Will the Queen’s death be one of those events you remember where you were when you heard?

[asblindasabat]

Just like 9/11, Princess Diana etc.

I’m talking about it like it was years ago when it was only just three weeks ago but I was in work when at lunch time everybody started talking about how the RF were rushing to Balmoral to see the Queen and then how the news presenters were dressed in black.

I checked my phone to see all the Facebook updates on my feed about her doctors were concerned for her health and thinking how something must have been very wrong.

I arrived home at 5pm that day, stuck on BBC news/sky news/ ITV news and sat and watched the rolling coverage.

I was on ITV news when her death was announced at 6.30 and I’ll always remember Mary Nightingale saying the royal household just issued a statement and there was a pause, just remember sitting there saying to DH “oh no this is it, she’s died” and then it was announced.

it was just so surreal. They started playing the national anthem and I was just sitting there in shock as even though it was expected, it was still shocking in some way.

anyone else think they’ll remember where they were and what they were doing that day for the rest of their lives?

DH seems to pass on most news to me!

I was having a quiet day on the sofa after a bad couple of days. I read on MN that she was ill early afternoon and switched on the rolling news. At some point I went to make a cup of tea and rewound the TV to catch something I'd missed. Then forgot to catch it up again and missed the announcement - doh! So I was watching for about 4 hours and heard the news via text from DH. He wrote 'Oh dear. The Queen has died'.

9/11 I was wfh in Germany for U.K. clients, due to fly to U.K. the following Sunday. DH called and said 'turn on the TV!'. I turned on and saw the second tower fall. The next week I had to call an agency in NY to ask for a photo... they said they had people in the twin towers. I felt terrible for asking but my project was still happening.

Princess Di we were at my mum's for the weekend. I was in the bath (no shower). DH banged on the door to tell me!

No one mentioned 7/7 - I'd moved abroad by then but was freelancing in the U.K. at the time. I drove to work (south London to Middlesex) so wasn't aware on any disruption. Then a guy who was never late didn't arrive... we saw the news online... a colleague was worried because he couldn't get hold of his GF who was in central London (she was in a meeting). Never-late guy turned up about 11.30 - luckily not affected except by transport problems!

I don't think it will, because all the other examples like JFK, 9/11 and Diana were completely unexpected and shocking. Whereas with the queen for a huge number of people the answer was something like "listlessly checking the internet to find out if the queen wss dead yet because there was nothing on tv except rolling news reels implying that she was going to die soon"

As other pp's have said, I think it's more the scary/shocking news you tend to remember where you were.

The stand out things for me were, Princess Diana. I was 10 and had been on that road in Paris two days before coming back from Disney.

911 My parents wedding anniversary, I went out forvtgecday with them and we were oblivious until we got home.

George Harrison's death. Even though I was only 15, I was a big Beatles fan. I remember listening to his songs on the radio in the car.

The London bombings in 2005. Just after London won the bid to host the Olympics. I remember watching it all at my parents as I wasn't well at the time.

London Bridge attacks in 2017. I had been on a date and the man I met was heading back through that part of London around the same time. He was fine luckily but it was worrying.

Oh and on a lighter note, I clearly remember where I was when Geri left the Spice Girls. I remember it being a Sunday evening, I was doing my homework as I watched it on TV. As an 11 year old girl, I was pretty sad about it at the time 🙈

Another one that I will always remember is the murder of the late MP David Amess. I work in Leigh and live nearby so this one was very close to home. I was watching my children on the beach playground in Southend at the time and I could hear snippets of the news from a radio on a cafe. It was so shocking and sad.

I think you remember it more if there was some sort of communal experience. So I remember the moon landing vividly, watching it on TV as a child, the whole school in the hall.

For the London 7/7 bombings, I was at work, and we gathered in an empty classroom to watch the news. This was in Luton where the bombers had set off from and we were a very multi-cultural workforce but there was unity in that room at that moment.

Whilst I remember finding out about the other events, and whilst the events themselves have resonance, the moment of finding out doesn’t have the same personal resonance as those two.

9/11 - at home in the gap between uni and starting a graduate job. Had just finished watching Neighbours, and failed to turn the TV off and spent the rest of the afternoon transfixed.

7/7 - at work in central London, news gradually trickled through until we were all sent home, but with no public transport, DDad came and picked me up even though I wasn't living at home, and ended up with a car full of random people who were also going the same way.

Diana - 8am Mass, hadn't switched on the TV before going, and then part of the bidding prayers was praying for her family. Cue much whispering across the pews until the priest realised and gave everyone an update.

Queen - was having lunch and watching Bargain Hunt when the news alert came through. Picked DS from school at 6pm amid much discussion about what was happening. Got home and turned on the TV to the national anthem playing.

So basically, yes. I can't think of any others, but those all really stand out, even years after the event in some cases.

