There were two plans. 1) if she passed in London and 2) if she passed in Balmoral. Plan 2 was actived because she passed away in Balmoral (her home). The plan was to fly her to london from Edinburgh. In the planning process, they were logistical issues about using the royal plane due to the space wasn't big enough to get her off the plane in a dignified way - which was seen when Diana was flown home. So the Queen asked what other options were available, and the RAF said the plane that flies UK soldiers home on their final journey but advised it wasn't visually good, a big grey plane. The Queen responded "if its good enough for my boys, it's good enough for me." Even in death, she was one with her military.

She was the Queen for the vast majority, for all of our lives. Still seems strange she's no longer with us. To many it felt like losing our own grandmother.

Operation London Bridge was first planned in the early 1960s and subsequently regularly revised, updated and rehearsed. On the 8th of September 2022 the command “London Bridge is down “ was issued and it was put into action.

I still cry now when I see any footage from the funeral, I think for the majority of us it just felt so surreal. Because she ruled for so long she had always been a constant presence in our lives and thinking of our country without her is really sad 😔 even now almost 1 year on I still can’t get used to hearing “God Save The King” or hearing our barristers referred to as KCs rather than QCs etc. She really was the heart and soul of our country and she is sorely missed 💔

I met her majesty and was in line for over 11 hours to pay my respects, to this day i am so proud of the work she put in over the 70 years.

Hearing about the Queen still makes me cry .

The difference in police in the US to the police in the UK is one is a police force and the other is a police service!

Remember she gave us 70 years, what is our 14/ 16 hrs waiting to say Thank you, and God Bless.

The Queen planned every aspect of her funeral, she knew exactly what would happen, she even chose the Songs & Hymes to be played at each stage, and requested her Bagpipe Player to play a song as she was lowered.

Every single person in the UK was silent after the queen died ive never felt that feeling and everyone in the uk was just so respectful and no one would talk we just thought

We loved her so much. No one was as selfless as her and was as unselfish. God bless her no one that has not witnessed her could understand how much we are so grateful she was our queen. not many people would feel this way about their leaders but even now I cry for this amazing woman. thank you Elizabeth.

I believe that the Queen had a massive input into her funeral and the hearse that carried her body was specifically designed by the Queen so the coffin could be seen even when dark

One of my nephews who joined the Royal Navy a few years back was one of the lads marching one of those big guns in the procession.

The Queen was our go to in time's of crisis or status quo. Always there.

I'm 65 years old and Queen Elizabeth was in my life longer than my parents. Feels very strange her not being around and no, I never seen her or met her. She was just always there.

One of the loveliest parts of the whole event was watching the coffin moving from Balmoral to London. So poignant and fantastic seeing all the traffic and people stopping to watch it as it made its way along the route.

Steve it's been almost a year and yet seeing the opening scenes of that video brought a tear to the eye. It still seems impossible that the Queen is no longer with us.....

When Diana (who was no longer a part of the Royal Family) died unexpectedly, they used the plan which had been put in place for Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Wow! This video had me all emotional again. I remember where I was when I heard of The Queen's passing and how I felt. I travelled all the way from Bournemouth up to London to pay my respects. I got there as early as possible on the first day so the queue wasn't too long, compared to how long it eventually became. So after waiting in the queue for a few hours it only took three or four hours to reach Westminster Hall and file past the coffin. On the day of the funeral I sat in front of four tablets to see the proceedings from four different perspectives. So many networks covering the event.

No! I looked at her as my Queen, and it broke my heart when she died.

The start of this made me cry and writing this I'm in tears I cannot think about Her Majesty without being emotional

When I was a child there was a popular "ditty" that went, "if you want to know the time, ask a policeman"! Meaning literally, even the most simple question will be answered.

Can't believe next month will be a year since we lost our wonderful Queen 😢 💔 🖤

I can say with full confidence that there is another operation already in planning for the kings funeral. It’s just what the British are like, “hope for the best, prepare for the worst”

The +Queen’s funeral plan included scenarios for if she died in London, Windsor, Sandringham, Scotland, and out of the country. As she died in Scotland, that plan, Operation Unicorn, was implemented for that aspect of the ceremonies and everything.

