The solemn processions that carry Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin to London’s Westminster Abbey and then to her burial site in Windsor reflect the ancient traditions of the British monarchy.
– Towed by the Royal Navy –
Royal Navy sailors will use ropes to haul the Queen’s lead-lined coffin, mounted on a gun carriage, from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey. Her comrades in a team of 142 sailors will walk alongside to act as a brake if necessary.
This tradition dates back to Queen Victoria’s funeral in February 1901.
The horses carrying the more than two-ton gun carriage panicked, kicked, and threatened to drop the coffin.
One of the Queen’s relatives, Prince Louis of Battenberg, a captain in the Royal Navy, suggested to the new king, Edward VII, that this problem could be avoided by replacing horses with sailors.
Nine years later, when Edward VII himself died, this idea was put into practice again and has become an unbroken tradition at state funerals ever since.
– pallbearers in bearskins –
Eight soldiers from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guard will be tasked with carrying the Queen’s coffin from Westminster Hall to the gun carriage outside and then into Westminster Abbey.
The regiment is one of the oldest in the British Army and one of five infantry regiments that make up the Queen’s (now the King’s) Body Guard.
The regiment’s soldiers usually wear tall bearskin hats, a uniform they copied from the grenadiers of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard who were defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
Accompanying the soldiers are Service Equerries to the Queen, attendants who help the royals carry out public duties.
– Honor Guard –
A particularly important part of the procession is played by three regiments, who march very close to the Queen’s coffin.
The Yeomen of the Guard, the oldest military unit in the British Army, formed in 1485, and the Honorable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms are two former bodyguard units of the royals that now only play a ceremonial role.
The Yeomen of the Guard always wear a Tudor-era (16th century) red and gold uniform.
One of their most famous activities is searching for gunpowder in the Palace of Westminster before the State Opening of Parliament.
This annual ritual commemorates the Gunpowder Plot, a failed attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up King James I and Parliament in 1605.
They are followed by members of the Royal Company of Archers who acted as bodyguards for Elizabeth II whenever she was in Scotland.
Detachments from other regiments in Britain and from Commonwealth forces, a group of countries led by the British monarch, will rejoin the funeral procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner near Buckingham Palace.
– Royal House of Elizabeth II –
While members of the royal family, led by the new King Charles III, will follow the coffin, they will be followed by members of the Queen’s royal household, including the senior officer of the royal household, the Lord Chamberlain.
Ahead of them will come the pipers and drummers of the Scottish and Irish regiments, the brigade of the Gurkhas Brigade, made up of soldiers from Nepal and part of the armed forces. There will also be 200 musicians from the Royal Air Force.
– 6,000 soldiers –
Around 6,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen from the British armed forces will take part in the procession, Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Tony Radakin told the BBC on Sunday.
At several points along the route they will perform a royal salute, for example as they pass the Victoria Memorial commemorating the Queen.
“For all of us, this is our last duty to Her Majesty the Queen and our first pre-eminent duty to His Majesty King Charles,” he said.
