Palace fury as secret plan for Queen's death is revealed: 'Cabinet Office probe' after

'Operation London Bridge' is leaked - showing how flags will fly at half-mast within
minutes, royal website will go black and Charles will address nation
By MARTIN ROBINSON, CHIEF REPORTER FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 10:33 BST, 3 September 2021 | UPDATED: 22:07 BST, 3 September 2021

The 'cruel' and 'immoral' leak of top secret plans to be enacted when the Queen dies is
expected to be formally investigated by the Government amid growing anger at Buckingham
Palace. 
'Operation London Bridge' is only shared with a small group of people and reveals that all
Whitehall flags must be lowered to half mast within ten minutes followed by a TV address
and UK tour by Prince Charles and a pre-planned memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral for
ministers that will be made to look 'spontaneous'. 
The Royal Family's website will be replaced with an all-black page with a short statement
confirming Her Majesty's death. All GOV.UK websites will have a black banner added. 
It sets up a potentially uncomfortable meeting for the Prime Minister tomorrow, as Boris and
Carrie Johnson will be meeting Her Majesty this weekend at Balmoral despite courtiers’
mounting concerns over Covid. It will also be the first time their 16-month-old son, Wilfred,
meets the monarch.
Buckingham Palace has declined to comment - but an royal insider said officials are 'not
happy', adding: ’We are not talking about this. It is a matter for the Government.’ 
Royal expert Angela Levin said: 'I think it is awful and cruel to release the top-secret plans
about the Queen's death. Where are our morals?' 
The ten-day plan was leaked to POLITICO after being updated during the coronavirus
pandemic with the day she passes away being called 'D-Day'. 
It was first hatched in the 1960s but has never been published in such granular detail. But
there is no suggestion that Her Majesty, 95, is in poor health and there are major questions
about how documents so sensitive could be made public.
In more embarrassment for the Government, Operation Spring Tide, the closely-guarded plan
for Prince Charles' accession to the throne, was also included in the leak. It does not include
details of his coronation, which could be several months later. 
The Cabinet Office could now launch a formal investigation within days into who leaked the
paperwork, with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who previously worked for Prince William,
expected to make the decision next week, according to The Mirror. 
Today's leak reveals the first person outside Buckingham Palace to be told the sad news will
be the Prime Minister, who will be telephoned by the Queen's Private Secretary, before a 'call
cascade' to members of the cabinet, members of the privy council and senior figures including
in the Armed Forces, who plan gun salutes across the country hours later.
They will all be given the same scripted message: 'We have just been informed of the death of
Her Majesty The Queen. Discretion is required'.
The royal household will then issue an 'official notification' delivering the sad news to the
public via the TV and press including confirmation that Her Majesty's funeral will take place
ten days later at Westminster Abbey before being buried in the family crypt next to her
beloved Prince Philip at Windsor Castle.
Before that her body will lie in state for three days in the Palace of Westminster, which will
be open 23-hours-a-day for members of the public to file through to pay their respects. 
Cabinet Office documents show that the Government is in a flap about ensuring that all flags
are lowered to half-mast within ten minutes to avoid inflaming 'a wave of public anger'. One
briefing suggests that contractors are being considered solely to do the job.
The Department for Transport has also warned that London will be 'full' for the first time in
history, with trains and buses packed with people flooding into the capital to mourn the Queen
and then line the streets for the funeral. Hotels and B&Bs will also be full.
The updated 'Operation London Bridge' also contains plans for social media and has been
updated for the internet age.  
Any tweets and retweets by Government department social media accounts and ministers will
have to be signed off by spin doctors first to keep an iron grip on messaging about the Queen
at a sensitive time. And no public statements by senior MPs is permitted until the Prime
Minister speaks first, probably in a Downing Street address in the hours after her death.
Here is a day-by-day breakdown of 'Operation London Bridge':

