No one can be buried or cremated on Monday 19 September except for the Queen.
There is no formal requirement for funerals, burials or cremations to be cancelled on the day of the Queen’s funeral, though some services are being cancelled at the request of individual families. Others may also be postponed due to the decision of the cemetery or crematorium operator to close.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II a number of false claims have been circulating on social media.
Various tweets and Facebook posts have claimed that funerals, burials and cremations are not allowed to take place on the day of the Queen’s State Funeral on Monday 19 September.
While it may be the case that some funeral services scheduled to take place on the day of the Queen’s funeral will be rescheduled, there is no formal requirement for all such services to be postponed.
According to national mourning guidance published by the government after the Queen’s death: “There is no expectation on the public or organisations to observe specific behaviours during the mourning period.”
When asked whether the government was offering any specific advice for funerals, burials and cremations, a spokesperson for the Cabinet Office directed Full Fact to the guidelines, which read: “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.”
In response to viral claims about funerals being cancelled, the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) tweeted on Monday 13 September:
1/2 We've been asked if any other #funerals will go ahead on Monday 19th September. Although work is still ongoing, some funerals will go ahead, others are moving to a different date - led by the needs & wishes of the #bereaved families involved.
2/2 Most funeral services booked for 19 September will have been arranged many weeks ago, so funeral directors and cemeteries/crematoria are working with families to find the best approach for each one. @DMAG2020
— NAFD UK (@NAFD_UK) September 12, 2022
Further to this statement the NAFD told Full Fact: “Funeral service is a 24/7 profession and all bereaved families deserve the same level of care and support. There will, sadly, be families who lose a loved [one] on the day of the [Queen’s] funeral, or who have a loved one that is already in the care of a funeral home.
“Funeral directors are balancing the needs of all these families in covering the day of the State Funeral – as well as the needs of employees who wish to watch the funeral, or who may have caring responsibilities as a result of closures elsewhere.”
A spokesperson added that they had heard anecdotal reports that some crematoriums would be closing on the day of the State Funeral as all scheduled funerals had been postponed at the request of the families, and no new services were being booked for that day.
A spokesperson for the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management told Full Fact that they advise decisions should be “driven by the wishes of families”.
They added: “However, each cemetery and crematorium operator can make their own decision about whether they will be remaining open or closing on the day of the State Funeral. Some are remaining open, and some are closing.”
The ICCM has since said they understand some funerals have been postponed as a result of cemetery or crematorium operators taking the decision to close, but that the majority of funerals would go ahead as planned.
Image courtesy of The White House
Update 14 September 2022
We have updated this piece to more clearly reflect that some funerals have been postponed after individual cemetery and crematorium operators took the decision to close.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as partly false because there is no formal requirement for funerals, burials or cremations to be cancelled on the day of the Queen’s funeral, though some services are being cancelled at the request of individual families.
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