Operation London Bridge

Operation London Bridge is the codename for the plan for what will happen in the days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The plan was originally devised in the 1960s and is updated several times each year. It involves planning from government departments, the Metropolitan Police Service, the British Armed Forces, the Church of England, media and Royal Parks of London. Some key decisions relating to the plan were made by the Queen herself, although some can only be made by her successor after her death.

The phrase "London Bridge is down" will announce the death of the Queen to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and key personnel, setting the plan into motion.

Until the 19th century, British royal funerals were poorly organised. At the funeral of Princess Charlotte in 1817, the undertakers were drunk. The Times described the funeral of King George IV in 1830 as "ill-managed". This changed during the reign of Queen Victoria when she started planning her own funeral in 1875, 26 years before her death.

When King George VI died in 1952, key government officials were informed with the phrase "Hyde Park Corner". This was done to prevent Buckingham Palace switchboard operators from learning the news too soon.

The funeral plan for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, codenamed Operation Tay Bridge, had been rehearsed for 22 years and, in 1997, was used as the basis for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The Queen's private secretary will be the first official (i.e., not one of the Queen's relatives or part of a medical team) to handle the news. The private secretary's first act will be to contact the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and civil servants will convey the phrase "London Bridge is down" using secure telephone lines. The Foreign Office's Global Response Centre, based at a secret location in London, will communicate the news to the governments of the 51 other countries that are part of the Commonwealth of Nations, of which the Queen is the head. (Of the 51 other Commonwealth nations, 15 are additionally Commonwealth realms, which have the Queen as head of state.)

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