Queen Elizabeth Death Plan Leak Reveals Church Bells To Be Muted As Mark Of Respect When Monarch Dies

In preparation for the passing of Queen Elizabeth, leather workers in the UK are being mobilized to make more muffles for church bells.

According to Independent, the day that the monarch dies will elicit a series of plans. They have been in place since the 1960s in a process known as Operation London Bridge. In 2021, a report by Politico revealed the specifics of how protocol will play out after the Queen's demise.

The security plan was outlined in a series of documents. They detailed everything from how news of her death will be shared to the public to how quickly her son Prince Charles will ascend the throne. Operation London Bridge will also see the country enter a period of official mourning, reported Mirror.

After her death plan leak, new details about how churches across the UK will mark their respects when the monarch dies have emerged. As part of Operation London Bridge, on the days of the Queen’s death and funeral, an hour's muted chimes will ring out.

Most of the 16,000 churches in Britain have not rung bells fully muffled since the demise of the monarch's father, King George VI, in 1952. After being kept in church towers for decades, many muffles have rotted. Now, following a request for churches to mute bells to mourn the monarch's death, Britain's leather working industry has been getting many orders, reported Daily Mail.

Vicki Chapman, spokeswoman of Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, said that they have spent a lot of time talking to the "Royal Household and Lambeth Palace about the day the monarch passes, which we hope will not be any time soon." She shared that adding muffles makes bells "sound mournful, more like a hum –so they will sound like thud, thud, thud rather than dong, dong, dong." She added that it is about "paying due reverence to the service" of the Queen and commemorating her life.

A lot of enquiries are coming in, shared Philip Pratt of Big Wilf's Bell Muffles near Bristol, which has supplied more than 1,000 churches. Simon Adams of muffle retailer John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough said that sales in the past month are "double the previous month."