So what now?
The UK is now in national mourning which will last for 12 days, until the day after the Queen's funeral. The Royal Family will stay in mourning for a month, I think. All flags are at half-mast and will remain so until the national mourning is over. Various events have been cancelled such as the last few days of the Proms and several sporting fixtures. Television scheduling will change, the BBC will not play any comedy programmes for the entire 12 days. All presenters will wear black for that length of time as well. All radio stations are playing more sombre music rather than their usual playlists. I've been listening to Absolute Radio as usual and it's just been non-stop music with the usual news bulletins, no adverts and no chatter from the DJs. It's been rather odd to not have the regular upbeat rock music. Daily life continues otherwise. I went to Sainsbury's as usual this morning and was surprised by how busy it was. It didn't feel like anything out of the ordinary though, there was no sombre atmosphere or anything, just the usual bustle.
The day of the funeral itself will be a holiday - the London Stock Exchange will be closed so it's considered a bank holiday. There'll be another holiday for Charles' coronation but that won't be for months yet. Most of the things taking place at the moment are part of Operation London Bridge and Operation Unicorn which deal with transporting the Queen down to London and preparing for the funeral. There will be a lying in state for about 4 days. Senior Royals will take part in the Vigil of the Princes which is a tradition where they stand guard over the coffin. The funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey possibly on Monday 19th September and will be televised but further details of that will probably be released closer to the time. There's a detailed day to day account of everything that will happen in the run up to the funeral here.
There's going to be lots of little changes now that we have a new monarch. All bank notes, coins, and stamps have a profile of the monarch on so there will be new cash and stamps with Charles on. Post boxes, flags, military colours, and the like will have to switch to his royal cypher rather than the Queen's. Passports and Royal Warrants will also have to change their text. The biggest change will be the national anthem. It's now God Save the King and "Send him victorious" which will take a while to learn after singing God Save the Queen for so long.
The day of the funeral itself will be a holiday - the London Stock Exchange will be closed so it's considered a bank holiday. There'll be another holiday for Charles' coronation but that won't be for months yet. Most of the things taking place at the moment are part of Operation London Bridge and Operation Unicorn which deal with transporting the Queen down to London and preparing for the funeral. There will be a lying in state for about 4 days. Senior Royals will take part in the Vigil of the Princes which is a tradition where they stand guard over the coffin. The funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey possibly on Monday 19th September and will be televised but further details of that will probably be released closer to the time. There's a detailed day to day account of everything that will happen in the run up to the funeral here.
There's going to be lots of little changes now that we have a new monarch. All bank notes, coins, and stamps have a profile of the monarch on so there will be new cash and stamps with Charles on. Post boxes, flags, military colours, and the like will have to switch to his royal cypher rather than the Queen's. Passports and Royal Warrants will also have to change their text. The biggest change will be the national anthem. It's now God Save the King and "Send him victorious" which will take a while to learn after singing God Save the Queen for so long.