Death of the Queen
Five days in London after the passing of Elizabeth II
On 8 September 2022, newsreaders put on their black ties and announced the illness, and shortly afterwards the death, of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral. She was 96.
Protests that I had planned to photograph in London on Friday 9 September were cancelled. But I had a train ticket. So I headed into London as early as I could.
Arriving at Paddington, the news was everywhere.
I boarded an empty post-rush-hour carriage on the Jubilee Line. A discarded copy of the Metro sat on one of the seats, its front page a portrait of the young Elizabeth.
I hopped off at Green Park, and headed straight for the Palace.
At the Palace, hundreds had gathered around the balustrades.
Police officers took bouquets of flowers and cards from members of the public and laid them at the gates of the Palace forecourt.
Some of those gathered were tearful. Most were quietly contemplative, soaking up a moment in history. The near-silence at the Victoria Memorial was rare and heavy.
As the workday finished at 5pm, the crowds swelled. As night fell, hundreds still lingered. There was nothing to see at the Palace, nothing to witness. People just wanted to be there. They watched the crowds, soaked in the weight of the moment.
Meanwhile, across the city, on the Underground and in the West End, the Queen’s image was everywhere. This was one of the most striking aspects of that week. All digital advertising, city-wide, had been paused. Every billboard, every screen, showed Elizabeth.
10 September
By the third day, Sunday, the volume of flowers being laid at the gates of Buckingham Palace was overwhelming.
Teams of Royal Parks rangers brought the flowers into St James’ Park and Green Park on flat-bed trucks. Members of the public lined up to help with unloading them.
Preparations were underway on The Mall and surrounding streets for the most significant royal event staged this century: the funeral procession, in just nine days’ time.
A massive logistical operation, planned and rehearsed for years, had swung into motion.
13 September
On Tuesday, Elizabeth returned to London for the final time.
The crowds around Westminster and the Royal Parks had swelled each day and were now being carefully managed with one-way systems and stewards.
Around the Victoria Memorial, it was impossible to move.
People had come from across London, Britain and the world to be here.
Blue skies during the day gave way to rain as the evening came, and news spread that the Queen’s coffin was en-route back to the capital.
At around 7pm, she landed in London and began her journey through the streets. Tens of thousands turned out, lining the pavements dozens-deep. The rain was heavy.
Just before 8pm, the cortège rounded Hyde Park Corner and trundled its way up Constitution Hill towards the Palace. The coffin, draped in the Royal Standard.
Over the following four days, a quarter of a million people would file past the coffin in Westminster Hall where Queen Elizabeth II lay in state.