On 30 March 2002 at 15:15 GMT, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (formerly Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), widow to King George VI and mother to Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 101 at Royal Lodge, Windsor. The death of the Queen Mother set in motion Operation Tay Bridge, a plan detailing procedures including the dissemination of information, national mourning, and her funeral. Representatives of nations and groups around the world sent condolences to Queen Elizabeth II, the British people, and Commonwealth citizens. Flowers and messages of condolence were left by the public at royal residences, with members of the British royal family publicly paying tribute to the Queen Mother in the days after her death. Her funeral, held on 9 April 2002 at Westminster Abbey in London, attracted 10 million viewers in the United Kingdom and cost £5.4million.
Background and death The Queen Mother had developed a persistent cold which she caught during Christmas 2001. She was bedridden at Sandringham after her final public engagement on 22 November 2001, when she attended the recommissioning of . However, despite missing many other scheduled events – such as the 100th birthday celebrations of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, on 12 December 2001;Vickers, p. 495 the annual luncheon of the Women's Institutes, of which she was president, on 23 January 2002, and traditional church services at Sandringham – she was determined to attend the funeral of her younger daughter Princess Margaret. On 13 February the Queen Mother slipped in her sitting room at Sandringham, causing considerable concern to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, and the rest of the royal family, but the Queen Mother travelled to Windsor by helicopter the following day.Vickers, pp. 497–498
The Queen Mother attended the funeral on 15 February in a people carrier with blacked-out windows, (which had recently been used by Margaret)Vickers, p. 497 shielded from the press according to her wishes so that no photographs of her in a wheelchair could be taken. She then returned to Royal Lodge in Windsor. On 5 March 2002 she attended lunch at the annual lawn party of the Eton Beagles, and watched the Cheltenham races on television; however, her health rapidly deteriorated during her last weeks after retreating to Royal Lodge for the final time. She died peacefully in her sleep at the Lodge on 30 March 2002, at the age of 101, with her surviving daughter, Elizabeth II, by her side.Vickers, pp. 498–499
Reactions and aftermath
Royal family Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, who were on holiday in Switzerland and Barbados respectively, rushed back to the UK upon learning about their grandmother's death. Her body lay at the altar of the Royal Chapel of All Saints near Royal Lodge, where the Queen and the royal family attended an evensong on the day after her death. Later, Prince Andrew and his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, met with members of the public. Prince Andrew described his grandmother as a "very, very special" person. In an interview, Princes William and Harry paid tribute to their "inspirational" great-grandmother. Both Elizabeth II and Prince Charles the Prince of Wales paid tribute to the Queen Mother in separate television broadcasts. On 4 April, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip met the mourners at Windsor Castle and viewed the tributes.
Politicians and royalty The prime minister Tony Blair and other MPs from the House of Commons, as well as the Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Williams of Mostyn, and the members of the House of Lords paid their tributes in separate statements. The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a statement to the House of Lords, praising the Queen Mother for "her marvellous example of service and duty". In Scotland, the Scottish Parliament observed a one-minute silence. The Leader of the Opposition, the three first ministers of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, and all living former British prime ministers expressed similar sentiments. Politicians within the Commonwealth of Nations who sent condolences includes the Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. The House of Commons of Canada also passed a parliamentary motion of condolence. Foreign politicians who sent messages of condolences were US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Irish President Mary McAleese. Among heads of foreign royal houses who paid tributes were Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain, Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden, Abdullah II, the King of Jordan, and Gyanendra, the King of Nepal.
Public On the BBC, Peter Sissons formally announced the death of the Queen Mother, although he created controversy and criticism from some newspapers as he wore a burgundy tie and not a black one, deemed more appropriate for such news. Sporting events in the UK observed a moment of silence as a mark of respect, though in the run-up to the funeral, the royal family and the government said they did not want sporting events to be delayed or cancelled. Members of the public were invited to sign books of condolence at St James's Palace, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, Cardiff City Hall, and Belfast City Hall. Around 30,000 messages of condolence were submitted on the Palace's memorial website. Floral tributes and messages were left by the public at the gates of Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. Memorial services and prayers were held at churches across the UK, including the Easter service at Canterbury Cathedral led by the Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, the Easter vigil at Westminster Cathedral led by Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, and a special service of commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral. Similar services were held at St Mary Magdalene Church, Crathie Kirk, York Minster, and Manchester Cathedral, and a two-minute silence was observed by British and American troops deployed in Afghanistan during the Easter service in Bagram Airfield.
