For all intents and purposes, she is still alive and well. But, if The Queen, codenamed ‘London Bridge,’ comes to pass, there is a comprehensive plan in place to ensure that everything is taken care of. Politico was given access to the gruesome documents.
The British newspaper The Guardian speculated about the preparations in 2017 if Queen Elizabeth II died, but Politico now has more concrete details about the ‘D-Day’ communications circus. The documents show no signs of the 95-year-old queen’s health deteriorating.
In the documents, social media plays a significant role. The royal family’s website, for example, will have a black screen with a brief announcement confirming the queen’s death, and all government social media pages will have a black banner. Non-urgent content will not be published, and retweets will be prohibited unless the government’s communications chief approves.
The documents also reveal plans for a procession to transport the queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, where she will be laid to rest on a catafalque. The coffin will be open to the public for three days, 23 hours a day. VIPs will be given time-limited tickets.
Within 10 minutes, the flags will be lowered to half-mast
The state funeral will take place ten days after her death and will be declared a day of national mourning, but it will not be a holiday. If she dies on a weekday, employers will be responsible for giving their employees the day off, and if she dies on the weekend, there will be no replacement day off.
When the time comes, a civil servant will inform the Prime Minister that “London Bridge is down,” and the death will be announced through the media. In addition to that well-known operation, another popular code name is Operation Spring Tide. Those plans spell out how Charles will ascend to the throne, as well as how to deal with public outrage if Downing Street fails to lower its flags to half-mast within 10 minutes of her death being announced.
The documents also revealed State Department concerns about the influx of tourists, as well as the possibility of terror warnings. The queen will be laid to rest in Windsor Castle’s King George VI Memorial Chapel.
