No one has forgotten Operation London Bridge, which provided for the arrangements to be made in the event of the death of Elizabeth II.
Since the death of the sovereign on September 8, 2022, British officials have been examining the details of another project: the “Menai Bridge” operation.
This plan, refined “for years”, anticipates the directives which will be taken upon the death of his son Charles III.
A device whose name was not chosen at random.
It designates the first iron suspension bridge in the world, located in Anglesey, Wales – a nation dear to the heart of the sovereign.
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According to
The Independent
, Operation Menai Bridge, which involves the police, members of the British government, the army, intelligence services and private organisations, would have many points in common with London Bridge.
The project, of which little is known at the moment, anticipates the decisions to be taken concerning the announcement of the death of Charles III, what will happen during the days of mourning which will follow his death, and the course of the funeral official of the sovereign.
Measures which aim to ensure the smoothest possible transfer of power after the disappearance of the monarch, while respecting established protocol.
Read also Barely arrived, already gone: Prince Harry's formal visit to King Charles III
Flags at half mast
“Charles III himself said it in his first speech as king: he will assume this role for as long as life allows him,” Simon Morgan, a former royal bodyguard, told the Today channel.
But you have to keep in mind that he is 73 years old.
With the help of the police, we need to start thinking about the future again.”
As soon as Operation Menai Bridge is launched, Charles III's private secretary will inform the British Prime Minister and the monarch's privy council of his death.
The secretaries of the ministries will receive a royal order, in order to inform the government ministers of the death of the sovereign, while the Cabinet secretary will announce it by email to senior officials.
After receiving this message, the flags of Whitehall - the artery which connects the south of Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square, and which is lined with many ministries - will be lowered to half-mast.
A “dowager queen”
As soon as the death of Charles III is announced, Prince William will become king, and Kate Middleton queen consort - or simply queen, if the monarch chooses to simplify the term on official documents.
The new sovereign will then address the nation, as Charles III did on September 9, 2022, after the death of Elizabeth II.
Then, a period of national mourning will begin.
For her part, Camilla will inherit the title “Dowager Queen” – a distinction given to the widow of a monarch, who can no longer be “Queen Consort”.
This title of queen dowager, known as “courtesy”, is, moreover, nothing official.
Camilla will therefore have no constitutional power or duty.
If the British have recently shown themselves worried about the state of health of their sovereign, who was diagnosed with "a form of cancer", as Buckingham Palace announced on Monday February 5, the doctors would show up for their share “very, very optimistic” about the outcome of the treatment followed by the monarch.
In the meantime, Prince William has already taken over from his father, at least with regard to his official commitments.