The flags on all public buildings in the UK were lowered to half-mast. Flags at Canadian federal buildings and establishments were also flown at half-mast from the announcement of her death until sunset the day of the funeral. The Irish National flag was also flown at half-mast on all State buildings to mark the death of the Queen Mother. Flags at Volgograd, a Russian city of which the Queen Mother was an honorary citizen, also flew half-mast after the announcement of her death and until the day of her funeral.
Funeral Lying in state
After being brought to London, the Queen Mother's coffin was initially placed at St James's Palace and later taken to Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster, accompanied by 1,600 troops, for her lying in state which began on 5 April. At one point, her four grandsons the Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Earl of Wessex and Viscount Linley mounted the guard as a mark of respect—an honour similar to the Vigil of the Princes at the lying in state of King George V. Prince Charles later returned for a private visit. The Welsh Guards and the Yeomen of the Guard also stood vigil over the Queen Mother's coffin. An estimated 200,000 members of the public filed past over three days. The queue of mourners stretched over a mile along the River Thames and over Lambeth Bridge, causing officials to extend the planned opening times.
Procession and service
The published order of service included as a preface the verse beginning "You can shed tears that she is gone" (attributed to an anonymous author) selected by Queen Elizabeth II. The verse became widely popular after the funeral, and was later revealed to be based on a poem written some 20 years earlier by David Harkins, an aspiring artist from Carlisle."'Mysterious origin' of funeral poem", BBC News, 11 April 2002. Retrieved 8 June 2015 Matt Seaton, "The accidental laureate", The Guardian, 16 September 2002. Retrieved 8 June 2015 Andrew Motion, who had previously written poems for the wedding of Prince Edward, the Queen Mother's 100th birthday, and the death of Princess Margaret, released an elegy in honour of the Queen Mother.
The funeral, code-named Operation Tay Bridge, was held in London. It started at 9:48 am on 9 April 2002, when the tenor bell of Westminster Abbey sounded 101 times, each chime representing a year that the Queen Mother had lived. At 11:18 am the coffin was carried from Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster where the Queen Mother's coffin – draped in her personal standard and with a wreath of flowers on top and her crown resting on a cushion – had been lying in state on a six-foot (1.8 m) catafalque. A note from the Queen was also placed on the coffin on the day of the funeral.
The coffin was then taken to the Abbey, about 300 metres away, accompanied by drummers and a massed pipe band of 192 musicians drawn from 13 British and Commonwealth regiments. Around 1,700 military personnel took part in the procession, and rehearsals lasted until the dawn of the funeral day. The Queen Mother's coffin was placed on a gun carriage led by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Among the regiments that took part in the procession were 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, the Queen's Royal Hussars, the 9th/12th Royal Lancers, the King's Regiment, the Royal Anglian Regiment, The Light Infantry, the Black Watch, the Royal Army Medical Corps, the Royal Yeomanry, and the 68 (Inns of Court & City Yeomanry) Signal Squadron. Representatives from the Queen Mother's Canadian military units, the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, the Canadian Forces Medical Service, and the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own) also took part in the funeral procession.
The following members of the royal family followed the procession: the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Earl of Wessex, Prince William, Prince Harry, Viscount Linley, Peter Phillips, Daniel Chatto, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent and Timothy Laurence. Also accompanying the royal family were members of the Bowes-Lyon family and some of her senior household staff. During the funeral the Union Flag flew at half mast over Buckingham Palace, and her own personal royal standard at Clarence House (the Queen Mother's official London residence since 1952). After the funeral, the Queen Mother's personal standard was lowered for the final time. Large crowds lined the streets of London to watch the procession. The Grenadier Guards served as the guard of honour and were placed opposite Westminster Hall.
The doors of Westminster Abbey were first opened at 9:45 am, and the first of the 2,200 guests arrived; most of the guests were in their seats by 10:30 am. Five minutes later, VIPs and heads of state began arriving via the Great West Door. At 10:40 am, the bearer party of the Irish Guards arrived at Westminster Hall, positioning themselves outside the North Door. A guard of honour was mounted by the Nijmegen Company of the Grenadier Guards, and the members of the royal family walking in the funeral procession arrived from Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace. Royalty who were not in the procession arrived at the Grand Entrance of Buckingham Palace.