My late father was awarded a QPM - they are not handed out very readily and we were hugely proud of him. He took a delegation of officers from his force to Caernarvon back in 1969, when then-Prince Charles was formally invested as Prince of Wales. Not on quite the same scale, but a similar approach. He explained to me that for occasions like this the officers lining the streets, facing the barricades, are instructed to get to know their section of the crowd, to be as helpful and friendly as they can. That helps the event go smoothly - the crowd come to know and trust "their" officer, but also the officer will be able to spot changes in mood or the intrusion of "strangers" very rapidly, and thus detect threats as soon as they manifest. Thank you for sharing this; I hadn't seen it. The Met are not always trusted or liked, as some terrible recent events evidence, but this showed just how good they can be at their best - proud of their service and their Service.

1 year on I'm still have water in my eyes. She's still missed. I went to London, the queue was too long but it's still a big regret that I didn't see her in lying-in-state. I went to see the flowers and instead of buying flowers, I gave to one of the charity she was patron.

Having served my queen and country I like many others swore an oath of allegiance to her majesty and her heirs and successors, it’s something that lives with me until I take my last breath…

I've been a Royalist all of my 49 years. That day was such a sad day for our nation, and for myself personally. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get emotional. I never met the Queen, but did get to see her up close (within 6ft), on two different occasions. She was always gracious, smiling, and happy to meet and greet the crowds. Myself and my family were some of those that queued for 12-13 hours for the lying in state. It was around a 9 mile walk I believe, but due to the sheer enormity of the public wanting to pay their respects it took that long to get there. We started queuing around 10am, and go to Westminster Hall, where the Queen was lying in state, around 11pm. So worth it to pay our respects, and just for a brief few minutes be able to say goodbye to our Queen.

This doesn’t really give an idea of how many waited to see her lying in state. The line took me over 12 hours, started at 10pm and didn’t get in until 11am the next day. Was a sad but amazing experience to walk London at night with thousands of people to pay our last respects

The queue to see the Queen's coffin during the lying in state stretched right across central London. I'm surprised that they managed to get people through in just 14 hours. RIP to a wonderful woman, the mother of the Commonwealth. We will not see her like again. And well done to the Met for doing an extremely difficult job very well.

With my mum a lifelong royalist, I hear stories of previous monarchs in other centuries: their coronations, weddings, funerals - the size of the events with people lining the streets, the celebrations and marking of occasions. This really is the first time most of us have seen such living history, with her reign long enough for retired people to have been born under her reign. The most symbolic moment was the snapping of the staff and removal of the jewels from the coffin. Almost like she was handing the power back as God took her back (the official fundamental belief of the monarch). Gloriously medieval.

I started to cry as soon as I saw the old footage of Huw Edward announcing it on the BBC, even though it’s nearly a year since her death. I had the privilege of seeing The Queen and Prince Philip during a walkabout in my home town in Wales, during her Silver Jubilee tour in 1977, I was 11 at the time, great memories, what got me during our national mourning was when The Queen was taken to Westminster Hall for her Lying in State, Big Ben tolled every minute and and the band played Beethoven’s and Chopin’s funeral march, I was in floods of tears

Oh wow! Leaking eyes again.

"She's gone" were the two words that many stated after they heard the sad news the Queen had died. Everyone in the UK & even people globally knew exactly who those two words were meant for. Now, everytime the Queen is mentioned i get a sickly sad feeling that reminds me She has gone & it really is like someone i thought of dearly like a mother/grandmother had died. I know i am not the only one with these feelings, millions feel the same. 🇬🇧🇺🇸

She was there every day for most of my life and there will never be another like her

It’s still so surreal to think that Queen Elizabeth isn’t here anymore. It still surprises me, then jumps back into my consciousness when I see myself at her funeral at 7:58 as I’d slept out at Whitehall to pay my respects. And the policing (as well as the parading by the armed forces that continued on the streets outside throughout the ceremony in the Abbey) was so impressive! It was like absolute clockwork, the whole thing, from the moment I arrived about 24hrs before the funeral, and such a surreal sense of quiet for the whole time, even though there were hundreds of thousands of people in such a small section of the city. Truly spectacular. To show the level of planning … around midnight of the night before the funeral, machinery was brought in to remove all the traffic lights and fencing around Westminster, as wider space was needed to allow the procession to pass through along Whitehall. We were told they are installed in a way so they can be removed easily as the route is important for royal funerals, weddings and coronations. THAT’S the level of planning that went into all this!

