to be able to do just that.
Due to many people wishing to attend the State Funeral in London, public and private transport schedules have been adjusted to ensure extra services are being laid on the day before, the day of the funeral and the day after that event.
It is to be expected that all public transport services in and around the Capital City will be extremely busy and anyone planning to attend should allow plenty of time and take into account just how busy those services will be.
As the State Funeral falls upon a Monday, there will have been a number of sporting events that had been scheduled for that day, and organisers of such events are being advised that they may wish to reschedule the event taking into account the time and duration of the State Funeral.
Many sporting events however that were due to be televised on Monday the 19th of September 2022 have already been cancelled, even those taking place in the evening, due to the shortage of outside broadcast television units, which have been repurposed to cover the State Funeral.
Most people in the United Kingdom will of course choose to watch the State Funeral on television, but the Queen will be Lying in State for several days, and as such, there is expected to be a huge number of people who will wish to view her coffin and pay her their last respects.