Have funerals been cancelled? Concerns over services held on day Queen is laid to rest

Families have had their funerals postponed or rescheduled to avoiding clashing with the monarch’s farewell, writes Thomas Kingsley

Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater (AFP/Getty)

The funeral of the Queen on Monday will be a Bank Holiday, prompting the closure of services across the country as the nation says farewell to its longest reigning monarch.

A number of supermarket chains and high street retailers will shut on 19 September due to the funeral and it has now emerged thousands of hospital appointments have been cancelled.

This has been followed by reports other funerals have been cancelled on Monday as a “mark of respect” with concerns some families face having to postpone services for their loved ones because the Queen is being laid to rest.

Queen Elizabeth II will be having a state funeral - like Sir Winston Churchill’s here in 1965 (PA)

Government guidance, however, has not obliged funeral homes to cancel or postpone events on the day of the Queen’s funeral.

Have you had a family member’s funeral cancelled? If so, email thomas.kingsley@independent.co.uk

We look at what is happening with funerals on Monday below.

Are funerals cancelled?

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) which supports 4,200 funeral homes across the country, issued a statement on Monday evening after it was asked if funerals were still going ahead.

NAFD says there has been no obligation or guidance issued to its members urging them to cancel or postpone funerals on 19 September.

However, there have been cancellations by a number of crematoriums taking their “individual decision” to close as a mark of respect.

Some families have requested themselves that their funerals be rescheduled to avoid clashing with the Queen’s final farewell.

Floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth II outside Hillsborough Castle (PA)

“There are no blanket funeral cancellations,” Deborah Smith, spokeswoman for NAFD told The Independent. “Some families have requested to move them, other families would like to go ahead.

“The majority of crematoriums are working with families to ensure anyone who wants to go ahead can go ahead and the ones that want to be moved can be moved.

“Families are the most important people in this, like the Royal Family they are also bereaved so we have to take care of them too,” she added.

King Charles III, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew join the procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral

The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management also confirmed some funerals have been postponed by either request of the family or a decision of a funeral home or cemetery to shut on 19 September.

“We’ve got a mix of public sector and private sector members so it could be some local authorities are intending to close but we hope they don’t close the crematoriums because it should be the families’ choice if they wish to go ahead or not,” chief executive Julie Dunk told The Independent.

“Our advice to our members is if they’ve already got funerals booked and the family wants to go ahead, that should be honoured but families should be given the option to change the date if they prefer to,” she added.

What are funeral directors saying?

Jeremy Field, managing director of CPJ Field, one of the UK’s longest-running funeral directors, said it has some funerals going ahead but others have been postponed.

Queen Elizabeth II funeral cortege makes its way along The Royal Mile towards St Giles Cathedral on 12 September 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland (Getty Images)

“Funeral directors are in the hands of churches and crematoria,” he said. “Most of us don’t own our own crematorium or cemetery, so if for any reason they are closed and we were confident there probably would be a bank holiday then it was always going to be a possibility.

“So we rang people up and said we are not asking you to move it but we thought you would like to be aware if fewer people are likely or willing to come it is about gathering so it’s just something you might want to keep in mind.

“Some of our partners in the funeral service have decided to close for the bank holiday and that’s fine and those families we’ve had to contact and say I’m really sorry, we can proceed with the service somewhere else but we won’t be able to go to the crematorium or perhaps the cemetery.

“But at the same time other operators have said look we recognise everyone has their own grief to process and will be going ahead. So again we will support those families.”

The Queen’s funeral will take place at 11am on Monday September 19 (Joel Ryan/PA) (PA Wire)

A spokesperson from the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities which has been providing guidance to funeral homes said: “As a mark of respect, organisations might wish to consider cancelling or postponing events or closing venues on the day of the State Funeral.

“They are under no obligation to do so and this is entirely at the discretion of individual organisations.”