Not a Mother or a Grandmother but the leader of our armed forces the police and the Country

I really love your videos it was so sad when she left Scotland on the plane it went over our town you could see it clearly in the sky it was very moving up

Our queen is surely missing 70 years of her service RIP to out ony queen of England ❤

The queen funeral had been planned for years, the queen herself had a big say in what was to happen and chose the hymns and songs and music she wanted. The route and what and where were planned , so it was putting those plans into action while not knowing just how many people would line the route and everything that would be needed to support the crowds with first aid, ambulance support and crime prevention. People actually camped out for days in the run up to the event to get a good spot. The people loved her majesty and it showed in how they turned out gor her.

What really hit me about Queen Elizabeth's passing. My own mother passed away on 8th September 2019. So that made it harder for me.

The name of the operation was London Bridge from the Nursery Rhyme "London Bridge is falling down"*. Upon the death, apparently, the code phrase was "the bridge has fallen". *London Bridge is falling down/Falling down, falling down/London Bridge is falling down/My fair lady

There are also plans in place for the king it takes many years of planning

I know I shouldn't be but I'm a little surprised that it was an all-female team in charge. Magnificent job ladies!

I met the Queen when I was around 9. She came to our Primary School for a visit. I was showing off football skills along with a number of other kids on the school playground. She asked me if I liked football. I told her I didn’t but they made the good kids learn football skills to show off for her visit and hid all the naughty kids that were actually good at football. She laughed and got hurried along by the headmaster away from me. At the time I wasn’t being rebellious, I was just being honest. Look back now and laugh. And I still remember the way she smells. Like rose scented perfume.

I'm watching this In bed crying because we all loved the queen and I miss seeing her in the news on TV etc.. She wanted to die in Scotland. I went to the queen mothers funeral and climbed high up on a building to get a good view which was also a state funeral and I will never forget. The pomp and ceremony is not anything I can describe without you bring there but I fekt so proud to be British that day and the same as Diana's funeral and now the Queens funeral.

We were at Windsor Castle and everyone was very well behaved and respectful.

Huge respect and admiration for all the police from across the UK and the especially the London Metropolitan Police for delivering such a complex operation so successfully. It was amazingly well planned and executed in every respect and despite all the VIP's from around the world and obvious security concerns, it all proceeded without incident. thankfully. This was a time of huge significance for our country and we remember our late Queen with great love and respect. RIP Queen Elizabeth II 🇬🇧

Each senior member of the Royal family has a very detailed funeral plan in place and each one has a different operational code name. Our late Queen was operation London Bridge. Her late husband Prince Philip was operation Forth Bridge. Her late mother was operation Tay Bridge which was also used for the funeral of the late Princess Diana. King Charles is using operation Menai Bridge. Each person plans their funeral down to the last detail and it takes many years in the making.

It was a wonderful funeral, very sad but amazing. Been planned by the Queen & others with advice for many years but still such hard work. Very proud of everyone for the amazing respect shown.

She was a wonderful lady who served her country well for the whole of her life, she is missed immensely

The British are experts at organising large events like this. Thankfully we don't have these sad events too often, and hopefully we won't see another one like it for a long time.

Thinking about Her Majesty still brings a tear to my eye. I believe the Queen organised every aspect of her funeral and what would happen if she died in another country of the UK. When arranging what she wanted to happen should she die in Scotland she was told that there wasn't a suitable plane to take her back to london, the only plane suitable was the one used to bring the fallen back from Afghanistan, her Majesty replied that if it was good enough for her boys it was good enough for her.

