15-09-2023, 03:07 PM
(15-09-2023, 11:15 AM)thegeek Wrote: I think strictly speaking, 'Operation Lion' referred to the events filling the days between the death and the funeral of the Queen, with 'Operation Unicorn' being the variant of the plan if she died in Scotland - ie including the lying in state in Edinburgh and additional travelling. (The unicorn, of course, being the national animal of Scotland.)It's more complicated than that. Operation Lion is the name given to the plans for any royal death. It includes all of the Bridges ops, Operation Unicorn and a couple of others (Overstudy being the obvious one). They are all overseen the the Bridges Secretariat within the Cabinet Office and the Earl Marshall's Office.
There isn't strictly an operation to cover the days in between the death and the funeral. It's all part of either Operation Unicorn, Operation Overstudy or Operation London Bridge. In this instance, it was a combination of Unicorn and London Bridge.
The plans are shared with broadcasters, etc. to facilitate coordination and to make things run as smoothly as possible. There's a screenshot somewhere on here of a control room in BBC Northern Ireland (I think) showing the heading for Operation Lion.