Timelord, re your #2: Not just a cenotaph, any military grave or cemetery, was as we were taught in the 1960s.
... and any coffin at a funeral, and an uncased standard, and a Royal Artillery gun carriage (their equivalent of a standard apparently!)
Talk of the Privy Council reminds me of a good fit showing HM's sense of humour. At an early meeting (or possibly induction) of a number of Noo Labour Ministers, one of them - allegedly Clare Short - had a loud mobile 'phone go off in her handbag.
HM: "You'd better answer that Mrs Short - it might be someone important!"