Chairman’s Note

The death of Queen Elizabeth on September 8th triggered into action Operation London Bridge, the national plan for the period from the announcement up to and including the funeral. Some details of the plans had been in the press for a many years now, but the scale and the complexity of those plans were extraordinary. Queen Elizabeth’s coronation had made television history back on 1953 when the latest image orthicon cameras made it possible to transmit TV pictures of the occasion live, and despite the government’s reluctance to let the BBC into Westminster Abbey – King George’s funeral only had the procession through the streets televised - the Duke of Edinburgh was keen to include the public in the coronation ceremony, and 20 million viewers watched in homes and clubs, with an even larger United States audience watching a film recording that was loaded onto a waiting plane and delivered across the Atlantic as fast as it could get there. Many people bought their first television just to watch the coronation. We are still not sure how many viewers watched the funeral on television, reports of over 5 billion viewers have been discredited, but it will surely be the largest television event ever.

The day after the announcement there was a live service from St. Paul’s Cathedral for the public, during which the new King Charles made a televised address. The following day attention then switched to the Accession Council whose workings had never been witnessed by the public before, and at St. James’ Palace the Garter King of Arms formally proclaimed Charles as King.

Meanwhile the coffin left Balmoral, and after a procession from Holyrood Palace to St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh a service was followed by a chance for the public to visit the cathedral and pay their respects. There followed services at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast and Llandaff Catherdal in Cardiff, while the coffin was flown back to London to Buckingham Palace before travelling to Westminster Hall for the extraordinary Lying in State. But before that the King addressed parliament in Westminster Hall live on television. For 23 hours a day the public queued to pay their own respects, with every moment streamed by the BBC. The Queen’s children and even her grandchildren took their turn to stand vigil in this ancient historic building.

By now world leaders were arriving in London for the funeral service, and all were invited to Lancaster House to sign the books of condolence, again all caught on camera for domestic and foreign broadcasters. Then on the day itself we saw an unparalleled procession to Westminster Abby for the State Funeral, followed by another procession by which the coffin made its way to Windsor Castle and St George’s Chapel for the final committal service.

All of these venues required lighting, cameras, and sound, not only for the events that were shown around the world, but also countless small location studios for domestic and overseas broadcasters, and our television service was there for the world to see. From what I saw the coverage was as close to perfect as it could be, and I would really like to congratulate the suppliers and the crews that made this happen. You can make plans for years in advance, but on the day you have to deal with the reality of where the equipment and the crew are, you have to cope with accreditation and security checks, and all under the pressure of the occasion it was assembled and completed in just twelve days. The STLD recognises the enormous effort put in by largely un-named individuals who managed to do everything needed for the coverage of this quite unique piece of history.

St George’s Chapelby Jonathan Brady / Press Association