|
Journey full of pomp and
ceremony
By Caroline
Davies
(Filed: 02/04/2002)
THE coffin of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother will
be taken to Westminster Hall for the lying in state on Friday in a
ceremonial procession stretching about half a mile and made up of
1,600 servicemen and women.
Placed on top of the coffin, which will be borne by
horse-drawn gun carriage, will be the priceless crown made for her
for the coronation of her husband, King George VI, in 1937.
The crown, which contains the Koh-i-Noor diamond,
will be taken from the display behind armoured glass at the Tower of
London, and placed on top of her personal standard.
The procession will be rich in pomp and ceremony,
Buckingham Palace said yesterday as they released full details plus
those of the lying in state on Friday.
"Each royal funeral reflects the life and role of the
deceased member of the Royal Family and the Queen Mother is no
exception to this," said a palace official.
"It is a very traditional funeral, with very strong
ceremonial as befits her role as consort of a Sovereign,"
The Queen Mother had approved each detail of the
Royal Ceremonial Funeral, including the procession to Westminster
Hall for her lying in state, and made her own suggestions, said the
palace.
Her route, which will be lined by the armed services,
will be via Marlborough Road, The Mall, Horse Guards Road, Horse
Guards Parade, Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Square and
New Palace Yard.
The procession will leave Queen's Chapel at St
James's Palace at 11.30am and is timed to arrive 28 minutes later,
at 11.58am.
Ladies of the Royal Family will arrive by car at the
north door of the hall at 11.30am.
The Queen will leave the palace at 11.42am to be
taken by car to Westminster Hall, arriving some three minutes
later.
Shortly before she departs from the Palace, members
of the House of Lords will have assembled along the west side of
Westminster Hall and MPs along the east side in preparation for the
coffin's arrival.
The coffin will be preceded into Westminster Hall by
Black Rod, Lt Gen Sir Michael Willcocks, the Speaker, Michael
Martin, Lord Chamberlain, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, and the Lord
Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg.
Also preceding it will be the Dean of Westminster, Dr
Wesley Carr, the Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr David
Marshall, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, and the
Queen's Lord Chamberlain, Lord Luce.
Members of the Royal Family, as well as members of
the Queen Mother's family and her personal staff, will follow.
After a service of short prayers, the first vigil of
the watch over her coffin will be mounted by four officers of the
Household Cavalry who will take up their positions at each of the
four corners.
Then the Queen and other mourners will depart at
12.15pm.
Buckingham Palace released full details of those
taking part in the historic procession.
The bearer party will made up of the Irish Guards,
the regiment most closely associated with the Queen Mother, who will
carry her coffin from the catafalque in the Queen's Chapel at St
James's Palace to the gun carriage in Marlborough Row at 11.25am.
Drawn by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, the
gun carriage will be escorted by military detachments from British
and Commonwealth regiments associated with the Queen Mother
throughout her long life.
Senior members of the Royal Family following the
coffin will then take up their places. The procession will leave
Queen's Chapel at 11.30am. It will be led by mounted police and
Royal Air Force bands, followed by the overseas regiments associated
most closely with her.
They will be the Witwatersrand Rifles, Transvaal
Scottish and Cape Town Highlanders.
They will be followed by the Royal New Zealand Army
Medical Corps, the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, the Canadian
Forces Medical Services, the Toronto Scottish Regiment and the Black
Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada.
British troops from the RAF, 1st Bn Scots Guards,
Royal Marines band and Royal Marines, Royal Navy and Foot Guards
bands will follow.
Immediately following the coffin and gun carriage
will be members of the Royal Family and members of the Bowes-Lyon
family, related to the Queen Mother, as well as male members of her
personal staff.
Her staff will include Capt Sir Alastair Aird, her
private secretary, Capt Mark Grayson, her equerry, Nicholas
Assheton, her treasurer and extra equerry, and Major Raymond
Seymour, her assistant private secretary and equerry.
They will be followed by Adml Sir Michael Boyce,
Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire, the
Chief of Air Staff, Adml Sir Nigel Essenhigh, Chief of Naval Staff,
and Gen Sir Michael Jackson, representing Chief of General
Staff.
Next will come the British regiments with which she
was associated, preceded by the Royal Artillery band.
Those represented will be: the 1st The Queen's
Dragoon Guards, Queen's Royal Hussars (the Queen's Own and Royal
Irish), 9th/12th Lancers (Prince of Wales's), King's Regt, Royal
Anglian Regt, Light Infantry, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regt),
Royal Army Medical Corps, Royal Yeomanry, 68 (Inns of Court and
City) Yeomanry Signal Squadron, 71st Yeomanry Signal Regt
(Volunteers), A (London Scottish) Company, the London Regt,
dismounted detachment of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regt and
mounted police.
As the procession leaves for Westminster Hall, a
41-gun royal salute will be fired, with one salvo every minute, by
the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery from nearby Green Park.
Along the route, military detachments, including
cavalrymen from the Queen's Life Guards, will give royal
salutes.
The Queen Mother's coffin will lie in state in
Westminster Hall from Friday until the morning of the funeral on
Tuesday, April 9.
It will be guarded by Her Majesty's Body Guard of the
Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, by the Queen's Body Guard of
the Yeomen of the Guard, by the Royal Company of Archers, the
Queen's Body Guard for Scotland and by officers of the Household
Division.
Members of the public will be able to pay their
respects at Westminster Hall on Friday from 2pm to 6pm and from
Saturday to Monday, April 8, from 8am to 6pm.
On the morning of next Tuesday, the coffin will be
taken from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the funeral
service.
|
