Operation Hope Not

It was titled The State Funeral of The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, K.G., O.M., C.H., and was begun in 1953, twelve years before his death.

Churchill led the country to victory in the Second World War (1939–1945) during his first term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The British Government started a meticulous preparation, as officially decreed by Queen Elizabeth II, to be of a commemoration "on a scale befitting his position in history".

[2] As remarked by Lord Mountbatten, Churchill "kept living and the pallbearers kept dying" such that the plan had to be revised several times in the years before his death in 1965.

[8] The actual plan was initiated in 1958, as indicated in a letter from Anthony Montague Browne, Churchill's private secretary, to Lady Churchill in the summer of 1958, which stated: The Queen has intimated that, if it is in accordance with the wishes of the family, there should be plans for Sir Winston to have a State Funeral, and that the Duke of Norfolk, as Earl Marshal, should be responsible for them.

It was decided that Churchill would be carried from Westminster Hall to St Paul's by a gun carriage, from Thames to Gravesend in a two-hour sail, and then to Chartwell in a 25-mile journey which would take 73 minutes.

The boat was changed to MV Havengore, and its exact timing was specified as 12:50 p.m. for departure and 1:05 p.m. for arrival at the destination, now to be adjacent to Waterloo Station.

The State Funeral would take place at St. Paul's Cathedral, thereafter the coffin would be taken to Tower Steps, and thence by river to Waterloo Station where a special train would be waiting to go to Woodstock.

[12]A hearse van was set aside in 1962 specifically for the funeral train and kept out of public view at Stewarts Lane until needed.

[13][14] Part of the plan was tested on 28 June 1962 after Churchill, staying at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, fell and broke his hip.

Issued by Major General Sir George Burns from the Horse Guards, it opened with the statement: In 1963, an official committee was created with the Duke of Norfolk as its chairman.

The procession was to pass through major locations relevant to Churchill's life, including St Margaret's Church, where he got married.

The procession would be led by four Officers of Arms carrying the achievements of a heraldic funeral such as the spurs, crest, targe, and sword.

It directed officers and personnel on duty, the parade timings, traffic control, refreshments and location of canteens, first aid facilities, uniforms, the route to be taken by the Queen and the royal families, and the funeral procession.

The other document named Operation Order No 801 was 59 pages long and strictly concerned with traffic systems and security patrols.

It also gave exact time table for police duties from morning (2 a.m.) of the funeral day to 1.25 p.m. when the train would leave Waterloo.

Churchill originally willed that he be buried in his croquet lawn at Chartwell, in Kent, but since he was to be given a full state funeral, a more respectable graveyard, St Martin's Church at Bladon, was chosen.

[28] In 1964, Lady Churchill suggested as an accomplishment of this will a cremation before the lying in state, but was argued by the Archbishop of Canterbury that embalming would be a more appropriate choice for the public impression.

Though on the same side during World War II, Churchill felt that de Gaulle had a perennial enmity towards England.

[34][35] To him de Gaulle had been "a man who looks like a female llama surprised in her bath,"[36] "a bitter foe of Britain" who "hates England and has left a trail of Anglophobia behind him everywhere.

[39] It was after an earnest pleading from the Duke of Norfolk to include the French President for political reasons that Churchill finally agreed.

[19] The final document was titled State Funeral of the Late Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, K.G., O.M., C.H.

[43] Operation Hope Not was featured in the BBC documentary Churchill: A Nation’s Farewell hosted by Jeremy Paxman in 2015.

[44] Operation Hope Not was the central theme in David R. Stokes' historical fiction novel The Churchill Plot published in 2017.