Royal reception for planners of late Queen’s funeral and the coronation
The King and Queen are to host a reception at Buckingham Palace to thank those involved in the planning and staging of the late Queen’s funeral and the coronation.
Charles and Camilla will welcome those who worked on Operation London Bridge and Operation Golden Orb, inviting representatives from Government bodies, the church, police forces, the media and civil institutions.
The Princess Royal and the Duchess of Edinburgh will also attend.
Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September last year set in motion the long-held London Bridge blueprint – a 12-day run of meticulous arrangements, with a lying in state, vigils and a grand state funeral, all played out on a public stage.
The Palace said: “The reception will offer an opportunity for Their Majesties and other members of the royal family to thank and recognise some of the many external organisations involved for their work and efforts during these events.”
The final farewell to the late Queen, the nation’s longest reigning monarch, was held in Westminster Abbey on September 19 2022, and was attended by prime ministers, presidents and royals from across the world.
More than 2,700 military personnel took part in the procession or lined the route to the abbey.
The Queen’s coffin was placed on a 123-year-old gun carriage towed by 98 Royal Navy sailors in a tradition dating back to the funeral of Queen Victoria, with 40 sailors marching behind to act as a brake.
With the late Queen dying at Balmoral in Scotland, it also triggered Operation Unicorn – a host of poignant ceremonial events in Edinburgh and the practical arrangements for the return of the monarch’s coffin by RAF plane to London.
Operation Marquee covered the four days of the Queen’s lying in state, focusing on the arrangements inside Westminster Hall, including ceremonial aspects, services and vigils, while Operation Feather was the plan for managing the queues outside the lying in state, with a quarter of a million people eventually paying their respects.
In May this year, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were crowned in Westminster Abbey on a historic day of celebration.
The event brought together around 100 heads of state, kings and queens, celebrities including pop stars Lionel Richie and Katy Perry and actresses Dame Judi Dench and Dame Emma Thompson, everyday heroes, and family and friends of the couple.
Tens of thousands of people turned out to see the pomp and pageantry, with Charles and Camilla processing through the streets in the Gold State Coach.
The couple, in lavish robes and wearing their crowns, took to the palace balcony to see the crowds, joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and the coronation pages and Ladies in Attendance.
The late Queen’s funeral and lying in state cost the UK Government an estimated £161.7 million.