Last Thursday evening (Sept. 8), “Operation London Bridge” – the codename for the British government’s longstanding arrangements surrounding Queen Elizabeth II’s death – swung into motion as the U.K.’s longest-serving monarch, who recently celebrated a record-breaking 70 years on the throne, drew her last breaths at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands.
For global news outlets, this was also a moment many had spent decades preparing for. “I’ve literally been thinking about this for many, many years,” said ABC News’ senior executive producer for special events, Marc Burstein. Similarly Chris Shaw, editorial director at U.K. news producer ITN (which makes news programs for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5), told Variety that over 35 years he has rehearsed the Queen’s death “several times each decade.”
At 12.30pm local time last…
