The death of Isabel II announced this Thursday upsets an entire country. And this announcement also triggers a series of well-crafted protocols to follow. A ten-day program will be strictly followed, culminating in the monarch’s funeral.
A large team of royal courtiers and senior advisers were hired to organize the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. At the head: the “earl-marshal”, one of the most important honorary civil servants in the United Kingdom.
Descendant of Elizabeth I
The current Earl Marshal is Edward Fitzalan-Howard. This hereditary title goes to the Duke of Norfolk, the highest-ranking duke in England. In particular, he is responsible for organizing the official opening of Parliament -which marks the start of the parliamentary session each year-, the coronation of a new sovereign and, in this case, the state funeral. A task that he will have to perform for the first time since Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for the last 70 years.
Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 65, is the longest-serving lay member of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain and sits in the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament. He is also a descendant of Queen Elizabeth I, who reigned from 1558 to 1603.
King Carlos III is expected to meet with the Earl Marshal to approve funeral arrangements for his late mother. Edward Fitzalan-Howard will surely be assisted by the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, who worked with the late monarch for more than 18 years.
state funeral
If the protocol around the queen’s funeral is not public, many details have been published in the press. First, Operation Unicorn is carried out to repatriate the remains of Elizabeth II from Scotland. The device provides for her to be transported to Edinburgh, on a train traveling at reduced speed. It will then be at Holyrood Palace, in this same city, where the queen’s coffin will rest, before heading to the Saint-Gilles Cathedral.
His coffin will then be transported to London and taken to Buckingham Palace, before being escorted to the Palace of Westminster, where it will be on display for a few days. A coffin-only procession will then take place to Westminster Abbey for the funeral service. The country will observe two minutes of silence at noon today.
A procession will be held in London and Windsor, after which the Queen is expected to be laid to rest at Windsor Castle, and more specifically at the King George VI Memorial, alongside other deceased British royals, including her late husband, Prince Philip.
Source: BFM TV
