What is D-Day?

QUEEN Elizabeth II has held her crown longer than any reigning monarch as she approached her 70th Jubilee.

The Queen passed away on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96, just over a year after her husband Prince Philip's death in April 2021. Here's all you need to know following the monarch's death.

What is D-Day around the Queen's death?

The day that Queen Elizabeth II dies will elicit a series of carefully constructed plans in a process dubbed “Operation London Bridge”.

The security plan, obtained by , details everything from how news of the monarch’s death will be shared with the public to how quickly Prince Charles will ascend the throne.

It also includes details on what will happen during the 10 days following the Queen’s death, how the Prime Minister will publicly address the news, and how Charles will spend his first few days as King.

The day the Queen dies (September 8, 2022) will be referred to as D-Day, while every day afterwards will be referred to as D+1 and D+2 and so forth.

Plans for the Queen's death have reportedly been in place since the 1960s. 

What happens on D-Day? 

On the day the Queen dies the Prime Minister will be told by Buckingham Palace's most senior courtier.

The head of the civil service and top ministers will also be informed.

Flags will be lowered to half-mast across Government buildings within 10 minutes of her passing and Parliament will adjourn if sitting, and all other parliamentary business will be suspended for 10 days.

The Ministry of Defence will arrange for gun salutes to take place at all saluting stations.

A national minute's silence will be held, the PM will have a 6pm audience with King Charles, whose succession is codenamed Operation Spring Tide.

At the same time, there will be a service of remembrance at S. Paul’s Cathedral in the heart of London. 

The Prime Minister and a small number of senior ministers will attend.

The service is planned to appear “spontaneous,” according to official documents.

As when Prince Philip died in 2021 the Royal Family's website will revert to a black holding page confirming the Queen's death.

What happens after D-Day? 

Each day following the passing of Her Majesty leading up to the funeral will be referred to as “D+1,” “D+2” and so on. 

The Royal Family will announce plans for the queen’s funeral, which is expected to be held 10 days following her death.

The Accession Council meets to proclaim King Charles the new sovereign, and he will embark on a tour of the United Kingdom.

The proclamation will then be read at St. James’ Palace and the Royal Exchange in the City of London, confirming Charles as king.

The Queen’s coffin will return to Buckingham Palace from Balmoral, before a procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster through London. 

The Department for Transport has raised concerns that the number of people who may want to travel to London could cause major problems for the transport network, and lead to overcrowding in the capital.

One memo warns of a worst-case scenario where London becomes “full” for the first time as potentially hundreds of thousands of people try to make their way there. 

Concerns have also been raised about a shortage of stewards for crowd control purposes.

The Prime Minister and the Queen have agreed that the day of the state funeral will be a “Day of National Mourning.” 

The day will effectively be a bank holiday, although it will not be named as such. 

If the funeral falls on the weekend, an extra bank holiday will not be granted. If the funeral falls on a weekday, the government won’t order employers to give employees the day off.

The state funeral itself will be held at Westminster Abbey, 10 days after the Queen passes away.

To conclude there will be a two minutes’ silence across the nation at midday.

• D-Day+1: the Accession Council meets at St. James’ Palace to proclaim King Charles the new sovereign. All other parliamentary business will be suspended for 10 days. MPs will give tributes in the House of Commons. The prime minister and the Cabinet will hold an audience with the new king.
• D-Day+2: The queen’s coffin will return to Buckingham Palace. If the queen dies at Sandringham her body will be carried by royal train to St. Pancras station in London. If she dies at Balmoral in Scotland, Operation UNICORN will be activated, meaning her body will be carried down to London by royal train if possible.
• D-Day+3: King Charles will receive the motion of condolence at Westminster Hall. He will embark on a tour of the United Kingdom, starting with a visit to the Scottish parliament and a service at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
• D-Day+4: King Charles will arrive in Northern Ireland, where he’ll receive another motion of condolence at Hillsborough Castle and attend a service at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast. A rehearsal will take place for Operation LION, the procession of the coffin from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster.
• D-Day+5: The procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster will take place along a ceremonial route through London. There will be a service in Westminster Hall following the coffin’s arrival.
• D-Day+6: The queen will lie in state at the Palace of Westminster for three days, in an operation codenamed FEATHER. Her coffin will lie on a raised box in the middle of Westminster Hall, which will be open to the public for 23 hours per day. A rehearsal will also take place for the state funeral procession.
• D-Day+7: King Charles will travel to Wales to receive another motion of condolence at the Welsh parliament and attend a service at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff.
• D-Day+8: Government departments will be absorbed in an immense amount of preparation for the funeral. The departments facing the greatest difficulty are the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Department for Transport.

• D-Day+9: The Foreign Office is tasked with arranging the arrivals of heads of state and VIPs from abroad. The Home Office is responsible for security arrangements, and the government’s National Security Secretariat and intelligence services will be on high alert for any increased terror threat. The Department for Transport has raised concerns that the number of people who may want to travel to London could cause major problems for the transport network, and lead to overcrowding in the capital.
• D-Day+10: The state funeral itself will be held at Westminster Abbey. There will be a two minutes’ silence across the nation at midday. Processions will take place in London and Windsor. There will also be a committal service in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, and the queen will be buried in the castle’s King George VI Memorial Chapel.