For the Queen’s funeral on September 19, all McDonald’s locations in the UK will be closed until later in the evening.
To Pay Respects
McDonald’s claimed that the decision was made to “enable everyone at McDonald’s to pay their respects” to Queen Elizabeth II via twitter announcing their decision
Due to the fact that it is a bank holiday, many companies around the UK will be closed for Queen Elizabeth II funeral, but some of those that would often be open have said they will be closing.
The decision to close for the day is left up to individual trusts, but thousands of hospital appointments are likely to be impacted.
While others are planning to remain open and broadcast the funeral, many of the biggest movie theatre companies in Britain will be closing their doors so their personnel can pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II.
Center Parcs came under heavy fire for ejecting visitors on the day of the burial, but they have already reversed course and will no longer eject vacationing families from their villas for the day.
As for McDonald’s, they intend to close its locations on September 19 until at least 5 p.m. The fast food juggernaut added that when it reopened after that, it will “vary from shop to store.”
The Queen (kinda) owned a McDonald’s
While some McDonald’s are open 24 hours a day, all of their fast food restaurants will close at midnight on September 19 in observance of Queen Elizabeth II burial.
Given that the McDonald’s in Oxfordshire’s Banbury Gateway Shopping Park is located on property held by the Crown Estate, Queen Elizabeth II actually (sort of) owned a McDonald’s.
It is unknown if Queen Elizabeth II ever visited, however according to her former chef Darren McGrady, despite her love of hamburgers, she wasn’t a great fan of the fast food restaurant.
As a child, he was taught that the only meal you should eat with your fingers is afternoon tea, thus Queen Elizabeth II always ate her hamburgers without the bread and with a knife and fork. He revealed this to Insider.
Some people thought McDonald’s choice to offer employees time to pay their respects was “a very decent call,” while others thought it was “going too far now” to actually close the restaurant. Opinions on the decision were divided.
Many criticized the McDonald’s 5 o’clock reopening, suggesting that customers going there after her burial is “what the Queen would have wanted,” while others said the company was in “McMourning.”
One individual said that reopening at 5pm would be a “PR trick” and that the fast food restaurant business should provide employees the “whole day or none at all” instead.
Many people expressed displeasure that McDonald’s will be closed during the funeral, and some said they wanted to eat at the eatery on their vacation.
The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II will be held at Westminster Abbey London.
