Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the longest living and reigning Monarch in British history is 91 years old, and like all human beings on earth, she will die soon. Once she dies, there's a protocol, 65 years in the making, that will be initiated with the phrase "London Bridge is Down" that will set off her succession plan.
Upon her last breath, this phrase will be uttered and immediately her private secretary will contact the Prime Minister of England and on a special line that only connects from Buckingham Palace to 10 Downing Street, and speak these words "London Bridge is Down." The Prime Minister then instructs her staff to communicate the information to the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom. The Foreign Office then relays the message to the 52 countries of the Commonwealth nations who still pledge allegiance to the queen, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Granada etc. Once this is done, then the news outlets will be informed.
Every commercial radio station in the UK has what is called an Oviet light. A blue light triggered by a central office in London. Once this light is triggered, all the DJs and programmers at these stations know that a member of the royal family has passed away, and they proceed to cut off whatever program is on the air at the time and begin to play a prepared playlist of somber music. They don't know exactly who's dead at this point but the music is to serve in anticipation of the news to come. The BBC has a special alert system that notifies them of the Queen's death, the message "Oh Dear" flashes to them. Every TV presenter for the BBC has a black tie on set, and in case of women, a black dress or scarf on standby. Before going on Air, the presenters will switch to the black tie or scarf or dress. BBC1 the main BBC network will proceed to show the Queen's portraits and play the national anthem. After the anthem, the presenter then reads these words:
"This is BBC Television News. Buckingham Palace has just announced the death of the Queen." Then the coverage starts.
All over the country, all Union Jacks are lowered to half mast. However, the Royal Standard, the flag of the royal family, must remain at full mast, by law. It is British law that this flag remains flying at full mast because there is always a living monarch.
TV networks have been preparing for this day for decades. The life and times of Queen Elizabeth segments have been long recorded and on standby. Different experts on the royal family have already signed exclusive deals and contracts to appear on different networks following the death. As of today, Sky TV and ITV continuously rehearse the coverage of the death of the Queen, substituting her name with "Mrs. Robinson." For the next 12 days following her death, no comedy shows will be shown on any British TV station.
The Queen's death will be one of the greatest news events in human history. London will shut down, even airline pilots will announce it to their passengers and an emergency meeting of the Parliament will be called.
The total economic impact of her death is estimated at $8 Billion. This includes the burial costs, the loss of productivity for the day of the funeral and the day of the coronation of the next monarch which both days will be declared public holidays ($3Billion each day in lost revenues). The Bank Of England will phase out all monies with the Queen's image and replace them with the next Monarch. However, there are several other countries in the world whose money has the Queen's image, they too will have to phase them out.
The Queen's death will probably be the single most viewed event in human history!
By Ubong Etuk
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