The top secret plans for the Queen's death, known as Operation London Bridge first
started in the 1960s, has been updated since the pandemic began and now leaked via
Whitehall
+
The coffin is carried into St George's Chapel during the funeral of Prince Philip. The
Queen will also have the same journey after a state funeral at Westminster, before being
buried in Windsor
Operation Spring Tide, the closely-guarded plan for Prince Charles' accession to the
throne, was also included in the leak. Charles will address the nation on the day his
mother dies, the plan says
Operation Spring Tide: Plans for how Charles to accede to the throne
A leak of secret arrangements for when The Queen dies - codenamed London Bridge - has
also shed light on how her son and heir Prince Charles will accede to the throne.
Details of Operation Spring Tide, revealed for the first time today, show how the Prince of
Wales will be proclaimed as the new monarch before going on a tour of the United Kingdom
before returning to London for his mother’s funeral. 
On the day of The Queen’s death, plans, published today by Politico, suggest Charles will
first hold an audience with the Prime Minister as the nation goes into a period of mourning.
That same evening at 6pm, he will deliver a broadcast to the nation, expected to be partly to
pay tribute to his mother’s years of public service.
At 10am the next morning the Accession Council, made up of senior ministers, civil servants
and Commonwealth leaders, will meet at St. James’ Palace to proclaim King Charles the new
sovereign.
Attendees are expected to wear morning dress with no decorations. A proclamation of King
Charles’ accession will then be read at St. James’ Palace and the Royal Exchange in the City
of London.
Charles will then hold another audience with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members
at 3.30pm.
Three days after the monarch’s death, King Charles will receive the motion of condolence at
Westminster Hall.
After this he will embark on a tour of the United Kingdom, visiting all three devolved nations
where he will attend services.
Charles will start his tour in Scotland, visiting the devolved parliament and a service at St
Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
The next day he will move onto Northern Ireland to receive another motion of condolence at
Hillsborough Castle, before a service at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.
During the King’s time outside of London, the government will go into overdrive for
preparing The Queen’s funeral, practising the procession through Westminster and also
details of the service.
The King will make the final stop of his tour in Wales with a visit to the Welsh parliament
and a service at Liandaff Cathedral in Cardiff.
He will arrive back in London ahead of the tenth day since the monarch’s death, when the
state funeral is planned to take place. The Queen’s burial in Windsor Castle will take place
later.
The natural progression after this is for King Charles to hold his coronation. This detail was
however not included in the leak of plan, but could much like with The Queen’s following the
death of her father, be several months later.
D-Day
The Prime Minister will be informed by phone call and message that the Queen is dead. It is
not clear if the code: 'London Bridge has fallen' will be used by Buckingham Palace but this
has been the rumour since the plan was first drawn up in the 1960s.
A 'call cascade' will begin, informing politicians and civil servant s in order of seniority,
starting with the cabinet, the cabinet secretary and the Privy Council.  
There is a script that should not be diverted from, with the individual being told: 'We have just
been informed of the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Dscretion is required'. The call will
then be ended.
Only then will an 'official notification' delivering the news to the public -likely to be to the
Press Association and the main UK broadcasters. It may also confirm plans for the queen's
funeral, likely to be held 10 days following her death.
An email will also be sent to ministers and civil servants saying: 'Dear colleagues, It is with
sadness that I write to inform you of the death of Her Majesty The Queen'.  
Immediately all flags on Whitehall and across state buildings should be lowered to half mast.
No 10 Downing Street has said it is concerned that they don't have a full time 'flag officer' -
meaning there are certain hours of the day where the flag could be difficult to lower. A
contractor could be used in those periods, documents say.
Parliament will be recalled the devolved legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
will adjourn. 
The Royal Family's official website will turn black with a short announcement confirming the
Queen's death. Government websites will also be turned black with special, already designed
banners.
Official Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts will also turn black and all tweets paused
other than those already agreed - but there will be silence until the Prime Minister at the time
speaks publicly first.
The PM will speak in Downing Street on live TV to give the first tribute to Her Majesty. 
He or she will then go to see the new King, Prince Charles, who will address the nation
himself at 6pm to coincide with the main evening news bulletins. 
The Prime Minister and the most senior cabinet ministers will then go to a service of
remembrance at St Paul's Cathedral. Despite being pre-planned it should be made to
look 'spontaneous,' according to the official documents leaked to POLITICO.
D-Day +1
10am 
The Accession Council – formed of all Privy Counsellors, Great Officers of State, the Lord
Mayor and City Civic party, Realm High Commissioners and certain senior civil servants –
will be convened at St James's Palace, close to Buckingham Palace.
They will proclaim King Charles the new sovereign. All men will be expected to wear
morning dress or lounge suits with black or dark ties. No medals or decorations can be worn.
An official will be filmed reading the proclamation that Britain has a new monarch  -
simulataneously the same message will be read at the Royal Exchange in the City of London,
next to the Bank of England.
At Midday, MPs will give tributes in the House of Commons, lead by the Prime Minister.
And at 3.30pm the Prime Minister and the cabinet will go to Buckingham Palace will have an
audience with the new King Charles - but no spouses will be allowed.
D-Day +2  
Wherever the Queen's body rests, it will now be returned to Buckingham Palace, where her
coffin will be in the Throne Room. There will be an altar, the pall, the Royal Standard, and
four Grenadier Guards, their bearskin hats inclined, their rifles pointing to the floor, standing
watch.
There are different plans depending on where the Queen was when she passes away.
If she was at Sandringham in Norfolk, her body will be carried to London on the Royal Train
- it will arrive at St Pancras Station in London, where her son Prince Charles, the PM and
Cabinet Ministers waiting. 
If Her Majesty is at Balmoral in Scotland, the Plan A, known as Operation Unicorn, will
begin.
The Royal Train will be sent to Aberdeenshire to convey her coffin back to London, again to
St Pancras.
If this is not possible officials will switch to Operation Overstudy, meaning the coffin will be
taken to London by plane from Aberdeen Airport. This is likely to land at London Heathrow
or RAF Northolt.
Her Majesty spends most of her time at Windsor Castle, where she has been in a covid bubble
since the start of the pandemic. If she dies there then her body will be moved to the capital by
car.  
Another day of tributes in the House of Commons is expected as well as the devolved
parliaments.
D-Day +3 
The new King Charles will begin a tour of the UK.
It will begin with a visit to Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament, where MPs will
give a 'motion of condolence'.
His next stop will be Edinburgh to visit the Scottish parliament followed by a memorial
service at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The queue stretching beyond Lambeth Bridge which was opened by King George for his
funeral in 1952 - the last time a British monarch died
D-Day +4
King Charles will then fly to Northern Ireland, where members of the devolved parliament
will give another motion of condolence, this time at Hillsborough Castle, the residence of the
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and the official residence of the monarch while in
Northern Ireland.
He will then attend a service at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast.
Meanwhile in London the first rehearsal of the procession of the Queen's coffin from
Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster via The Mall will take place, known as
Operation Lion.  
D-Day +5 
The Queen will leave Buckingham Palace and carried to the Palace of Westminster to lie in
state. 
The procession will be the first great military parade. A similar slow march for the Queen
Mother in 2002 involved 1,600 personnel and stretched for half a mile. The route is thought to
hold around a million people. 
A memorial service will be held when she arrives. 

