The fact that Queen Elizabeth’s burial was meticulously planned decades in advance to function like clockwork has long been a British Establishment cliché.
The overarching plan, known as Operation London Bridge, was conceived in the 1950s, during the early days of her rule.
However, on Thursday evening, less than four days before the most important state occasion seen in Britain in living memory, with the largest gathering of foreign heads of state the world has ever seen due to take place on British soil, the plans descended into a fancy dress farce as it appeared that Prince Harry had prevailed in an acrimonious row over whether or not he should be allowed to wear his military uniform during at least some of the ceremonies.
The respected royal writer Russell Myers of the Daily Mirror claimed that Harry will finally be allowed to wear his regimental Blues and Royals uniform at a special vigil for the queen on Saturday, despite many extremely unpopular pledges to the contrary from Charles’ office.
Myers’ claimed “a royal source” as adding, “Common sense has prevailed.” With everything he has done for veterans, the Duke of Sussex has served his country and is a highly regarded member of the armed services.”
It will be interesting to observe how Harry uses his triumph over the establishment. However, one suspects that it is somewhat pyrrhic and will do little to alleviate his annoyance and anger at what he sees as the Palace’s institutionalised cruelty, which, as recently as Wednesday, essentially sought to belittle him and publicise his outcast status by not allowing him to wear a military uniform or offer a royal salute to the queen while processing behind her coffin in London.
“Nothing has really changed,” a family friend of the royals tells The Daily Beast in response to an inquiry about the true state of relations between Prince Harry on one side and his brother and the rest of his family of origin on the other. “The expectation is that once the mourning period is up, Harry and Meghan will go back to California, he will publish his book, and the family here will be left to pick up the pieces.”
