Protecting Queen Elizabeth’s funeral is set to cost more than $7.5 million — the most expensive single-day operation in UK history, a former royal security officer predicted.
The British Mi5 and Mi6 intelligence agencies and London’s Metropolitan Police will collaborate with the Secret Service and intelligence bureaus from around the globe to protect an unprecedented number of world leaders expected for Monday’s funeral.
“This is the biggest policing operation that United Kingdom policing has ever undertaken,” said Simon Morgan, who spent years protecting the British royal family — even eclipsing the work done to secure the Olympics.
“When you look at the other events, they were big — the Prince and Prince of Wales’ wedding in 2011 was the biggest — but in comparison to this, you cant compare it,” he said.
Police costs for the 2011 wedding were an estimated $7.2 million.
London will be blanketed with security — from marksman and observers perched on rooftops and observation points, to police dispersed among the crowd — with police and intelligence officers anticipating a “substantial threat of terrorism,” Morgan said
Intelligence officers will mount a “very big command and control operation” as well, with Mi5 and Mi6 feeding police information.
Despite the expected 750,000 people attending the funeral — far more than Will and Kate’s wedding — London will be essentially “shut down” for the late Queen’s memorial, said Morgan, who now runs the London-based, private international security firm Trojan Consultancy.
Parts of the city are already cordoned off ahead of the funeral, and it’s likely more streets will be closed, he said, noting car attacks have become a more common form of terrorism.
British authorities are also on high alert for extremist environmental activist groups, like Extinction Rebellion, which has been staging mass protests throughout England aimed at disrupting day-to-day movement.
Morgan said preparation for the Queen’s death, Operation London Bridge, which includes funeral arrangements, is a “living plan” that’s constantly updated as security risks change.