Protecting the British Royal Wedding

18 Apr 2011

The event: 29 April 2011 sees the wedding of HRH Prince William of Wales, currently second in line to the British throne and the future King, to Catherine Middleton, at London’s Westminster Abbey.  The ceremony will be followed by a reception at Buckingham Palace. The event has been classed by security services and the police as high risk for terrorism and attacks by anarchist groups.  The Royal Family, dignitaries and guests and members of the public lining the procession route and outside the Abbey will need to be protected from the threat.  Although the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 was on a much larger scale than that expected for 29 April, the UK was not suffering from such a severe threat of terrorism; the capabilities and tactics of the IRA, Britain’s biggest security threat then, were nowhere near that of today’s extremists and militants. 

The Risks: Members of the British Royal Family and their guests, who will include Heads of State and of Government, politicians, other dignitaries and celebrities are high profile targets.  The Queen, in particular, as Head of State, is a prime target as is Prince Harry, brother of the groom, for extremist groups; in Prince Harry’s case over his role in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Also taking part in the wedding will be the Household Cavalry on procession escort and guarding duties and thousands of members of all branches of the armed forces providing a path lining guard of honour, a fly-past and music for the event through various military bands. The military will be both a source of security and a target itself on the day, particularly due to its involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and the ‘War on Terror’. The procession route (which passes buildings at the heart of the Establishment and government) potentially poses the biggest hazard; it has been reported that, weather permitting, some members of the wedding party will travel from the Abbey in an open top horse-drawn carriage. Bombs, gunmen and snipers are the biggest tactical risks.  Terrorist groups could take advantage of the vast crowd of members of the public – including overseas tourists flying in for the wedding – to stage a bomb attack.  Alternatively, police being diverted from other areas and duties to focus on the wedding could provide a welcome distraction from other possible targets for terrorists, anarchists and common criminals in general.  

Sources of threat: The Times reported in February 2011 that authorities are concerned about the threat not so much from Islamist extremist groups and al-Qaeda, although they do of course pose a threat, but from dissident Irish Republican groups (having reared their head as recently as 2 April with the fatal bomb attack on a police officer in Omagh), anarchist groups (such as those involved in violence during recent anti-cuts demonstrations in London) and people with fanatical obsessions with members of the Royal family. MORE ONLINE

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