Eight soldiers from the Grenadier Guards, an elite unit of the British Army’sinfantry, were chosen to carry Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin at her funeral.Five of them were flown in from Iraq just hours after her death was announced.The whole world saw how the soldiers performed their task flawlessly andgracefully. But their mission was not over when the coffin descended into thecrypt below St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Away from the cameras, theystill had to interred the Queen with her husband in the King George VIMemorial Chapel, with her parents and sister.
British comedian, writer and actor Stephen Fry thought the bearers of QueenElizabeth II’s coffin deserved a pint. “Carriers, to the pub, quick march.Porters, lift the mug. Porters, drink beer. You deserved it,” Fry tweeted at2:38 p.m. our time. But he turned out to be a bit too quick with his tweet.2.5 hours later, at 5:08 PM, he added: “Oops, I hope they didn’t follow myadvice. Do one last shift first.”
Fry intended that the elite soldiers still had to take the Queen along withher husband to her final resting place in the King George VI Memorial, whereshe was interred with her parents and her sister. This burial vault in StGeorge’s Chapel in Windsor Castle had been requested by Queen Elizabeth II in1962 for her father, King George VI. Seven years later, on March 26, 1969, theburial vault did indeed become George VI’s final resting place. And then in2002 also his daughter, Princess Margaret, and his wife Queen Elizabeth, theQueen Mother, who died seven weeks after her daughter. Princess Margaret -exceptionally for a member of the royal family – was cremated. Yesterday,Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year, werealso interred in the King George VI Memorial side chapel.
Stephen Fry > @stephenfry >
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That task was the last of a grueling day—starting before 10:30 a.m. localtime—for the ten-strong Grenadier Guards deputy who had to look after the atleast 225kg box. Eight of them had already lifted, carried and set downElizabeth II’s coffin flawlessly ten times during the Queen’s final journeyfrom Westminster Hall to St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
The first was when they carried the coffin from Westminster Hall, where theQueen lay in state for four days, and placed it on the ceremonial gun carriagethat would carry the Elizabeth II’s remains to Westminster Abbey where thestate funeral was to begin. From there, after the service, the processionproceeded via The Mall and Constitution Hill to Wellington Arch, with thecoffin back on the 123-year-old cannon base. There the soldiers placed thecoffin in a hearse, which they drove to Windsor.
© via REUTERS
The most difficult part of the trail for porters was probably the steep stepsof the more than 500-year-old St George’s Chapel. The eight were assisted atthe rear by a ninth soldier from the first battalion Grenadier Guards,19-year-old Fletcher Cox, from the island of Jersey. He had to keep the oakbox from sliding on the slope. At the front, Sergeant Major Dean Jones led thecoffin bearers upstairs.
The last image the world saw of the Queen descending from her coffin into thecrypt beneath St George’s Chapel, where she was reunited with Prince Philip,her husband who died last year and was given his provisional resting placethere. Elizabeth and Philip’s coffins were interred at the King George VIMemorial in a private ceremony that evening, eleven days after the death ofElizabeth II at age 96 in Balmoral, Scotland. The Grenadier Guards were calledin again for this. The elite soldiers were on the job for about 12 hours whentheir shift ended late in the evening.