Documents from 1983, newly released by the National Archives reveal how civil servants drew up a speech for the Queen to make to the nation in the event of imminent nuclear war.
Newly released documents reveal how civil servants took part in a detailed war gaming exercise at the height of the Cold War in 1983, even going so far as to imagine the speech the Queen would give to the nation in the event of imminent nuclear war.
In the speech, the Queen says the real enemy is "the deadly power of abused technology", rather than individual combatants waging war against Britain.
"They are imagining the dreadful possibility of a nuclear war scenario and what they're doing in this document is kind of re-enacting it in real time, going through all the possibilities and all the contingencies," said Mark Dunton of the National Archives.
"We have the imagined text of a broadcast that the Queen would give to the nation.
"This was a message which would aim to give reassurance to the British people, and show solidarity with them, " he said.
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