‘They set the agenda’: how the palace fed media appetite after Queen died

King Charles stands vigil beside his mother’s coffin in Westminster Hall. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

From the gamekeepers bearing her coffin out of Balmoral Castle to the sight of it sinking slowly through St George’s chapel floor, almost every step of Queen Elizabeth II’s final journey was exquisitely choreographed and conveyed to the world.

Over decades, senior palace officials had fine-tuned London Bridge, the funeral plan, Operation Unicorn, in the event she died in Scotland, and Operation Spring Tide, the King’s programme. The Queen was, those who knew her agree, a “perfectionist”.