When the Queen passes away do you think the news will be released straight away?

[LarryGreysonsDoor]

I get news alerts on my phone. I was with a friend when we both got a news alert, I don’t remember what, and we both wondered if news of the departure of the Queen will be announced like that.
Would Buckingham Palace announce the news straight away to go out on news services immediately or wait for the 6 o’clock news, or whatever?
I did work for the BBC a long time ago and I know that the protocol then was to interrupt the broadcast, but I wonder if Buckingham Palace would hold onto the news until an appropriate time.
I believe it was her father who had his passing hastened so it would make the morning papers.

I don’t wish this to be morbid or royalist/republican. I’m just interested in how the news would be handled. I think it would be very different to that of a regular celebrity.

The Queen was born in 1926 so she's just turned 93. I believe Prince Philip will be 98 in about three weeks' time.

The phrase I never really grasped as a kid will make sense now.

"The Queen is dead - long live the King"

(I never quite got "The King is dead, long live the King" ...)

'At least a week', hipposarerad? Guessing it will be a lot longer than that!! We got nothing but Diana for months and she was not even technically a royal by that point. When the queen dies it will be everywhere for months, at least until Charles is crowned, when going on about his dead mum might be seen as poor taste.

I'm not a royalist by any means but it really will signify the end of an era, she's been on the throne now longer than even Victoria and has been our head of state during a period of incredible change - the world now is almost unrecognisable from the world of 1950s when she came to the throne. I envisage many many programs/pull-out supplements/social media drivel about the 'second Elizabethan age' and much hand-wringing/speculation about Charles. Huw Edwards doing live coverage of the funeral (I'm hoping we get a day off for that, be good if it was summer so we can go to the beach instead ), the Daily Mail will go into fawning overload, and a couple of years later, there will be a big budget TV drama about her last days.

The death of Phillip (which surely must be soon, the man looks like a walking cadaver), will be a 'queendeath-lite' practice run. Totally stolen 'queendeath' from a pp by the way, love how Orwellian it sounds!

It won't just be in the UK as well, she's a head of state for lots of other nations of the commonwealth (not entirely sure if she's head of state for all of them or just a few, not up on my constitutional knowledge!) which will doubtless throw them into turmoil with talk of being a republic etc. This will be world news for a long time.

all sporting events including premier league football matches would be cancelled

Well, let us be thankful for small mercies.

Perhaps the couple whose guest posted the lengthy thread on the etiquette of a wedding clashing with a major football final could hire an assassin and resolve the situation?

I reckon it’s reasonably likely that the queen, Philip and Charles will all go in a reasonably short space of time. That’ll be a logistical challenge and a half.....

Are assassins involved? Or tumbrils and a guillotine on Whitehall?

I'm liking the idea of having to take out special queendeath insurance policies for your thrash metal festival in Nether Wallop.

Personally, I think she seems like a lovely woman and has done a lot over her life so will be sad.

It will be news for more than a week whilst we have the death, funeral and later coronation.

I don't think it will be announced immediately. It will not be held back for a certain time (no need now that media is 24/7), but they will have the doctor to pronounce, notify the family, notify parliament, may wait for the family to get to Buck House and as the plan gets underway then the announcement will get made presumably at whatever time that is.

It will not be a case that one of the staff, on finding her, will then run out into the streets yelling 'she's dead' before anyone knows. They run a tight ship and have plans in place.

It will not be a case that one of the staff, on finding her, will then run out into the streets yelling 'she's dead' before anyone knows

Although what an image

Wonder if they have to have the entire privy council or whatever with them when they die these days - Victoria was surrounded by people so plenty of people would have known there & then. Imagine if there was a roomful now and someone took a quick snap on their iPhone and it went viral before the official announcement had been made. How very now that would be!

It will not be a case that one of the staff, on finding her, will then run out into the streets yelling 'she's dead' before anyone knows

Well, no, but it would be quite funny if the over-enthusiastic new footman ran out to the Buck House gates with the little 'announcements' easel, having handwritten 'queen pased passed away rip' very quickly on the back of a cereal packet in marker.

