King Charles pays visit to state funeral’s operations nerve centre
King Charles paid a historic visit to the Met’s Command and Control Centre to learn about the operations ahead of the Queen’s state funeral and to thank a host of emergency workers.
His son William, the new Prince of Wales, also paid a visit to the centre in Lambeth Road.
The new Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, Deputy Commissioner Lynne Owens and the Lord Lieutenant of London Sir Ken Olisa greeted the new King on Saturday, where they were also joined by Home Secretary Suella Braverman and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
During King Charles’ tour of the site, he met and talked with a wide range of Met officers and staff involved in different aspects of the policing and the funeral security operation, which was the largest in Met history and of an unprecedented size and scale.
He also met PCs deployed in the sector covering Buckingham Palace and specialist teams such as Royalty Protection, the Special Escort Group and Firearms, ambulance, fire, British Transport Police and military personnel.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “It was a privilege to introduce His Majesty King Charles to some of the teams working hard behind the scenes to deliver this monumental policing operation, which culminated in us deploying the greatest number of officers in the Met’s history for a pre-planned event. It gave officers and staff a real boost.
“This huge operation has required the support of almost every team within the Met and large numbers of officers joining us from across the country.”
A specialist team from the Met’s Public Order Planning Unit responsible for overseeing crowd and traffic control, as well as VIP safety, also greeted the new monarch.
They are responsibility for planning more than 15 major ceremonial, diplomatic and state events every year, including the Remembrance Sunday Memorial Service and the State Opening of Parliament.
Pictured top: King Charles in conversation with new Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley (Picture: Carl de Souza/PA Wire/PA Images)
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