She picked the hearst with big windows and lights so her people could get a clear look at her , and picked the flowers she wanted and the pole bearers and a lot more

I watched the entire 9 hour journey live on tv from the moment the Queen's hearse came through the gates of Balmoral Castle and made it's way through the Scottish countryside to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, and then to lying in State at St Giles Cathedral with the Scottish crown on her coffin, before going down to London. The police in London did an amazing job controlling and protecting tens of thousands. I did not know there were police from outside the UK there. Interesting that the Gold and Silver commanders were both women!

I was there along the mall , very moving I have to say . Everything is organised down to the last detail , my son was an officer keeping the area safe on the day 😊. Years and years in the planning Steve .

On the subject of Policing and the demeanour of LEO's, in the early 90's I was waiting outside JFK Airport, about 12 foot from a cop who was leaning on a glass window of the airport. I noticed that his belt was pulling down the right hand side of his trousers and said to him "Blimey that Gun looks heavy", he turned his head, looked me square in the face and BELLOWED "D'ya wanna fin' out!". I raised my eyebrows, shook my head and walked off. When I turned around he was following me in such a comical gunslinger pose that made me laugh, he was not a happy chappie! My ride turned up, a stunning midnight Blue XJ Jaaaag from our company, Officer Dibble wasn't invited to the Company BBQ.

The Police are usually friendly and approachable in normal circumstances , but when the situation demands they are capable of dealing and have specialist units quickly available . There are plans for all National events and the death of the Queen was one that everyone knew would come , unlike Diana which was sudden and unexpected , but to be the one to actually have to carry it out must be daunting and this video was very good . The Queen was loved and respected throughout the world , our services swear allegiance to the Monarch rather than the Government and she took her duties seriously . The King and the Royal family have a hard act to follow , but a vast reservoir of affection to help them thanks to her .

3 generations the queen served ❤

I Walked For 13 Hrs , To See Her Late Most Glorious Majesty Lying In State , & Entered The Hall At 4.30 In The Morning !, A Truly Wonderful Experience , Treated So Well By Our Amazing Police Forces & Londoners !

Love watching your reactions and appreciate that you don’t talk for the sake of it but only when it fits. God bless you from the UK 🇬🇧

Many years ago I met a lovely young police officer in Manhattan, opposite St Patrick's cathedral on our last day in New York that trip. He was professional but just as friendly as our 'bobbies' on the beat, chatting and letting us take photo's. Officer McCormack.

The late Queen had laid out plans for her funeral decades ago under the code name "Operation London Bridge" and was regularly updated. Within this operation there were also other plans incorporated to cover the possibility of her dying overseas, or in Scotland. As she died at Balmoral, her Scottish holiday home, "Operation Unicorn" then had to be put into action for the events in Scotland before she was brought back to London. As well as policing the streets of London, it was also a huge security operation with so many head of state attending. They all came to Westminster Abbey in buses from a secret location, apart from Jo Biden, who was allowed to use his own vehicle.

There used to be a Policeman on every main street corner of London when I was young, people could ask them the way or the time and kids would talk to them. Now they are all in cars. For Diana's Funeral which me and my son and daughter went to unexpectedly, (my son's 17th birthday and we were going shopping in Oxford Street that morning) we took photos of my young daughter with the very nice Policemen and women. Some were on horseback. Imagine ....they had 1 week to prepare for that day.

Amazing stuff. The operation was absolutely gargantuan and the Police did a fantastic job, no question. The People that were not mentioned were the ones with the ultimate Power.

The Queen was quite simply the most stable part of many of our lives. I never got to speak to her but I have seen her majesty’s many times as I lived in Windsor and Wolferton. The Sandringham estate.

Not just the Met. Thames Valley had officers on the route on the final part. I spent the day fielding calls and watching the system uptime on one monitor while watching the events on the other.

Respect to everyone involved. You did the Queen and the country proud.

Operation London Bridge had been in place since HM was 25 and when she came to the throne. It was tweeked over years. HM approved the final plan and HM also had Jaguar build her, her own hearse. Which she had altered to include more glass and a higher roof line.😮

Still made me cry!

