The Queen canceled an appearance at an event last week because she had a cold. She seemed to recover within a few days, and she’s expected to keep her public and private schedule for now, with no more cancellations. Which is good news for a lot of different reasons – for one, the last time she had a cold, she felt like ten kinds of hell for the better part of a month, and ended up missing a lot of the royal Christmas celebrations. But if she’s feeling fine, it’s bad news because now she has no excuse to refuse to meet with Donald Trump. Anyway, apparently the Queen’s cold was such an event in the British government that various government ministers decided to do a drill for what they would do when the Queen dies. These stories are always so macabre.
Really, it was just a cold. U.K. government ministers led a secret Whitehall exercise last week on contingency planning for Queen Elizabeth II’s death, The Sunday Times reported.
The exercise included an extensive meeting chaired by David Lidington, Prime Minister Theresa May’s deputy, as well as Home Secretary Sajid Javid; leader of the Commons, Andrea Leadsom; and the Scottish secretary, David Mundell, according to the newspaper. The ministers’ meeting was held on the same day that Queen Elizabeth announced she was feeling “under the weather” and cancelled a planned appearance at a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral marking the 200th anniversary of the Order of Michael and St George, but the Times insisted that “the exercise was not prompted by specific concerns about the Queen’s health.” Instead, the newspaper said the exercise “dubbed ‘Castle Dove’, focused on ‘D+1’, the day after the Queen’s death, with ministers deciding when the prime minister would make public statements.”
Extensive, and generally unspoken, preparations are always in place for a Palace “life event,” as the human resource consultants might refer to it. In disclosing the recent exercise by ministers, The Sunday Times reported that civil servants were constantly updating the overall plan, branded “London Bridge” but said the ministers’ involvement was a notable development. It also quoted an unnamed but insightful cabinet minister: “Things have clearly been stepped up because of the ageing process.”
Last year, the Guardian did one of the lengthiest and most detailed pieces I’ve ever read about what happens when the Queen dies. There are plans across the board, what the BBC announces immediately, what Charles has to do, where the Queen’s body will lie in state and so much more. It will be a huge ordeal and it will go on for weeks, not just in Britain but across the world/commonwealth. My point is that I understand why various government ministers – who come and go with the seasons – want to take an afternoon to war-game what will happen. Still, this sh-t is so macabre.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I know it sounds fucked up but when she does, is it really that big of a deal politically? Culturally, yes, but politically, I just don’t see her importance since she is nothing but a figurehead.
She’s Head of State for a number of countries.
“Head” of state but let’s be real here, it’s the prime minister’s of those countries that wield true power. That’s her political title. That’s it. Nothing but pure title with no substance. Hell, the reason why she’s so revered is due to the fact that we don’t know ANY of her political opinions.
As a Brit, I would say the Queen’s death will be of huge historical and cultural significance for the UK and the Commonwealth (and I’m not a Royalist by any means). Her reign has brought continuity and stability because she is separate from party politics. Her likeness has been on our currency and postage stamps for the last 60 odd years.
‘Nothing but pure title with no substance’ – nothing could be further from the truth for the British IMHO. For the US, I can see it appears insignificant.
God help us if she pops her clogs in the midst of Brexit. We feel like a very divided country at the moment and Charles becoming King would add to the turmoil.
Btw in this age of strongmen a constitutional monarchy is the best form of government. The people’s sense of nationalism is fulfilled by the monarch thus they don’t fall for someone like erdogan, trump, putin, xi. I mean those Brits really got it right.
It’s stupid but works.
hmmm i dont know about that, Im not a fan of constitutional monarchy at all, and i say this as a British taxpayer, Irish citizen living in N Ireland. Many of us greatly resent the Royal family for what they represent, and the fact that they are supposed to be our head of state.
I would dearly love if the (elected) president of Ireland could also be our head of state. In the last 30 years they have given us Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese, and now Michael D Higgins. 3 people from North and South of the Irish border with very different backgrounds and starts in life, relatable yet inspirational… plus if we didnt like them we can vote them out at some point. We don’t have to support their entire extended family or provide homes and taxpayer funds for life either.
Canada too. I’m not a royalist either but dreading her death. She’s on our money, every Christmas we listen to her message, she defines Canada a lot both good and bad. I respect and like her a lot personally. She is continuity, and other things… ugh
OTOH, when she dies, I have a fun dream that Charles will not be King because that should be his penance for Diana. He will begrudgingly side step in favour of William, who may or may not take it on. It’s going to be fascinating anyway. Imagine if William asked Harry to stand in until George is of age…. the whole thing is going to up end centuries of British royalty.
