When the British Prime Minister is informed by telephone that “the London Bridge has fallen” he will know that Queen Elizabeth II has died and “Operation London Bridge” will begin, a complex protocol the details of which were revealed today by the media. Politico “.
“D-Day” – as it has been called on the day of the Queen’s death – will begin with a cascade of calls and emails to officials and ministers of relevance, the draft is already written.
“Dear comrades, it is with sadness that I am writing to inform you of the death of Her Majesty the Queen,” the Cabinet Secretary (the highest-ranking official in the United Kingdom) will write to the ministers.
After giving it a go, all Whitehall flags – the parliamentary area – will have to be lowered to half a mast in 10 minutes, which Downing Street once described as “impossible” without the help of a contractor. external, which would expose the prime minister to “public anger.”
“Politician” stresses that the 95-year-old monarch is in “good health” and that “nothing suggests” that these plans, to which he has now had access, “have been reviewed as a matter of urgency.”
British citizens will know the news through an “official notification” issued by the Royal House. The Prime Minister will be the first member of the Government to make a statement and the other members of the Executive will not be able to comment on the matter until then.
On the other hand, the British Parliament, as well as the autonomous chambers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, will cease their activity; a minute of silence will be announced nationwide and the Ministry of Defense will fire salvos from various locations.
“Operation London Bridge” also includes an exclusive protocol for social media, with a ban on retweets on official accounts and non-urgent content. The black will bathe the social profiles of Government, as well as the official website of the royal family.
Undoubtedly, “D-Day” will be a frantic day for the Prime Minister, as he will have an audience with the new king, Charles, and will go to the memorial service that St. Paul’s Cathedral will host in honor of the Queen, a ceremony of intimate and “spontaneous” cut.
The protocol contemplates different alternatives, depending on the place of death of the sovereign. If he dies at his residence in Sandringham (east of England) his coffin will arrive on a train and will be received by the Prime Minister at St Pancras London Station.
Doing so in Balmoral (Scotland) will activate the “Operation Unicorn” which will also take you by train to London, if possible. And if not, “Operation Overstudy,” which will move the coffin by plane.
The Prince of Wales, first in succession to the throne, will address the nation at 6 pm, and will be proclaimed sovereign at 10 am the day after his death (“D + 1”) . In addition, in the days leading up to the funeral he will tour all over the UK, starting in Scotland and ending in Wales.
On the second day of mourning, the coffin with the Queen will return to Buckingham Palace, and on the fifth he will march in procession to Westminster Palace. There, he will remain until the eighth in an elevated box and open to the public for 23 hours a day.
The day “D + 10” -day on which the state funeral will be held- will be declared a holiday. The ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey and the monarch will be buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in Windsor Castle, next to her husband, the recently deceased Duke of Edinburgh.