Queen Elizabeth’s aides are launching a military-style operation to get her to the Abbey

Is anyone else getting really offended with the deep ableism ingrained in the coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s mobility issues? Liz is going to be 96 years old in a month, and she was active and mobile for much longer than many seniors. There is no shame or shock to acknowledge that she’s slowing down and that she cannot walk or get around as easily as she once did. It’s also obvious, given the palace briefings, that Liz needs to use a wheelchair semi-permanently, and that the Queen simply refuses. She is a fussy old lady who does not want to be SEEN in a wheelchair. I wrote last week, “Do they realize that by treating the Queen’s mobility issues as something to be hidden from sight, they’re saying that handicapped people should not be seen?” Well, the Sun had a lengthy story about all of the arrangements being made to get the Queen to Prince Philip’s memorial service next week at Westminster Abbey. The deeply ingrained ableism is appalling.

The “military-style” operation to get the Queen to Westminster: The Sun on Sunday understands senior staff will arrange to fly Her Majesty by helicopter on a 15-minute trip from Windsor Castle to Buckingham Palace. Although the Queen was seen on her feet at face-to-face engagements at Windsor last week, her aides are not happy with her walking around 100 yards from the Abbey entrance through the nave and choir to get to her seat. Instead, they want to drive her the short distance from the Palace and seal off the entire Dean’s Yard to the west of the Abbey so they can park in private outside a side door. Six-foot privacy screens or even a football-style tunnel could be erected to prevent photographers from capturing her as she leaves the car.

The Queen’s wheelchair refusal: The Queen has previously ruled out the option of using a wheelchair at this stage and remains determined to continue to walk for as long as possible. But the option of assistance has been explored so she can get around The Cloisters, the south and east parts, in comfort and quickly. Aides then believe Her Majesty can be delivered into the Abbey at Poets’ Corner and needs only a short walk to take her seat in The Sanctuary. They are also exploring whether she can be seated before the audience arrives rather than last, as is tradition.

“She must be there”: “Everything is being looked at to make sure the Queen makes it to Philip’s service. But the most important thing is to make sure she is comfortable. She must be there, and the best and most capable minds are hard at work doing their very best to make it work… The best way is to fly by helicopter from Windsor to Buckingham Palace, then she only has a short drive to endure. A 15-minute flight is better than an hour in the back of a car. Some days she can walk around easily. Other days she cannot. It varies from day to day. The Queen has told her staff that she doesn’t want to use a wheelchair but they can give her assistance to get through the side entrance and into the Abbey to speed up the process.

God help us if she’s photographed in a wheelchair: “She can get out of the car in private with her walking stick and there are efforts being made to keep photographers away. But if she needs the wheelchair, then that must be done behind screens or once she is in the side entrance. It is then a considerable distance from the door round the private cloister to Poets’ Corner, where she can enter the abbey on her feet. Help and consideration from broadcasters will also be sought and required. This is the only way she can get into the Abbey. It needs to be as simple as possible and out of the public eye.”

[From The Sun]

This makes me feel like screaming at every single person involved in Operation Ableism. “Help and consideration from broadcasters will also be sought and required” and “It needs to be as simple as possible and out of the public eye.” Buckingham Palace is going to demand that every broadcaster remove their cameras from certain positions around the Abbey just so there will be zero footage of the Queen sitting in a wheelchair. They’ll also bully all of the papers and urge them to not set up photographers anywhere around the Queen’s path. The Queen and her courtiers are all telegraphing their collective belief that wheelchair-users should not be seen and should not have visibility in society.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.