The Queen Mother's was allowed to lie in state in Westminster, with Her Majesty doing
the same in the event of her death
D-Day +6  to D-Day +9
Three days of the Queen lying in state begins, called Operation Feather.
Her coffin will sit on a dark catafalque - a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin
of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state - to make it easier for the
public filing through to see the coffin.
The first people to visit will be VIPs, who will be given timed slots to pay their respects.
Then the public will be able to walk through with the room only close for one hour each
day.    
Meanwhile Charles will fly to Wales for the final leg of his UK tour. He will visit the Welsh
parliament before a memorial service at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff. 
And there will be huge amounts of planning going on in the royal household and in Whitehall,
especially ensuring heads of state, VIPs and dignitaries have arrangements to head to the UK
for the funeral on Day 10. 
The Department for Transport, Home Office and Border Force have plans in place for the
number of Britons and foreign tourists expected to go to London in this period.
Transport for London will also be involved to ensure Tube and bus provision is sufficient.
More than a million people could arrive, meaning London's hotels, public transport and public
spaces will be 'full', one document says. Police leave will be likely be cancelled but there are
concerns about the number of stewards required and where to find them.
D-Day +10
The day of the Queen's funeral. It will be a 'Day of National Mourning' - although will not be
an official bank holiday. If it falls on a week day it will be left to employers to decide if staff
can have the day off, but there will be no diktat ordering it.
Her Majesty will be moved to the state funeral held at Westminster Abbey, culminating in a
two minutes' silence across the nation at midday. 
She will then be taken to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, where she will be buried in
the King George VI Memorial Chapel next to her beloved husband Prince Philip.
It is not known when Prince Charles' coronation will be held. But his mother the Queen was
crowned 16 months after King George VI died. 
There has been speculation that Charles could choose to become King George VII - using his
middle name as a tribute to his grandfather - but Clarence House said recently that 'no
decision has been made'.  

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9954241/Secret-plan-Queens-death-revealed-
Operation-London-Bridge-leaked.html