If Brexit fails, save the queen

LONDON — Did somebody say “Quexit”?

Queen Elizabeth II and members of the British royal family are to be secreted away to an undisclosed location outside London if a no-deal Brexit scenario incites riots, British media reported Sunday.

With Britain’s exit from the European Union slated for March 29, lawmakers can’t stop squabbling and Brits are stockpiling everything from bicycle parts to bottles of wine. Indeed, uncertainty is rife, but, thanks to plans dating to the Cold War, the queen, at least, will be saved.

“These emergency evacuation plans have been in existence since the Cold War but have now been repurposed in the event of civil disorder following a no-deal Brexit,” a source from the British Cabinet Office told the Sunday Times, which chose not to reveal any additional details about the location.

“If there were problems in London, clearly you would remove the royal family away from those key sites,” Dai Davies, the former head of royal protection at Scotland Yard, told the Times. “Where and how they will evacuate them is top secret and I can’t discuss it.”

The royals remained in Buckingham Palace during the Second World War, despite grave fears for their safety. For many Brits, the monarchy represents stability and hope throughout periods of upheaval.

For some commentators, the idea that the reigning monarch would up and leave in the eventuality of a no-deal Brexit was hard to imagine.

Writing for the Telegraph, Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party, called the royal evacuation plan “Project Fear on steroids,” and lawmaker Jacob Rees-mogg told the Mail on Sunday that the plans showed unnecessary panic. Queen Elizabeth II