The Queen Won’t Be Evacuated Because Of Brexit – Don’t Be Ridiculous

The Queen won’t be evacuated from London because of Brexit. Come along now, don’t be ridiculous. What’s happening here is that a new gloss is being put upon very old plans.

If there’s serious rioting or civil disturbance in London then the Queen will be slightly more than politely encouraged to be elsewhere. That’s something that has been true not just of royals but anyone important for some centuries now.

If there is rioting then she’ll move. But she’ll move whatever the cause of the riots:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Queen to be evacuated in case of Brexit unrest – media[/perfectpullquote]

That headline’s even worse than that of course. There’s a missing “the” there. If it were to be the case, in the case of, unrest the Queen will move. But not in case of – as a precaution if it should happen.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] British officials have revived Cold War emergency plans to relocate the royal family should there be riots in London if Britain suffers a disruptive departure from the European Union next month, two Sunday newspapers reported. “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,” the Sunday Times said, quoting an unnamed source from the government’s Cabinet Office, which handles sensitive administrative issues. [/perfectpullquote]

That is, the very small chance that there is rioting as a result of Brexit – other than street parties and bunting hangings to celebrate it – is just another incidence of the sort of thing the Queen might travel to avoid. The likelihood of it happening being the possibility of the rioting, not the Brexit making the Queen move.

By the way the precautions almost certainly amount to making sure the driver still knows the way to Windsor, no more than that.