BBC presenters immediately changed into black clothes following the news of Prince Phillip's death. They always have black outfits on standby, sources say.

• BBC News presenters changed into black clothes after the news of Prince Philip's death on Friday.
• Martine Croxall removed the necklace she was wearing and put a black jacket over her brown jumper.
• Sources told Insider that presenters always had black clothes on standby for high-profile deaths.

Presenters on BBC News changed into black clothes to announce the death of Prince Philip on Friday.

The BBC interrupted normal programming on BBC One to report the Duke of Edinburgh's death. The title screen was black and the news reader, Martine Croxall, announced the news wearing a black outfit.

Five minutes earlier on the separate BBC News channel, a rolling-news channel, Croxall was wearing a brown, long-sleeve top with a gold necklace. When she received news of the duke's death, she announced it immediately, before cutting to clips of Prince Philip.

While she spoke over those clips, she removed her necklace, and by the time the camera cut back to her she was wearing all-black, ready to interrupt programming on BBC One.

A BBC employee told Insider that the staff had been sending emails for weeks to prepare the organization for Prince Philip's death.

BBC sources told Insider that presenters always had black clothes on standby for news around high-profile deaths, such as the royals or heads of state. The presenters on the Friday show changed quickly, they said.

Croxall's first interviewee, Camilla Tominey, the associate editor of The Daily Telegraph, appeared on the show wearing black. BBC reporters also wore black from then on.

An email that BBC News sent to staff in 2019, seen by Insider on Friday, said that in the event of the death of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, or Prince William, "normal programming will quickly cease across all BBC output and a pre-prepared rolling output will begin."

Buckingham Palace announced that the Duke of Edinburgh died on Friday morning at the age of 99.

"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh," the palace said in a statement. "His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle."

His death comes after he spent four weeks in hospital being treated for an infection.