Elizabeth II: ten days of millimeter protocol after the death of the queen – Le Monde

Police officers stand in front of Saint James’s Palace in London, where the council for the accession to the throne of King Charles III is to be held on Saturday, September 10, 2022 after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. NIKLAS HALLE’N / AFP From the death of Queen Elizabeth II to the “London Bridge” operation. Prepared since the 1960s, supervised by the sovereign herself, it details in detail the events of the ten days that will lead to her funeral. Read also: Death of Elizabeth II, live: Emmanuel Macron salutes a “queen of valor”; cannon shots fired throughout the United Kingdom All the royal, political and diplomatic choreography is described to the millimeter, so as not to leave the slightest risk of emotion leading to a misstep. Everything is described, from the bells that will ring, including that of Big Ben, whose hammer is covered in leather for the occasion to muffle the sound, to the printing of the tickets provided for the guests present at the funeral. The documents of the London Bridge operation unfold the events chronologically, from D-Day to D+10. The date of the funeral is not yet public. King Charles III announced on Friday September 9 that the royal family would respect mourning for up to seven days after the funeral. D-Day. “London Bridge is down” The code “London Bridge is down” was released by Palace officials who informed the Prime Minister of the death. In 1952, on the death of George VI, the queen’s father, the code was “Hyde Park Corner”, and the idea was then not to leak the information to the telephone operators. Current technologies, with secure lines, no longer require these precautions, but the principle has been maintained. Read also: Elizabeth II: tributes to the queen pour in from all over the world The media were informed by a press release sent to Press Association, the British press agency. The BBC, which had been repeating the event regularly for years, was informed directly. Only three editors were empowered to order the presenter to announce the news. The sentence to be pronounced had been written for ages and was exactly pronounced, Thursday, September 8, by the presenter Huw Edwards: “You are watching the BBC, from London. We interrupt these programs to announce the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Queen Elizabeth II is dead. The instructions were strict: no “breaking news” banner, no sensational tone; it was a matter of reading an “official announcement”, not exceptional information. In Downing Street, the Prime Minister’s residence, the Union Jack is at half mast. The goal was to lower the flag within ten minutes of the death being announced. Worried, the senior officials preparing the London Bridge operation had warned, in one of the preparatory documents, that they did not have a special employee in charge of full-time flags and that they risked not meeting the deadline. You have 74.48% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.