The Ceremonial To Be Observed and The Order of Service For the Funeral of The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill K.G., O.M., C.H.

CHURCHILL, Winston S.

Item Number: 131884

London: Printed by Her Majesty's Stationary Office, [1965].

Two pristine first edition pamphlets detailing the funeral ceremony of Winston S. Churchill. Quarto and octavo, original wrappers as issued. In fine condition.

Sir Winston Churchill died on 24 January 1965, aged 90. His was the first state funeral for a non-royal family member since Lord Carson in 1935, and as of 2021 it remains the most recent state funeral in the United Kingdom. The official funeral lasted for four days. Planning for the funeral, known as Operation Hope Not, began 12 years before Churchill's death. It was initiated after Churchill's stroke in 1953 while in his second term as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. After several revisions due to Churchill's continued survival (mainly because "the pallbearers kept dying", explained Lord Mountbatten), the plan was issued on 26 January 1965, two days after his death.