It is an event that promises to be “the biggest law enforcement operation” in British police history. The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday September 8 in Scotland, will take place on Monday September 19 in London.
At 10:44 a.m. that day, the coffin will depart from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, where the funeral service will take place, Buckingham Palace said. At the end of the service, the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II will leave in procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington’s Arch, then it will be taken to Windsor. And once in Windsor, there will be another hearse procession to St. George’s Chapel, the palace said in its statement.
The ceremony on September 19 is expected to attract millions of visitors, as well as personalities from around the world who will attend the funeral. Among the expected guests, US President Joe Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and Emmanuel Macron… Normally.
The French head of state has currently planned to be in New York on September 19 to speak at the UN. As spotted by HuffPost, the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres has already indicated that he could not modify the calendar of the organization which is holding, here, its first general assembly in physical presence since the pandemic. of Covid-19. According the Sunday newspaper (JDD), the President of the Republic was due to arrive in New York on the evening of Sunday September 18, meet counterparts the next day and then deliver his first speech for a new mandate before the UN on Tuesday September 20. He had planned, finally, to return Wednesday, September 21 to Paris for the traditional Council of Ministers.
This busy program is therefore incompatible with a ceremony organized in London. However, the Elysée makes it known at the JDD that Emmanuel Macron is “fully prepared” to upset his agenda to go to Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19. “The logistics will follow”, indicates the Elysée.
A “significant” national threat level
The English police have taken from their archives the old protocols for the grandiose funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, which promises to be a headache: to welcome the leaders of the great powers of the planet while funneling millions of visitors to London. “This will arguably be the largest policing and policing operation ever in the UK,” Nick Aldworth, former National Police counter-terrorism co-ordinator, told the newspaper. The Independent. “All it takes is a car, a person who wants to perform an act of hatred and then there, not only do you have a constitutional event that goes wrong, but injuries and deaths,” he continues.
He notes that the ceremony will be held in a context of “global threat of a very different level” from that of previous royal funerals, such as those of the Queen Mother in 2002 or even those of Princess Diana five years earlier. The United Kingdom has been hit by several attacks over the past decade, in particular a series of bloody attacks in London, Manchester and other cities targeted by jihadists.
The current national threat level, established by the MI5 security services and calculated to take into account the likelihood of a wider attack, is “significant”. London’s Metropolitan Police, the ‘Met’, announced on Friday (September 9) that they had begun rolling out their ‘oft-repeated’ plans for the 10-day nationwide official mourning ahead of the funeral of the longest-serving monarch, the time of his 70-year reign.
“We will ensure security through clearly identifiable patrols,” police said. “The public will also see officers posted at key locations including transport, royal parks and outside royal residences in London.” The “Met” will work hand in hand with the transport police, in charge of the national network, as well as the City police, which deals with security in this London business district. “The comprehensive police plan” will be particularly visible in Westminster and the surrounding area, which includes Parliament, the Abbey and Buckingham Palace, said Stuart Cundy, assistant commissioner at the “Met”.