I guess they have to have everything in place. I read that the Queen Mother’s funeral had been rehearsed many times. I imagine everything is in place for Phillip’s funeral. Problem is at this age a cold can become Pneumonia pretty quickly. But I understand this wasn’t anything that serious.
I don’t find it in the least macabre. The alternative is not to plan it and then have everyone running around like headless chickens when it happens. She’ll have been consulted about it and very likely voiced her own preferences as to how she wants to be carried off, so to speak, so it’s not as if this ‘news’ will come as some terrible shock to her and leave her with hurt feelings. It’s just protocol, basically.
Exactly. Theyre being professional and well prepared. I’m sure the Queen has long since made peace with the strangeness of her life. It’s the only life she knows and she seems committed to the duty and the mythology of it. I imagine knowing these types of drills are well rehearsed gives her enormous comfort. It is going to be a sad and strange spectacle when she dies.
I’m a pretty cold, practical person, so to me this makes perfect sense-I don’t find it that macabre. Logic, planning, and execution allow the actual process of grieving to have some stability and give people some comfort in the sense of loss. On a national level, I imagine this would be even more important. Of course, my husband and I also have detailed wills and explicit plans for our deaths (and we’re youngish with no major health problems). Death is a part of life, and planning for death may be a source of comfort for people who are confronting their humanity.
In the US it is routine to develop contingency plans (with presidential input) for presidential funerals early in the 1st term. Doesn’t end up in the newspapers though!
God, I hope they don’t ask Trump for his input on his funeral.
What I want is input on Trump’s funeral.
I want Trump to resign or be carted out in handcuffs or a strait jacket and then live a long life in prison or exile. I absolutely do not want that man to have a state funeral.
Yeah, once I read that article, I understood this strictly from a logistics perspective. Figurehead or not, there is so much that has to be done. At her age, it makes sense to have these meetings, uncomfortable as they may be.
To Americans, it’s just a gossip story. She’s our goddamn head of state. It’s super serious. When she dies, it’s going to be horrific.
Yes, people don’t realise just how big of a deal her passing on will be. She is a massive part of the British psyche and culture, she’s basically everyone’s Granny like figure. Her death will be a major traumatic event for the country.
oops – double post.
If by horrific, you mean the media disruption and the round the clock coverage that will likely go on for months afterwards, then yes, it will be horrific. Hope Netflix has a plan in place.
What about when Phillip dies? Also morbid I know but I see him going before her, just curious if that changes things as well
It will be like when the Queen Mum died. A state funeral but not something that affects the government. Consorts don’t matter to the running of the government.
There’ll be a plan in place for Philip’s death but his death is less complex that hers since it doesn’t involve any constitutional changes.
There was a story about King George V after he died. During the funeral procession a great big Maltese cross fell off the caisson and crashed to the pavement. “Christ! ” the new king exclaimed.”What will happen next ?”
“That” said a courtier to another “might be the motto of the new reign”.
The new King was Edward VIII who abdicated later that year.
The monarchy (ANY OF THEM) is an anachronistic outdated way of thinking that somehow some people are better than others because of chance genetics. Such a load of BS, that people STILL buy into hook line and sinker. The truth is that these people are occupying public areas in the name of the monarchy, with treasure and money that has been plundered for CENTURIES as a result of colonial oppression and possession. It is long since past time to eliminate their existence on the taxpayer dime, and use that funding for improvements in the life of ALL people, not just for the benefit of a very few.
I notice also, media start reporting what new title etc for Kate when Charles becomes King. I see photographs of HM from event in Edinburgh today, she’s not looking well, unfortunately.
Your Magesty, if you’re sick during 45’s visit everyone will understand (deep curtsy)
I gotta say her face in these photos is something. She and my mom look so much alike and at end of life, my mom had this same look when she was in last months of life. A mix of disgust and tired of life and everything taking so long. It’s tiring to die, for real, and I can’t imagine enduring all these appaearances as the Queen has to if that’s what she’s experiencing.
Funny you should say that the Queen resembles my late mother so much, and my mother throughout her adult life knew she looked like the Queen, and so does my mother’s sister.
If you’re interested, you can google “London Bridge is down” to read about plans for the inevitable. The Guardian posted a detailed article a year ago or so.
(It was said at that time that a woman of the Queen’s age had an average life expectancy of three years.)
It was nothing to do with her ‘cold’, it was definitely pre planned.