The Death of the Queen

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▏ Photos and words by Jamie Bellinger

On the afternoon of 8 September 2022, news began to break that Queen Elizabeth II was under medical supervision and that doctors at Balmoral Castle were "concerned" for her health. Hours later, news channels around the world interrupted their daily programming to announce that the monarch had passed away peacefully. The longest reign in British history had ended. The United Kingdom now had a King.

Through the evening, hundreds of stunned Londoners flocked to Buckingham Palace, unsure of what else to do. By 10am the following morning, I was there too.

▏ The first image I captured upon arriving in London on Friday 9 September. Deserted Underground carriage, Northern Line. Around 10am.

▏ Charles and Camilla arrive back at Buckingham Palace from Balmoral Castle, welcomed by cheering crowds lining The Mall and Constitution Hill.

Flowers and Silence

On the morning of Friday 9 September, the atmosphere at Buckingham Palace was peculiar. Hundreds of Londoners had come to the area outside the Palace gates, joining the countless tourists who would be here on a late-summer morning regardless. But despite the size of this crowd, there was a profound silence. Church bells could be heard far off in the city. A dog barking in St James's Park or the roar of an engine half a mile away carried comfortably over the hushed congregation of people drawn to the home of British monarchy by some unspoken sense of patriotism, quiet mourning or mere curiosity. Most stood silent in contemplation. Many gazed at their phones, monitoring the latest updates. Some cried.

People wanted, perhaps needed, to be a part of this moment.

▏ After dark, Friday night. Messages of loss and condolence came from visiting tourists as well as Brits and Londoners.

By mid-morning, the Palace gates were an ocean of flowers. Bunches bought from florists, or single roses. Some with teddy bears attached. Some with hand-written messages. Flags from every country. As the volumes grew, a queue to lay tributes at the gates stretched up Constitution Hill almost to Hyde Park Corner. A designated site was established for bouquets to be left in neighbouring Green Park instead. And still they came. The scent of fresh flowers carried through the parks like perfume.

▏ Thousands exercised that most British of skills, queueing, to lay tributes at the gates of Buckingham Palace.

▏ By Saturday, flowers laid at the Palace gates were being removed and taken by car to Green Park to make way for more. Members of the public voluntarily stepped in to help Royal Parks staff unload and lay them.

"...souvenir vendors suddenly had flags with the Queen's portrait draped across their stands of sunglasses and iPhone cases, folds in the fabric still crisp from the boxes they had come in..."

A Different London

Across the city centre, things looked and felt very different from normal. Mourning for the Queen was mixed with a quietly building sense of excitement for the new monarch, especially when Charles and Camilla arrived back at the Palace for the first time as King and Queen Consort. Hundreds lined the barriers — which had appeared as if spontaneously on every major thoroughfare — to welcome the Royal couple home.

From late on the first day, the machinations of state began to enact a plan of action readied years before. Flagpoles were erected on the iconic avenue of The Mall and in Parliament Square. Union jacks were hoisted. Royal troops paraded in the barracks and, before long, out in the streets too. On Regent Street and in Covent Garden, souvenir vendors suddenly had flags with the Queen's portrait draped across their stands of sunglasses and iPhone cases, folds in the fabric still crisp from the boxes they had come in.

But many shops shut their doors. Some covered their windows. Now was not the time for commercialism. Advertising, too, was put on hold for a while. City-wide, every billboard, every LED screen, every Underground escalator display — from the jumbotrons in Piccadilly Circus to roadside ads out in the sticks — all carried the same name. The same black-and-white photograph. The same two numbers, ninety-six apart, signifying a life.

▏ The windows of iconic department store Fortnum and Mason, Piccadilly, covered black with a notice of remembrance.

▏ Passengers exit Piccadilly Circus tube station beneath a rooftop billboard. Displays across the city shared the same monochrome message of mourning.

▏ Cinemas and theatres around the popular night spot of Leicester Square — including the Prince Charles — displayed messages of remembrance.

