YOU may have been struck over the past two weeks by just how smoothly the arrangements for the funeral of Her Majesty the Queen – and the accession of King Charles III – were handled.

There was the way the Queen’s coffin travelled from Balmoral to Edinburgh; the lying in state in Westminster Hall; the immaculately arranged – and hugely moving – funeral itself.

Then there were the accession declarations for King Charless III read out all over the country – and the way, throughout the period of mourning, politicians somehow managed to keep quiet and not say anything controversial.

All of this was possible because of something called Operation London Bridge.

This was a national plan – created as long ago as the 1960s and revised many times since – which set out every detail of what would happen during the period of mourning and transition following the Queen's death.

It involved various government departments, the Church of England, the Metropolitan Police, the Armed Forces, some branches of the media (such as the BBC), London boroughs and other local authorities. From the moment the news of the Queen’s death was made public, all knew exactly what they had to do.

The very smoothness of the process showed what can be achieved when there is good planning in place, said York Central MP Rachael Maskell. It was just a shame, she said, that a similar level of planning and efficiency could not be applied to some of the other problems facing Britain, such as the cost of living crisis.