The passing of Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for 70 years, was big news all around the globe, and it spread like wildfire. Everyone who lived through her period of reign and heard of her back in the years also talked about the long duration of her reign, and hence her funeral was also talked about a lot.
People came from far and wide to attend – royalty, citizens, world leaders, and hundreds of thousands of spectators – so it soon turned into a huge security challenge to manage the crowd and the procession.
When Did Queen Elizabeth Become Queen?
Elizabeth II was the Queen of the United Kingdom and other common Wealth realms from 6th February 1952 until her demise in 2022. She was the queen regnant of 32 sovereign states in her lifetime and 15 at the time of her death. At her death, many wanted to know when Queen Elizabeth became Queen, and they all were amazed by how long her reigning career was.
Funeral Logistics
Mayor Sadiq Khan says Monday’s state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is a high unprecedented security challenge having hundreds of thousands of people filling up central London. This event has a guest list of 500 kings, emperors, queens, prime ministers, presidents, and other leaders around the globe.
It had been decades since these world leaders collected up in one place, and it truly was unprecedented about so many things the security staff juggled. Queen Elizabeth II was truly an icon to many; hence, her death also shocked many. There could be bad people that could want to damage the people there at the funeral or the world leaders, and this is why the team worked hard, including police and security services, to ensure this state funeral was successful.
Police Are Dispatched
The Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said that this hugely complex policing task is the biggest in all of London force history, surpassing the London 2012 Olympics. Over 10,000 police officers were on duty Monday along with London bodies supplemented by the reinforcements from all of Britain’s 43 arms forces in the police. Hundreds of marshals volunteered with members of the armed forces that acted as stewards along the processional route.
They are one of the most visible parts of this security operation, run by a high-tech control center near Lambeth Bridge, which isn’t far from parliament. Even the garbage bins and street drains were searched and sealed. There were police on Monday on rooftops, marine officers on River Thames, sniffer dogs over the streets, and even mounted police on horseback.
Welcoming the Attendees
Flying drones were banned over all of central London, and Heathrow Airport grounded scores of flights so that the aircraft noise won’t disturb the services of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Authorities also faced the challenge of keeping those 500 world leaders safe without ruffling too many diplomatic feathers. Prime ministers, presidents, and royalty gathered offsite before they were taken by a bus to the abbey. US President Joe Biden was an exception who arrived in his armed limousine, the Beast.
Another risk was the sheer size of huge crowds expected to gather all around Westminster Abbey and along the route that the coffin traveled through the funeral. From there, it was taken by hearse around 20 miles to Windsor, where more than 2000 police officials were on duty. The Queen was interred in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle with her husband, Prince Philip, who died at age 99 last year.
Police deployed over 22 miles of barriers in central London to control the crowds properly, and transit bosses prepared for jam-packed stations, subway trains, and buses as 1 million people flooded the ceremonial heart of London.
Final Answers
The most asked question as reported via Google is, “when did queen Elizabeth 11 become Queen?” One other question was searched a lot after her death – “how old was queen Elizabeth 11 when she became Queen?” Well, we have those answers today.
Princess Elizabeth became the Queen at the age of 25 after the sad death of her father in 1952. This was when she started her role as a 70-year-long-reigning queen.