Indeed Duggee you can imagine someone doing a pouting selfie .

I thought it was the Queen’s grandfather George V whose death was hastened, not George VI?

You're right, it was - they gave him an overdose so his death could be announced the following morning in The Times instead of the evening rags

I'm another who'd expect the announcement to be pretty quick, with broadcasts cut into, etc. Apart from anything else, they'd never manage to keep it under wraps these days

Even as a republican it's going to feel pretty odd, after such a long reign

@Baskerville that made me laugh out loud

It will be sad. I'm not heavily into the Royals and don't follow everything they do but I like all the celebrations. One of my first memories is the silver jubilee, sitting in a long table piled high with food at a street party. Charles and Di's wedding and the other jubilees, the birthdays, the fly pasts over the balcony. Taking my children to Buckingham Palace and them telling me they could see the queen waving .

I think Charles may go before the Queen......

@Baskerville that made me laugh out loud

You'd better enjoy your laughing while you can, MissEliza.

There'll be none of that once the little black-draped easel goes up and Nicholas Wichell (Witchell?) puts on his black tie and armband and loses his 'This is a sad day for the Commonwealth' train of thought as Charles sprints past him towards the front door of Bucking Palace roaring 'YESSSSS! KING AT LAST, WORLD!'

BuckingHAM Palace. Bucking Palace sounds like a pub with those fake bucking bull ride-on things for drunk people.

Also, everything will stop. Someone mentioned muffled church bells. That's only the tip of the iceberg, there will be no comedy broadcast until after her funeral, radio stations will only play sombre music, much like when Diana died, all sporting events including premier league football matches would be cancelled.

But it will be so different now won’t it? Like most people I suppose the majority of TV I watch is iPlayer, Netflix, Amazon etc. It won’t be like when Diana died or 9/11 say when you couldn’t escape it. The only real live TV I watch is News 24, which I assume will be dedicated to that for a long time.
I also wonder how much people will tolerate in terms of services stopping? I think despite the fact that most people admire the Queen (not so much Charles) attitudes are so different to those in the past towards the monarchy. It will probably seem acceptable for public services to shut down for a short period but not long.

I think Charles may go before the Queen ...

Wishful thinking Bertrand?

I'm the last to wish an earlier-than-expected death on anyone, but can't help feeling it would avoid a lot of potential problems if he did

Even as a republican it's going to feel pretty odd, after such a long reign

Well for us history nerds, it'll be a TV-fest, I imagine. Her madge has met so many characters that jump out of the history books, it's truly astonishing. Just listing the US presidents is a feat in itself. Plus all the Prime Ministers.

It’s not wishful thinking exactly- but it would be very interesting.

And frankly, the Queen certainly looks the healthier of the two.......

There's certainly a lot of long-lived genes in the Hanover, Saxe-Coburg , Windsor lineage. If the Queen equals her mother, there's at least another 8 years of her reign to enjoy.

I find myself wondering if the longer she lives, the less likely the UK is to remain a monarchy ?

I find myself wondering if the longer she lives, the less likely the UK is to remain a monarchy?

I'm not sure - republicanism's unlikely to gain much ground while she's around, and personally I'd say the greatest service she can offer the monarchy is to go right on living and potentially save us from all the issues around the next one in line

You're right about the stunning number of historical figures she's known, though. I might have no time for the institution, but that doesn't stop me admiring HM's own experience and dedication

Technology is such that they may even keep her going in a identical synthetic robot body and just trundle her out for Trooping of the colour and the like until Charlie peg she it and then let William step up.

We can only hope she is writing her wildly indiscreet memoirs....

I would do anything to know what she really thinks about the people she’s met.

I might tie this thread in with the conspiracy one and claim that Liz was replaced by Jeannette Charles in 1984. What do you reckon?