We are masters at these types of events. 😊

Although, these days, you have to consider that some individual or group, may plan to interrupt the procession, I have a feeling that if the crowd got hold of them before the police, there would probably not be enough left of them to put in a body bag, so thank God nobody tried.

Fantastic! Job done! God Bless them. God Bless her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It seems we've hardly had enough time to dwell on her passing. It's still a shock. Every time I see one of the programmes related to this event it strikes me again what a shock it wqs to hear Her Majesty had passed away. Highest respect to those who served her so wonderfully. Highest respect to Her Majesty who served her people as "Your servant", ER II, with such dignity, honour and Faith to the end. God Bless her and keep her in His Grace. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Having been involved in the military side of the Queen's funeral, I can assure you that you were 100% right about it being stressful as hell for the whole 10 day period! As for how long it's been planned for, they actually started planning for it just after she'd taken the throne, because they couldn't predict how long she'd live for, as dark as that sounds.

The following is purely my own thoughts on the matter. The big difference that I suspect exists between the UK and the USA were police are concerned is that I get the impression that in the US the police regard themselves as separate from the community they are supposed to serve. I have heard and read of US police officers describing members of the general public as 'civilians' as though, they, the police, are some kind of military force. Indeed I sometimes think that in some cases US police officers behave as though they are an occupying army in the midst of a hostile foreign country. I admit to have never visited the US, my impression is formed from news items and articles I have read, but there really does seem to be a huge difference between the two countries. In the UK the police are a part of the community and they act by the consent of the wider general public. I am not saying they are perfect, there will always be those who overstep the mark, on both sides, but by and large our system seems to work much better than what you have in the USA. I think that Policing in the UK is a subject you would find of interest Steve. Regards from the UK.

In 1999 I was looking after the child of the guy in charge of the Queen Mother's (Operation Tay Bridge) and Operation London Bridge had been in place for some time then. Obviously the plans get revised and updated over time, but my impression was that the family was quite open about it. The Queen Mother used to delight in reassuring him, "I'm not dead yet!" I think the difference in policing is that one group are "serving" and the other is "enforcing".

If you want to learn more about policing in the UK you can start with the Peelers, the first 'police' in the UK set up by Sir Robert Peel in the 1700's. They keep saying that it was the largest policing challenge ever, which means that it was BIGGER than the 2012 Olympics! Operation London Bridge would have been in existence from the moment of transition, I'm not sure how often the plans were updated but there would have been an outline plan in place even before the Queen's Coronation. King Charles' funeral plan while he was Prince of Wales was called Operation Menai Bridge, and I think that has carried over now he is King.

The Queen's funeral followed the tradition set first by Queen Victoria, takin g place for only reigning monarchs although there can be exceptions. For example, there was a State Funeral for Winston Churchill in 1965. The Queen's Funeral plans were in existence for decades and even she was involved in the planning of the event. Just to add, though the Metropolitan Police as well as other military chiefs were involved with the planning of the event, The Met brought in 1000's of officers from Forces all over the UK to assist with the event pass off so peacefully and without incident.

Her Majesty arranged everything down to the last detail of her funeral 🇬🇧🌹

She was the one stable thing in life that's so scarey at the moment with all the changes about to come

As Princess Elizabeth & heir, the funeral plan would have been out in place. Then once she became Queen she would have decided what she wanted, probably tweaked over the years. She died in Balmoral, Scotland, driven then to St Giles in Edinburgh where she lied in state before going to London. Thanks for this video, I hadn't seen it before.

I still remember that day I remember talking about it at work the day before saying she just looks so tiny now especially after Philip died. I had never met her but I will admit I had a little cry that night she had been my queen for 26 years I will miss her dearly.

Queen Eliabeth started plans for her funeral in the 1960s, Such a long time ago, Still miss her and still shed tears 11 months after her passing, R I P your majesty.

That was moving, to think about that day again....I only watched it on television but I will never forget it. Thank you Steve for showing this particular perspective of the day; those three women in particular should be so proud of themselves - and everyone else who played a part in the smooth running of such an momentous event; it was a real achievement.

