The Lutine Bell will ring three times in total to mark the royal household’s change
To remember Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and mark the accession of His Majesty King Charles III, Lloyd’s of London will host a ceremony in the underwriting room of its headquarters at One Lime Street at 11:30 am today (15 September 2022).
The ceremony will commence with a single ring of the Lutine Bell to mark the death of the Queen and will end with two rings to acclaim the new King.
It will be open to all Lloyd’s passholders – including members of the market and employees of the Corporation of Lloyd’s.
Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chairman of Lloyd’s, said: “Our thoughts remain with the royal household at this sad time.
“We were fortunate to host Her Majesty at Lloyd’s on a number of occasions during her reign and all who were there cherish the memory of those visits.
“In recent years we have worked alongside His Majesty King Charles in support of his Sustainable Markets Initiative and look forward to continuing our close association with this important work to create a more sustainable world.”
Mark of respect
The state funeral of Her Majesty will be held on Monday 19 September 2022 – this day has been declared a day of national mourning and will be a bank holiday in the UK.
Lloyd’s headquarters and its underwriting room will be closed on this day alongside the marketplace’s global offices.
The Union Jack at Lloyd’s will fly at half-mast throughout the duration of the mourning period.
A book of condolence has been placed in the underwriting room and will be displayed within the building in due course.
The lutine bell was originally salvaged from the French Navy Magicienne-class (32-gun) frigate HMS Lutine. In 1799, the ship was captured by the British Navy and ordered to deliver a large sum of gold and silver – collected by the City of London merchants – to the German port as funds to prevent a stock market crash.
HMS Lutine then crashed into sandbanks off the Dutch coast, where all but one of its 240 passengers were lost. Underwriter John Julius Angerstein managed to pay the claim in full just two weeks after the event.
More recently, the bell has been struck to mark special occasions.
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