File Picture Courtesy : AP
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and other senior members of the royal family may have to be evacuated if the UK experiences riots as a result of a no-deal Brexit next month, a media report said .
The UK is set to exit the 28-member European Union (EU) on March 29. As the risk of Britain leaving the EU without an amicable withdrawal agreement continues to hang over ongoing negotiations, emergency proposals to rescue the royal family during the Cold War era have been “repurposed” in recent weeks to ensure their protection.
The plans were originally intended to be put into action in the event of a nuclear attack from the erstwhile Soviet Union, ‘The Sunday Times’ reported.
In the event of the UK and EU failing to agree a settlement before the Brexit deadline of March 29, the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, will be moved out of London to a secret location, which the newspaper said it has agreed not to disclose.
“These emergency evacuation plans have been in existence since the Cold War, but have now been repurposed in the event of civil disorder following a no-deal Brexit,” a UK Cabinet Office source was quoted as saying in the report.
With just 54 days to go until the UK is due to leave the EU, Britain’s civil servants are ramping up no-deal planning, including the contingency plans for the royal family. This is understood to have included discussions between Scotland Yard and regional police forces.
“If there were problems in London, clearly you would remove the royal family away from those key sites,” said Dai Davies, the former head of royal protection at the Metropolitan Police.
“Where and how they will evacuate them is top secret and I can’t discuss it. This is a measure that is extremely unlikely to come to pass. (But) the powers-that-be need to have contingency plans for any eventuality,” he said.
