Death of Queen Elizabeth II, a Rehearsal

Though the most popular Queen Elizabeth II, the 92 years old Queen of Britain, is in sound health, the political administrators in Britain are busy rehearsing the procedure or the protocol that is going to follow after her death.

According to reports in media, British Ministers have developed a ten days national mourning plan to be followed after the Queen’s death. Deputy Prime Minister David Lidington chaired the meeting of British politicians where the detailed plan was made. The meeting was also attended by Home Secretary Sajid Javed, Scottish secretary David Mundell and leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom.

The whole exercise or the rehearsal was named “Castle Dove”. Though such practices are not common anywhere in the world, it is therefore exactly not known what inspired the legislators or the minister to take such an unprecedented step, but many believe this is because the Queen was not well last week and that may have inspired all this.

It all happened when the Queen who was due to attend an event at St Paul's Cathedral Church, which was also attended by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, but at the final stage the Queen couldn’t attend the event. Though a spokesperson on behalf of the Royals informed the media that “the Queen is feeling under the weather today and has decided not to attend this morning's service at St Paul's Cathedral marking the 200th anniversary of the Order of Michael and St George”.

  

In the meeting, it was also decided that the Queen’s body would lie in the state for five days in Westminster Hall for dignitaries to visit her for the last time and till the new king takes over the responsibility. British Broadcaster, BBC in the past, has been the news organization that broke the news of royal deaths in the past officially. However, now with growing trend of social media and digital age, there will be some change in the tradition when the Queen passes away officially.

Though in Britain such rehearsals are not new and have been in practice since past few years. In the year 2017, stories about the funeral preparation of the Queen started surfacing when some prominent media organizations featured stories such as, Queen Elizabeth’s Private Secretary Sir Christopher Geidt, will be the first person to break the news to the world about the Queen’s death. Code word such as “London Bridge is down”, will be used by government officials to convey the message that the Queen is no more. British Prime Minister will be informed first, then the heads of the commonwealth countries will be informed. It was also decided that Prince Charles will make a visit to Scotland and Wales, after he becomes King.

  

In the year 2016, when the monarch turned 90 years, she restricted her time on overseas travels, leaving all the important works and visits to the young members of her family and to son Charles. Still, she had a busy diary of events that proves, only in 2017, the Queen carried out 296 engagements, actively.