London Bridge is Down

The British government and royal family’s secret plans to manage chaos and succession upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II

By: Courtney Hargrove

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 1 hr and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 Bestseller
#1 New Release

They meet when they can, where they can. The members of this secretive group hail from the highest echelons of the British aristocracy, government, law enforcement, the army, the Royal Parks, and even the BBC.

The purpose of their gatherings always has a codename. For Queen Elizabeth II, it was Operation "London Bridge," and for King Charles III, it is now Operation "Menai Bridge." This group has one job: to hash out every last detail of events that will unfold the moment a sovereign dies. This is the story of the operation for the longest-reigning monarch in British history, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, 2022.

On the day it happens, the first call will be made on a secure line to alert the prime minister with the code words, "London Bridge is down."

Keeping control of what happens from there is no small undertaking. Queen Elizabeth's passing will launch an historic event that will besiege London on a scale never before seen, not least because there will also be a new monarch in power: King Charles III is expected to accede to the throne the moment his mother dies.

No one wants to think about the death of a respected sovereign, but this cadre of top British figures is tasked with the solemn job of ensuring everything goes to plan. How many bells will toll and when; who is in charge of lowering the flags around Whitehall; when the media will be alerted; who is told of her passing and in what order.

This will be the first death of a sovereign in a time of social media, cellphones and the internet. Upon her father King George VI's death in 1952, there were reportedly four news cameras capturing the official pronouncement that his daughter was now queen. With Elizabeth, there will be billions of viewers watching every moment of the rapidly unfolding events after her death.

This is the story of how these plans came to be, what they entail, what precedents were set by what came before, and how some historians say her passing marks the end of an era for Great Britain in more ways than one.

About the Author

Courtney Hargrove is the pen name of a writer who covered royals, breaking news and celebrities for major international publications during a twenty-plus-year journalism career in nine countries.

Her time up close to the goings-on at various royal residences, including time spent around Kate Middleton, Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, Princess Eugenie and Beatrice among others and covering the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles in Windsor, lends Hargrove’s writing the weight of authenticity and a true knowledge of the history of how this family relates to one another—and to outsiders.

Enjoyed learning what went in to it. But the end could of been left out!

It was very interesting and informative and a really good listen and to hear how much went into the undertaken of such a huge feat. There was a lot of great information. I think I would have given all 5 stars but the author couldn’t keep it together till the end. With 5, 6 maybe 7 minutes left. As usual from what I've been told. I was warned going in, that this could be the case given her hatred for the royal family. But I was thinking that with the topic she chose to write about, maybe it would be just a good fact-filled, and enjoyable book. For the most part, it was. There were a few times she went on about something you could tell she didn’t like but it was ok. It was just a couple of minutes here and there. So halfway through the last chapter, I thought “Great she did a really good job on a hard topic and didn’t get nasty about the family.” Haha well of course I thought too soon. The last several minutes were just her being nasty for the sake of being nasty about the family.

Again, I’m just surprised with it about the Queen's death. So many who love the Queen could have a chance to learn and even enjoy what went into the planning and then have her do as she did. It’s just wrong, it's just sad for the topic and an audience made up of mostly people who like or love the Royal Family. If she had kept it together I would have looked into more work by her, she seems to be a very good writer but I don’t need to hear this kind of dislike or even hate. There’s more than enough of it in the world today. I would tell anyone thinking about listening to or reading this book that it was what I said in the beginning. It was very enjoyable and full of a lot of cool-to-know information. So I would say read or listen to it but when she starts going off, hit the skip button a few times and then you won’t have to hear it. It was just being a bit mean when there was no need. So yeah, that's what I thought of the book. I’ll even add a star or 2 then I was going to leave because the information was good and it was a good listen.