On Thursday, the royal family’s Twitter account shared that the Queen “passed away peacefully at Balmoral,” after 70 years on the throne. As reported by BirminghamLive, the Department for Education (DfE) will inform schools whether or not to close in the coming days. A DfE spokesman previously told the publication that it would “issue advice in due course to all schools that [the Queen die]”. While no plans have yet been made to close schools, reports said schools will likely observe a day of mourning on the date of the Queen’s funeral and that day will be considered a public holiday. The website also noted that the Queen’s funeral will reportedly take place on Monday, September 19. According to documents for Operation London Bridge, the plan created in the event of Queen Elizabeth’s death, the day of her funeral will be considered a “Day of National Mourning”. As Politico explained, the funeral “will essentially be a holiday, though it won’t be called one.” “If the funeral takes place at the weekend or on an existing bank holiday, no additional bank holiday will be granted. If the funeral takes place every day, the government does not intend to order employers to give workers time off – the documents say this is a matter between the workers and their staff,” the agency said. There will also be 10 days of mourning for the Queen in the UK, but schools are not required to close for that time. Operation London Bridge also notes that the funeral itself will be held at Westminster Abbey and a two-minute silence will be observed across the UK. The Independent has approached the Department of Education for comment.
