Do govt employee find out early about the Queen’s death?

[Ginandpink]

My brother said they were told early, doesn’t make sense?

I knew by 1.30pm.

Alan Titchmarsh was on the radio earlier. He dined with Charles at Dumfries House on Wednesday evening having spent the day there filming I think.

He said Charles was on great form all day and there was no hint that anything was amiss. Charles was scheduled to give a talk and host a luncheon on Thursday but that was cancelled and he left mid morning to fly to Balmoral by helicopter.

Whatever happened things must have taken a turn for the worse suddenly on Thursday morning. Camilla stayed behind at Birkdale on the Balmoral estate where they had been all summer.

Being the person he is Titmarsh made it all about him and how he was the last person to leave the dinner table and was probably the last person to have shaken the hand of Prince Charles before he was King.

(actually I made that shit up, don't believe everything you read on here!)

What ????

Most of Twitter seemed to know in the afternoon

@Belindabelle I heard Alan Titchmarsh earlier too. I couldn't believe how he made it all about him - I was the last person to meet the Prince of Wales etc. I really went off him, so cocky!

Most of Twitter seemed to know in the afternoon

They did.

I can’t believe I just posted that drivel.

Anyway the Queen was fine on Wednesday and took unexpectedly and fatally ill on Thursday morning.

As an aside Dumfries House looks worth a visit and is fairly near me so I must go at some point.

No because some of them booked annual leave off and weren’t stuck to a computer to get the news early

Whatever time the lunchtime headline was put out - before 1 wasn't it - she will have died before then. The tone of the story and then the continual coverage until the actual announcement - the public were being gently prepared while the family could gather together. If she hadn't died the story would not have been put out like that, because it could have been days more.

The statement said she died in the afternoon so I would guess shortly after midday.

They 100% did find out early.

She died before 4pm. I doubt we will find out when precisely for some years.

Why does it matter?

My late DH sometimes used to know things early as he was in comms in the Foreign Office. They would have prior notice of important telegrams.

I'm pretty sure they knew. I doubt getting Harry back wasn't just a coincidence. She looked really frail when meeting the PM. It's like she was holding on until after the jubilee and Boris being kicked out. Even for 96 though she still had all her faculties.

Does it really matter who got told & when? A very special; very dear & treasured lady has passed away; it’s totally irrelevant who got told & in what order, she was a much loved mother; grandmother; great grandmother; Aunt; Cousin & Friend; she was loved & admired the world over by so many people x

Not to mention quite disrespectful.

Why? It's a monumental event and people can be interested in the logistics of it all.

Operation London Bridge has always planned a 6 pm announcement of the Queen’s death.

Not to mention quite disrespectful.

That's social media for you.

And since we live in a social media age I'm pretty sure the news of The Queen's death would have got out one way or another and it felt pretty much that it was at the tipping point of happening anyway.

There's only so long it can be kept under wraps, never mind all the protocols and London Bridge passwords and the "I imagine only so and so was told" comments.

Disrespectful, messy, loose lipped, gossipy and uncontrollable. That's life.

It’s likely she had a major stroke…possibly during the night….the medics would have then notified it would likely be in the next few hours.

My friend who works for MoD knew earlier that afternoon, an hour or so before the announcement on the BBC. Its part of Operation London Bridge

It's always a friend. Or a friend of a friend. Or a DH....

I can't honestly see why all this matters. It was obvious when the Palace made the announcement at lunchtime about the concerns for the Queen's health that she was close to death. Do we really need to know exactly what time?

My friend works for a national newspaper and he messaged me an hour or so before the announcement to say she'd passed.

I suspect the details, or most of them, will come out later.

I mean if the story about the King being given a cocktail to help him on his way to die in time for the morning papers is true, it all comes out in the end.

Of course it doesn’t matter when it happened and who knew what when etc. However you can’t blame people for being curious about it all when things don’t add up.

I reckon they delayed the announcement in order to let all members of the family know and give time for the younger members to be collected from school and told in an appropriate manner by their parents.

it’s also comforting to think that she died surrounded by all her family and the senior Royals gathering at Balmoral gives that impression.