Pomp and Pageantry

On Friday 9 September, the first day after the event, soldiers could be seen marching, rehearsing and checking equipment in the various barracks close to Buckingham Palace. But over the weekend, these ceremonial activities moved out onto the streets. Everywhere you looked, soldiers on foot or on horseback were parading in formation. Lucky tourists who had come to the Palace hoping to see the changing of the guard from behind 13-foot railings were treated to something altogether more immediate.

On The Mall and the surrounding streets, you had the sense of walking amongst the moving parts of some great constitutional machine, a machine that had whirred fluently into motion the instant the announcement had come out of Scotland. Every participant knew their place and their role. Suppliers' vans materialised and PA systems were erected at St James's Palace and in the heart of the City of London, where official proclamations of Charles III's ascension were made. Railings, marquees, lighting rigs appeared as if from nowhere and I wondered how much of this stuff was stored somewhere in the Palace itself. Flags were temporarily raised to full-mast for the proclamation ceremonies, but lowered again soon after. Celebrating in a time of mourning is a delicate thing.

An image that will stick with me is that of two young soldiers, sitting on horseback in the quadrangle fronting Wellington Barracks. Emotion was written across their faces in a way that is so rare of military people on duty. It was an expression mirrored on the faces of many service personnel that weekend, at every rank and every station.

The boss was dead and they had every right to be moved.

▏ Members of the Royal Horse Artillery look moved by events as they begin preparations at Wellington Barracks.

▏ Three sisters in patriotic colours watch royal guards marching on Marlborough Road. Everywhere you looked that weekend, military pageantry was on display.

▏ The old guard and the new. An armed police officer keeps watch over the Proclamation outside the Bank of England in the City of London, where spectators enjoyed a vast display of military tradition.

"...you had the sense of walking amongst the moving parts of some great constitutional machine, a machine that had whirred fluently into motion the instant that announcement had come..."

The Eyes of the World

With news of the Queen's passing, the world media descended on Buckingham Palace literally overnight. Within twenty-four hours, dozens of identical white marquees — familiar from Royal weddings and other state occasions — lined the grassy hemisphere that faces the Palace gates, known as Memorial Garden. From beneath each canopy, the latest updates and live scenes were beamed across the planet.

▏ The world's news media camped out on Memorial Garden.

As the weekend came, the quiet of Friday dissolved away. Thousands descended on the area surrounding the Palace to lay bouquets, pay their tributes or simply see what was going on. The queue to leave flowers stretched throughout St James's Park. The sadness of the occasion began to mix with excitement for what was to come. What had begun as a time of shock and solemnity was beginning to feel more celebratory, almost reminiscent of the London 2012 Olympics.

Sitting on the steps at the foot of the Victoria Memorial on the Friday afternoon, I heard a pop. Two ladies next to me had opened a bottle of champagne. They raised a toast to both the late Queen and the new King.

▏ A woman sitting outside Buckingham Palace keeps up to date on the latest news via YouTube.

▏ By Saturday and Sunday, crowds at the Palace had grown significantly and were being carefully managed. In the narrow passageways shouldering The Mall, bottlenecks occurred as people tried to pass in both directions.

The Next Five Days

As the days went on, life picked up pace.

The Queen's death had put the country into a kind of suspension, like when you dive into a swimming pool and the underwater space moves slower than the world above. But by Monday, London had lifted its head above the surface and preparations were underway for the next step in a highly choreographed routine.

The royal Rolls Royce (try saying that after a few gins) ferried the King constantly back and forth between government and royal offices, as he no doubt signed documents, met staff and was briefed on the whirlwind fortnight ahead. Other members of the family, including William and Kate, arrived back in London to great excitement from the crowds. Things moved so fast that often you didn't know there was somebody important coming until the guards stopped what they were doing to salute.

Preparations for the ceremonies chugged on. Tomorrow, on Tuesday 13 September, the Queen's casket would be flown back to the capital accompanied by Princess Anne, before being driven by funeral cortege to the Palace for one final night in her London home.

▏ For a mile around the Palace, in London's parks and green spaces, floral tributes grew organically around every tree, statue and monument.

▏ A young boy with a union flag sits on a parent's shoulders on The Mall.

▏ A road sweeper clears leaves from the road ahead of the funeral cortege's arrival back at Buckingham Palace. London was to look perfect on the world stage; not a leaf out of place.