As far as I can remember I was taught in school to say it as ‘zee’. But that was in secondary language classes and that was a long time ago… We definitely say it as ‘zed’ in French though.

Depending on the culture the lion statues represent prosperity, security or prestige.

Where I live the older generation had a tradition to place one or two lion statues on the entrance of the house when their mortgage is paid off. So prosperity and prestige I guess.