Oh, and I can add another lighter note - Take That splitting. We had a radio in the sixth form common room and heard it there - a few girls were in tears.

So I remember the moon landing vividly, watching it on TV as a child, the whole school in the hall.

I remember that. It was 4 in the morning.

OK - maybe they showed us it at school the next day?

I really couldn't remember when I opened the thread, but then it came to me as I was scrolling through.

The answer is no, probably not.

I do remember hearing about the death of Diana because it came as a shock. I was overseas and actually thought the person who told me had made a mistake and that it was probably the Queen who had died.

9/11 had that same shock value, I remember the horror of watching it all unfold.

I was more sad than I expected to see the Queen go - end of an era and all that - but there was no shock factor in hearing that a 96 year old woman had passed away peacefully in her own home, so it won't be etched on my memory in the same way.

I didn't really understand the whole business of queuing for hours to see the coffin though, either, so I'm sure I'm out of step with a lot of the people who would have been most affected.

Yes but I made a point of telling myself "remember this for your grand babies when they ask".
I mean it wasn't glamorous, I was sitting on the couch about to go boxing and told myself to stay where I was because I'd kick myself if they announced and I wasn't watching.

I remember where I was when Diana died, 9/11, 7/7 etc. I know my kids will ask when older so want to make sure I remember for them.

No.

I'd watched the news most of the afternoon, my mum's friend had come round & her & my mum were talking about when the king died. I nipped to the loo later on, I had just got upstairs when my mum shouted to me she had died. For the rest of my life if anyone asks me where I was when the announcement came I have to tell them I was on the toilet.

Do you really think your kids will care?

No, I can make an educated guess about what I was doing but I can't be 100%. 9/11 I remember everything from that day.

For me, the Helios air crash of 2005 sticks in my mind.

I had only recently moved to England so I'd never heard of Take That but the news of their split was everywhere. I married that day and had my reception dinner in Reading Town Centre and loads of teen girls were very upset about the news and gathered around the local record shop in tears.

I remember exactly where I was for 9/11 but can't remember for the queen although can have a good guess. A woman of 96 dying in what appears to have been without a long drawn out illness isn't remarkable and as someone who doesn't follow the royal family it wasn't of much interest. I think the Queen was admirable but I despise the concept of having a monarchy. The way people mourned her death has astounded me. I didn't watch any of the funeral.

I mourned the people who died during 9/11. That was beyond tragic.

No already.

The Berlin Wall and 911 I remember.

I was thinking this earlier and I think in my case I probably will. I was at my daughters graduation, the ceremony was at 6pm when the announcement was due about the Queen and we were told no one was to check phones during the ceremony as this was all about their achievements, but my daughters boyfriend who was sittng next to me leaned over and showed me his phone and I think that memory will stay with me.

9/11 was my sons 11th birthday, I finished work at 1pm, walked home and when I came in it was on Sky news, my son appeared after school to find me in tears. I didnt realise how much it affected him until I read about it in his communication log he had with the teacher he felt guilty for wanting to celebrate and be happy on his birthday.

Dianas death I was again with my daughter, she had fallen out of her bunkbed and broken her arm, she had to have an operation to pin it, I stayed with her in hospital and went to the family area to get a coffee at 6am and it was on the TV in there and seemed sureal.

Some things just stay with you. I remember where I was when Elvis died too. in the lounge watching TV with my parents when it was announced, and then I stayed up late talking about it with them, I also remember what was on TV in hospital when I went into labour 33 years ago Joan collins on michael parkinson show. Odd what we keep in our memories isnt it

I will.

I was at the opening of my first art exhibition in many years. It was very surreal. I had just been in a Virtual Reality exhibition called Afterlife which was about what happens after you die. Then someone told me and I misheard the news.

I remember Diana's death too. I was an art student getting ready to go to work at my part time telemarketing job and work was cancelled.
My boyfriend was still sleeping. I sat watching the news on my little black and white portable Telly crying.

I don’t know… I clearly remember where I was when I heard about 9/11 and who told me. It was an unimaginable, tragic, terrible event.
I have no idea what I was doing the day the Queen died and it was only a few weeks ago. It’s an event that will be remembered historically (certainly the funeral etc.) but it can’t be compared to 9/11.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves - yes I think they will. I have a huge amount of knowledge of history I've gained from speaking to my grandparents and parents.

They escaped apartheid, they waved to the Queen in Kuching, Borneo in '72. Hearing my parents talk about their history, where they were when Lennon died, when Elvis died... those experiences are the fabric of their life.

My grandchildren may not care when their little. But when they're older they will.

The Queen may not be a big deal to you, im no royalist (don't live in the UK), but you can't deny that the Elizabethan era was an immense era to live in. Her life spanned my parents lives, my life to date. I expect my grandkids will learn about it and will want to know what I remember.

Struggling to remember already.

I will. I was abroad.