All of the major royal funeral operations in recent times were named after bridges. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's was Operation Tay Bridge, Prince Philip's was Operation Forth Bridge, and so there seems to have been a connection between the person who had died and the bridge their 'operation' was named - as QEQM had opened the Tay Road Bridge in 1966 - plus her childhood home was in one of the counties it connected; while Prince Philip was Duke of Edinburgh - and the Forth Bridge is within that city's boundaries.

Our Queen ……so very special ❤️

Those pall bearers did an amazing job ❤❤

The Queen was completely in control of every ounch of her funeral, updating certain things over the years.

That was very moving watching that Steve, and looks like it was to you too. One of my cousins queued for many hours to walk pass the Queen's coffin lying in state.

The planning towards the "Queen's" funeral (not her Princess' funeral) itself basically started as soon as her father the King died and she became the next Monarch in line, even before she was coronated a while later in the next year, Steve - (The Queens Coronation planning was needed) . . . As with Charles, he literally became King upon the immediate news of his mothers death in 2022 - his coronation was also held later in the following year of 2023 after that was planned out also . . . (However, all Royals basically have funeral plans started when they are born - they just progress as the years go by - and can change again in many wats if their titles are altered to higher levels, too . . . In terms of the actual planning of it - Royals can offer a lot of their own things into it from the start, more so what hymns, and even what the marching song(s) to the cortege may be - when old enough to know better themselves. With the Queens cortege, you may have heard that all of the bands were playing the exact same tune in time during the march. They can also choose the main guests to be asked to come to their own funeral, however, the likes of the next heir can add or detract any names too be asked also if there may be any unexpected issues. I'm not sure about road routes, as that could depend more on police planning and availability - and making detour diversions for that to happen - but perhaps they can ask for a route and see how it might work out?

Queen was fully involved in the Funeral Service and all the travelling from where she died to finally Westminster Abbey, including the service in St Giles, Edinburgh. Each of the Royal Family had their own funeral planning in the event of their death....each with a codename of (something) Bridge. Forth Bridge I think was Prince Philip, Prince Charles was Menai Bridge, etc. Some of the planning started in the 1960's. All 'notable' folk had plan filed somewhere. I have to keep a file in my office of Obituaries and funeral wishes etc of several 'head' people in my time, not many of them were used, though, when I worked as their Assistant, I'm glad to say!

Sorry can't watch this video yet as it still makes me cry so much, but they all did her proud that day

London bridge was in planning for a very very long time. I was working in a company that built software for the Royal Navy and British Army two of which were the public facing websites for the two. This was 6 years ago and we were already making changes to ready for the event. I would imagine the more significant or important planning could have already started 6 years or more prior to that. It is not doubt something that touched a lot of people in some way professionally.

What a great video Steve. So interesting. How wonderful to celebrate these folks who kept everything working and safe. Thanks for sharing this. Peace

The funeral started being planned the day she took the throne. Obviously things have been changed over time. Security measures tightened, the route changed alittle I believe. The queen was very involved. As far as i know she was in a meeting every 12 months to go over things with those in charge.

The gold and silver commanders are the two of the commanders for the event. In the UK we use the GSB (Gold,Silver,Bronze) system for running major incidents or events Gold-Stregic commander. They are of tern senior officers and are oftern in a control room Silver-Tactical commander. They are normally closer to the scene and condirate the incident on the tactical level. Bronze-Oprational commander. They are running the response from the scence or event meaning there is usually a few of them are often inspectors or sergents, Hope that gives a better understanding of what the gold and silver command was there is lots of information online from the police such as the collage of policing website and there is a video on youtube explaining incident command I believe

Hi Steve . Not one police officer in Dorset that day those who was not in London was watching it on Tv, we had no problems that day the us could learn a lot from the way our policing works, very few times would a policeman use a gun herein the united kingdom.

My husband who is in the RAF was invited to the queen’s garden party …. Meeting the queen was such a special day and one I will never forget ! We also met Prince Charles and camilla and both were lovely… no matter that Charles is now KING I will always miss our beloved QUEEN Elizabeth, she was our nations Mother….

Even tho it was inevitable it was also a complete shock and so very sad. For somebody who was always at such a distance it felt an extremely personal loss, so so sad.