Her Majesty the Queen - Elizabeth II RIP

What a lovely thing. If you were on your own and really wanted to watch it in company. Such a lovely act.

The short notice doesn't help, but it's interesting that people who would support more public holidays are getting angry at the consequences of people taking a day off. Granted, many organisations normally stay open on a public holiday, and it's not always a simple case of everything moving back by a day. If you have a hospital appointment postponed, it may not be rescheduled for another month.

However, the guidance was very clear. No organisation is forced to close or not provide their normal service at any time, and it's just a recommendation about rescheduling certain activities if they clash with the funeral. The logistics of modifying business or closing for the morning only were perhaps more complicated than shutting things down for a full day, so I have sympathy for those tasked with making a quick decision.

As far as I have been able to find, Anne is the first female royal to walk in this sort of procession. So she is able to set his own tradition.

I think the reason that Harry and Andrew were not in uniform is because they no longer hold any official position with the armed services and as this is a formal ceremony, only current military representatives are in uniform. They were still wearing the medals they earned whilst in service.

Black arm bands are, I think, a matter of personal choice.

So Anne and Edward are still representatives, hence the uniforms. In the US, veterans and retirees generally may wear dress uniforms on 'appropriate' occasions, including (I've read) funerals.

Once your retired in the UK you can’t wear your uniform. So Harry can’t wear his own and as a non working royal he can’t wear the ones he used to have as ceremonial.

And with that Radio 5 interviewed James Graham about The Queue.

From what I can tell, it's normal or at least acceptable for retired military personnel in the US to continue wearing their uniforms, whereas that's something that's very definitely not allowed in the UK and is seen as a big no no. The only reason Harry and Andrew used to be allowed to wear uniforms after they retired was because as senior working royals they took on new/extra ceremonial roles within the military. In that sense they were sort of still military.

When Harry decided he didn't want to be a working royal any-more, his ceremonial roles ended. So he wasn't allowed to wear a uniform, same as everyone else who has retired from the army. The same for Andrew, except it wasn't his choice to step back. 

It's all very well saying that Harry spent more time in the military than William, but most military spent more time in the organisation than Harry and none of them get to wear their uniform once they are fully retired. Harry is on the receiving end of unfair abuse, but I'm not kept up at night because he doesn't get to wear a ceremonial military uniform.

I'm guessing a lot of the outrage started in America they because they don't realise that they are following the rules, and that doesn't require a big conspiracy. Perhaps they could have come to an arrangement so that Harry kept a ceremonial role somewhere, but if you are a republican complaining about special privileges for the royal family then you probably shouldn't be complaining that they didn't make a new rule so one of their own got special treatment. Mind you, half of the folk moaning about this are under the impression that Andrew was wearing a military uniform yesterday and/or that Harry is the only one with a real military career.

It might have been easier to create a loophole for Harry if Andrew wasn't hanging around, refusing to get the hint that he's an embarrassment. 

They hold a unique position

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Pensioner

Technically Andrew could always have worn his own uniform (with an R on it for retired). Harry wasn't a high enough rank when he left to be allowed to do that.

Has it been reported which uniforms they'll wear?

Queue to pay respects to the Queen suspended. Now have a pre-queue and people queueing to get into the pre-queue

I didn't know that, Dawnstar. 6'4", I read. He was the footman who escorted Her late Majesty, James Bond and sundry corgis along the corridor of Buckingham Palace.

No relation...as far as I'm aware. My lot are from Cambridgeshire, and he's from Essex.

Sorry to hear about that Alec. I really thought physical disabilities would be better supported.

Seems the only way to do it is to become a MP and waltz to the front