An intertwining on the edge of reality, the fiction of the highly acclaimed series The Crown almost becomes the inspiring element of the event most feared by the citizens of the Channel: the new “D-day”, the day of the death of Elizabeth the second. There is already the sentence ready to photograph the event that will change the history of the Windsors: “London bridge is down”, the London bridge has fallen. And the details of the protocol filtered by court circles on the dramatic moment in which the queen who took the throne of England more than 68 years ago will close her eyes seem to belong to a film script. Let's be clear: we are talking about a lady who at 95 is still in excellent health and an issue - her succession - which has been discussed for over half a century, practically since the Beatles were still together and England was winning the his only football world championship. But it is the details of the ritual that make the events related to His Majesty and all the dynamics of the life of Buckingham Palace fascinating once again to the eyes of the world.

The first phone call

It will be Elisabetta's personal secretary who will start the phone call that will inform the prime minister of mourning, with the dry phrase “London is bridge is down”. At that point the report will be sent to the Press Association, which will make a very short press release to spread the news to the world. The D-day will take shape, with the following days that will be called D-day +1, +2 and so on, until the end of the mourning period. Within ten minutes, all the flags of the Kingdom will have to slide at half mast. The Foreign Ministry office will communicate the news to the governments of the 51 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. The order will be given to mobilize the armed forces to manage the inevitable human tide that will pour into London. For four days the coffin will be displayed in the throne room of Bukingham Palace, then it will be moved to Westminster and presented to the public for another four days. The social profiles of all major British institutions will be listed in mourning with a black banner. Each BBC channel will interrupt broadcasts to tune into a single channel where the death event will be followed live. The TV hosts will dress in mourning, with a ready-made black suit.

The funeral procession

The solemn funeral will be organized ten days after the death of the sovereign. They will be celebrated in the basilica of Westminster: she will be buried in the chapel that houses her father, George the sixth. The ceremony will begin at twelve o'clock, in every corner of the kingdom there will be two minutes in which everything must stop. It is not difficult to think that hundreds of thousands of subjects and tourists are pouring in front of the abbey in the heart of London: the royal forces will have to be committed to taking care of public order in detail and enforcing the protocol of an event that will be broadcast on worldwide direct in front of a billion viewers.

The succession

The plan linked to the succession will start the day after Elizabeth's death: an ad hoc Council will meet to fully proclaim the entry into the scene of the new monarch. The proclamation will be made in the royal residence of St James Palace. Then 41 cannon shots will be fired in Hyde Park. Parliament will meet almost in real time to swear allegiance to the new ruler. The current situation says that it will be the turn of Charles, the queen's eldest son: currently 73 years old, he will find himself king when his peers have already been retired for some time. A long ritual will take shape that will see the now ex Prince of Wales leave with his wife Camilla for a journey that will cross the whole kingdom. But there is still time, until now God has always saved the Queen: «Long live our noble Queen». The king can wait.

© Riproduzione riservata