The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has spoken out in a new interview about a myriad of topics, including The Queen’s funeral.
In an interview with GQ’s Alastair Campbell, the conversation begins with a discussion of The Queen’s inevitable funeral.
“I don’t lose sleep,” Archbishop Welby begins.
“I do hope I don’t have to do that,” he qualifies.
The Archbishop calls the job of presiding over The Queen’s funeral “enormous.”
“God willing someone else…it is an enormous public event. But as a parish priest, at every funeral you think about the enormity of it.”
When the Queen passes away, the Prime Minister will be alerted with four simple words: “London Bridge is down.”
From there, the Foreign Office Global Response Centre will alert the leaders of the countries where the Queen is Head of State, then the rest of the Commonwealth nations.
An easel at Buckingham Palace will announce the news, and the BBC will break into regular programming to reveal the loss.
Royal Central discussed what will happen when the Queen dies late last year. Her Majesty’s funeral will take place in Westminster Abbey, and it will be a state funeral. Her coffin will be carried by carriage to the Abbey, and the sheer amount of security that will go into protecting London during this time is almost unbelievable.
There has been no public mention of where The Queen will be buried when the time comes, but speculation is Balmoral, Sandringham, or at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle (where her parents and sister rest).
“I don’t want to get into details because it is not something I want to talk about, but the Queen is the most extraordinary person, one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met, in every possible way,” says Archbishop Welby.
“When it happens, it will be the most extraordinary historic moment.”
For the first time something spent on Betty Battenburg will be value for money.