London was cold and wet, Kenya's jungles were hot and steaming, and New York was cool and clear. In all three places, TIME correspondents and editors were preparing to relax after a strenuous week.

The London bureau had just finished working on the Anthony Eden cover story (TIME, Feb. 11). On Tuesday the bureau carefully examined Eden's address before Commons for anything which might indicate a change in British foreign policy. In New York City, Senior Editor Tom Griffith spent the day (the first of TIME'S editorial "weekend") on the alert for cables from London. In Nyeri, Kenya, Correspondent Alexander Campbell, who had spanned a third of the African continent to accompany the royal tour, was writing a story about Elizabeth and Philip watching jungle animals from a fig tree. The royal couple had no engagements, so Wednesday was to be a free day. But at 10:37 Wednesday morning, London time, the news came from Buckingham Palace: King George VI had died during the night.

Within two hours, TIME'S editors in New York had decided to put the new Queen on TIME'S cover, using Boris Chaliapin's color portrait of Elizabeth, which had been drawn months before. TIME'S Foreign News Desk sent cables to London and other overseas bureaus, outlining story plans. The Domestic and Canadian News Bureau wired scores of correspondents, asking for spot reactions of people and newspapers.

Many correspondents anticipated the wires, started gathering reports immediately. London Bureau Chief Andre Laguerre sent wires to 20 stringers (part-time correspondents) in Britain and Scandinavia. He pulled all his correspondents off the stories they were working on, assigned Dave Richardson to watch London developments, stationed Honor Balfour at the House of Commons, called Cynthia Thompson from her home (she had retired from TIME'S London staff six weeks ago) to work on a story about the King's illness for the Medicine section, set Joan Bruce to digging up some of the unusual prerogatives of the British monarch, and sent A. T. Baker to Sandringham. Stopped politely by the police constable at the massive gate to the castle, Baker visited local pubs, knocked on strange doors, interviewed storekeepers who held royal warrants and talked to villagers sloshing through wet fields.

Laguerre tried to eliminate from the bureau's coverage any unnecessary duplication of the thousands of words already pouring across the Atlantic to the U.S. press. He was aiming at a clear, detailed picture of the news as it happened and its effects on the British people when they learned of their sovereign's death. Friday evening the copy began to flow to TIME'S New York cable room. By 4 a.m. Saturday, the London staff had cleared its complete file and was standing by for late developments and checking cables from

New York. On Saturday, TIME'S writers began to select their material. Foreign News Writer Roger Hewlett, who had already written cover stories on both of Britain's princesses (TIME, March 31, 1947; June 13, 1949), was assigned to write the cover story on the new Queen. Other stories about the death and accession went into five different sections of the magazine, and News in Pictures was expanded from its usual two pages to four.

Last week worn London staffers were still hard at work covering the funeral, talking to foreign ministers on hand for royalty's last rites -- and beginning to gather material for still another projected cover story.

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