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

[Ginandpink]

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

I work in media and was told she was going to die at about 12:30PM.

Everyone in the newsroom was on high alert throughout the day.

@skippy67 . Me too. The first that me and my fellow Civil Servants knew was at lunchtime along with the rest of the country.

I think Nicholas Witchell gave it away when he said to look at the pic of Edward & Sophie.

I thought they looked normal

Yes, they do. There are code words.

I knew something was odd today at work about 1pm.

The whole thing was odd imo.

The rolling news, people in black.

It was if they knew at that point or knew it was mere hrs away.

She absolutely did not die around 4pm.

Hours earlier.

So does that mean I had just been told? He doesn’t even say who by in the message you are quoting.

Nope. But we knew.

You obviously have no idea as you don't know the situation or person or relationship or what we talk about.

But he was informed and he told us at that time.

And I have no idea why they would have been told. But he was.

No idea why it bothers you so much either.

Also Around 5pm a friend from another Wapp group said she'd been told by 2 Sparks in the TV Studio she was working in. But I haven't quoted that as I don't know them.

I know this person.

Who cares?

Er.... of course they knew??

I wonder what planet some people live on sometimes.

Where i work, closely involved in politics and media, it was pretty obvious that she had died, although nobody was told officially.

I was told at 4pm to prepare to cancel some work related things for the next 2 weeks At 5pm I was asked to work tomorrow morning (rota day off) to "sort out some short term business complexities"

At 6.15 I was told to "watch the news, now".

As exciting as all that sounds, it was pretty bloody obvious what was happening so I don't feel overly informed or kept abreast. It was only going to go one way. We were all watching the news anyway, right?? I found out at the same time as everyone else.

She clearly died earlier today, but it's not a race to the bottom to who knew first.

the BBC wouldn't have suspended programmes unless they knew

Of course they did, they weren’t going to get to 8pm, realise they’d got it wrong and put Repair Shop on.

But you cling on to the ‘oh I know people that protocol was broken for, but also have no idea how to keep something to themselves, so I knew early’ if that makes you feel special.

Nope. Doesn't make me feel special.

But I was told by someone and it's on the other thread.

I'm not "clinging" on just telling the truth.

Would it make you feel special?

Don't understand why you think you know wha goes on everywhere.

Exactly, when has that ever happened for a news story that is still speculation.

I'm a civil servant my boss had placeholder meeting put in her calendar for 5.45pm titled Operation Unicorn it wasn't hard to guess.

The worrying thing is that most people who would have actually been told officially before the statement are in positions where they shouldn't be blabbing to their wife/spouse/all and sundry.

I work in the public sector with confidental information. I'd get sacked if I put something like that on a WhatsApp message to my spouse!

Agreed, it was pretty much when not if the announcement would be made sadly, there were rumours of an earlier time but that was more around the family arriving in Scotland.

A bbc reporter leaked it on Twitter around 3.30 ish and then had to remove it sharpish. Most likely sacked now. I can't remember the name of them but they sent out another tweet saying so sorry gave false information when clearly it wasn't.

The worrying thing is that most people who would have actually been told officially before the statement are in positions where they shouldn't be blabbing to their wife/spouse/all and sundry.

yep, texting everyone in their phone book to let them know seems unusual.

If the PM and Kier Starmer were told at 16:30 - as they've said - then Harry will have been told before he left London - it doesn't take two hours to fly to Aberdeen from London (he arrived just before 18:30)

It's highly unlikely that so many people on here knew people who'd been told officially. Unofficially we all knew by the reporting and the family rushing to Scotland. Nobody needed told really.

Like someone just said, death is a process and the highly trained Royal doctors would have know it was imminent and news agencies would have been informed that it was imminent.
Most semi-intelligent people would have been able to work out from the news, the family’s urgent trip to Balmoral, what happened in the Commons etc (all heavily reported on since lunchtime!) that the Queen had died or was very close to death.
People on here just love to spout that they’ve got insider knowledge; most definitely don’t, they’ve just made an educated guess like the rest of us, but that doesn’t make them half as interesting

An entire government building was cleared late this morning. No mean feat due to what that building is.

We didn't know why, we just had to deal with a very odd situation.

Now it's bloody obvious.

Did Harry have to make his own way because of the ongoing situation with his family? Or simply logistics?

I don’t think on know what goes on everywhere.

You were told by someone else, who says they were officially told by an anonymous person early.

and you said ‘I am going take that I knew before’. If it’s not important to you, why would you need to point that out.

I just think it’s quite strange.