The procession that will take Queen Elizabeth’s coffin to Westminster Abbey for her state funeral, then to Windsor for her burial, is in line with the tradition of the British monarchy.
A team pulled by the Royal Navy
Sailors from the Royal Navy will pull with ropes the hitch mounted on a gun carriage carrying the coffin of the deceased, while others, 142 in total, will follow to act as a brake on the hitch.
This tradition dates back to Queen Victoria’s funeral in February 1901. The horses expected to pull the gun carriage weighing more than 2 tons, had panicked and kicked, threatening to topple the coffin. Prince Louis of Battenberg, captain of the Royal Navy, then suggested to the new king, Edward VII, that soldiers replace them.
Nine years later, on the death of Edward VII, the same device was put in place, becoming since then a new essential ritual of royal and national funerals.
The pallbearers of the coffin
Eight soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Queen’s Company Grenadiers Guards will have the daunting task of carrying the Queen’s coffin from Westminster Hall to the gun carriage and then into Westminster Abbey a once the procession is over.
This regiment is one of five Sovereign’s Household Guard infantry regiments and one of the oldest regiments in the British Army. The uniform of its members, recognizable by the high bearskin cap, was borrowed from the grenadiers of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, defeated at Waterloo.
These soldiers will be accompanied by agents of the Queen’s Equerry Service.
Honored regiments
Three regiments will be particularly honored during the procession, marching very close to the coffin of Elizabeth II.
The Yeomen of the Guard, the oldest military corps in the British army created in 1485, and the Honorable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms are two former monarch bodyguard units, now confined to a ceremonial role.
The former still wear the red and gold uniform of the Tudor period (16th century). Among their still emblematic missions is the ceremony of the excavation of the cellars of the Parliament before the opening speech delivered each year by the sovereign. Through this ritual, they commemorate the Gunpowder Plot, a failed attack on King James I and Parliament in 1605.
They will be followed by members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were Queen Elizabeth II’s bodyguards when she was in Scotland. Detachments from other British and Commonwealth regiments, of which the Queen was Commander-in-Chief, will join the procession which will accompany Elizabeth II from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch.
The royal household of Elizabeth II
If the members of the royal family, led by the new king Charles III, will follow the coffin, the coupling will be preceded by members of the royal house of Queen Elizabeth II, such as the director of the Royal Collection, the + Comptroller + the office of the Lord Chamberlain, one of the departments of the royal household, or even the private secretary of the queen.
In front of them, will advance the orchestras of bagpipes and drums of Scottish and Irish regiments, a brigade of Gurkhas, soldiers of Nepalese origin but members of the British army, or 200 musicians of the Royal Air Force.
Some 6,000 soldiers
6,000 soldiers, sailors or pilots of the British army will take part in the procession or will be deployed throughout the passage of the procession, said Sunday on the BBC Admiral Tony Radakin, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces.
Several times on the route of the coffin, they will perform a royal salute, for example when passing in front of the Queen Victoria Memorial. “For all of us, this is our last duty to Her Majesty The Queen and our first major duty to His Majesty King Charles,” he said.