To put it delicately, our beloved Queen isn’t going to live forever. Let’s be realistic now. She’s not Doctor Who. But what will happen to British businesses when the Queen dies?
Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1952, and has ruled through 13 Prime Ministers and 13 Presidents. Her knowledge and first-hand, front-row-seat experience of our society is invaluable to us as a nation. However, when she dies a lot of things, and people, will feel the impact.
What will happen to businesses?
When the Queen dies, British business will be in free-fall. For between 12 to 14 days, Britain will grind to a complete halt. It will cost the country – wait for it – billions. The funeral, plus the coronation of the next monarch, will be formal national holidays and each of the two events will cost the GDP between £1.2 and £6 billion, according to Business Insider. Banks and stock markets will close and organisational costs will be enormous.
What about the nation?
Twitter has been in meltdown today ahead of the ‘Royal Announcement’ from Buckingham Palace. Can you imagine the absolute global hysteria if the Queen did pass away? The deaths of both Diana and the Queen Mother brought the country into public mourning for weeks. However the Queen is the Queen, so we can only imagine how much more catastrophic the fall-out will be.
Everyone will be buying flowers. When Princess Diana died, tens of thousands of mourners came to lay flowers outside Buckingham Palace. By some estimates as many as 1 million bouquets were left.
What about TV?
Newsrooms around the globe already have prepared video footage and print articles ready to go out immediately for Royal deaths. The BBC even already has a policy in place about what reporters can wear in such an event. Journalists will have to wear dark suits, with male broadcasters in black ties. The BBC will also suspend all comedy shows for 12 days after the death. Morbid, right?
Will there be a coffin?
The Queen’s coffin will be presented for public viewing. This is in order for people to pay respects to their monarch. Parliament will be summoned and they will swear a new oath of allegiance to the new Monarch. The Queen’s body will then lie in Westminster Hall and the Hall will be open for an hour a day for a duration, so that the public can pay their respects.
After 12 days the coffin will be transported to Westminster Abbey by gun carriage. At the Abby there will be a State Funeral. World leaders will attend, and as the Queen is one of the most senior figure heads in the world, we bet it will be an enormous event. The only monarch who has ruled longer than the Queen is the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has sat on his throne for five years longer than our Queen.
What do you think of the plans in place for when the Queen dies?
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