Death and state funeral of George VI

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Death and state funeral of
George VI
Portrait by Walter Stoneman, 1938
Date
  • 6 February 1952 (1952-02-06)
  • (date of death)
  • 15 February 1952 (1952-02-15)
  • (date of state funeral)
Location
ParticipantsSee list

On 6 February 1952,

lay in state
for three days. Some 304,000 people passed through Westminster Hall with queues up to 4 miles (6.4 km) forming.

George VI's funeral began with another formal procession to

St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle
where a service was held and the king interred in the royal vault.

The procession was the first of a British monarch to be broadcast on television and may have led to the start of a mass purchase of television sets. The king's body was relocated to the newly built King George VI Memorial Chapel at St George's in 1969 and was joined there by the body of his wife Queen Elizabeth, and the ashes of his daughter Princess Margaret, who died in March 2002 and February 2002 respectively. In September 2022, following the death of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, who had died in April 2021, were interred alongside them in the Chapel. A change in the ledger stone following Elizabeth and Philip's interment was also made.

Death

Sandringham House in Norfolk, where the King died

George VI had undergone a lung operation in September 1951 from which he never fully recovered. In the evening of 5 February 1952, he had a meal with his family at Sandringham House, Norfolk, and retired to bed at 10:30 pm.[1] He died in his sleep on 6 February 1952 at the age of 56.[2] He was discovered by his valet at 7:30 am and the news was conveyed to Buckingham Palace by telephone, using the code "Hyde Park Corner" to avoid alerting switchboard operators to the news. The news was not broken to the wider world until 11:15 am when BBC newsreader John Snagge read the words "It is with the greatest sorrow that we make the following announcement..." on the radio. The news was repeated every fifteen minutes for seven occasions, before the broadcast went silent for five hours. As a mark of respect the Great Tom bell at St Paul's Cathedral was tolled every minute for two hours, as well as the bells at Westminster Abbey. The Sebastopol Bell, a Crimean War trophy at Windsor Castle that is rung only upon a royal death, was tolled 56 times, once for each year of George VI's life, between 1:27 and 2:22 pm.[3]

Royal funerals are overseen by the Earl Marshal, a hereditary post held at the time by Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk. The Earl Marshal has a suite of offices set aside for his use at St James's Palace in London. At the time of George VI's death these were being renovated and had to be hurriedly reopened. Scaffolding was dismantled, furniture moved in and phones, lighting and heating installed; the offices were ready by 5:00 pm.[3]

The Proclamation Gallery at St James's Palace in London

The

High Sheriffs repeated the proclamation at town and city halls across the country. Some 5,000 attended the proclamation in Manchester, 10,000 in Birmingham and 15,000 in Edinburgh.[3]

A period of national mourning followed George VI's death. Rugby and hockey games were postponed, though football matches continued with the singing of the national anthem and the hymn "Abide with Me" before each game.[3] Memorial services were held in churches of all denominations across the country and around the world, even in communist states.[5] There was some opposition to the mourning, social researchers from Mass-Observation recorded one 60-year-old woman who asked: "Don't they think of old folk, sick people, invalids? It's been terrible for them, all this gloom". On another occasion the organisation recorded that a fight broke out in a Notting Hill bar after one man said of the King, "He's only shit and soil now like anyone else".[3]

Journey to London

St Mary Magdalene Church

The body of George VI was dressed in a British

Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother followed by car. The Sandringham estate staff and their families followed in procession part of the way and the public lined much of the route.[6]

Upon arrival at the station the coffin was removed from the gun carriage by eight soldiers of the Grenadier Guards and placed into a railway carriage, the same carriage that had carried the coffin of George V (the deceased king's father) for the same journey to London.[6] The carriage was pulled by the LNER Thompson Class B2 locomotive 61617 Ford Castle, the usual Royal Train locomotive, class-mate 61671 Royal Sovereign being unavailable. The line required a reversal at King's Lynn so the locomotive was changed for BR Standard Class 7 70000 Britannia. The cab roofs of the locomotives were painted white for the occasion, as this is traditional for locomotives of the British Royal Train. Britannia arrived at London King's Cross railway station on time at 2:45 pm.[7]

Procession and lying in state

The interior of Westminster Hall, 2016

Before arrival in London the

Kingsway, Aldwych, Trafalgar Square and along Whitehall (where military officers in the procession saluted The Cenotaph) to Westminster Hall, part of the Palace of Westminster.[6]

Crowds lined the route and to create space for them to stand the rhododendrons in Parliament Square were pulled up.[3][6] The procession was broadcast on television, the first time that part of a royal funeral had this treatment, and also by radio.[5] The BBC radio commentary by Richard Dimbleby has since received comment for its poignancy.[3][9] Historian D. R. Thorpe considered that the funeral helped spark the mass purchase of television sets, usually ascribed to both the Eisenhower inauguration in Washington and Elizabeth II's coronation the following year.[5]

The oak of Sandringham, hidden beneath the rich, golden folds of the Standard. The slow flicker of the candles touches gently the gems of the Imperial Crown, even that ruby that Henry wore at Agincourt. It touches the deep, velvet purple of the cushion, and the cool, white flowers of the only wreath that lies upon the flag. How moving can such simplicity be. How real the tears of those who pass by and see it, and come out again, as they do at this moment in unbroken stream, to the cold, dark night and a little privacy for their thoughts ... Never safer, better guarded, lay a sleeping king than this, with a golden candlelight to warm his resting place, and the muffled footsteps of his devoted subjects to keep him company ... How true tonight of George the Faithful is that single sentence spoken by an unknown man of his beloved father: 'The sunset of his death tinged the whole world's sky'

Richard Dimbleby, BBC radio commentary of the lying in state[9]

At Westminster Hall members of both houses of parliament were present to witness the guardsmen carry the coffin into the hall. The procession into the hall was led by the

Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod (Brian Horrocks), the minister of works (David Eccles), the Earl Marshal, the Lord Great Chamberlain (James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster) and, immediately in front of the coffin, the Dean of Westminster (Alan Don) and the Archbishop of York (Cyril Garbett).[8] The coffin was followed by Elizabeth II, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret (who had all travelled by car from Buckingham Palace) and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Royal.[6][8] The Archbishop conducted a brief service which included the hymn "Abide with Me" at the request of the Queen.[10] During the service, the coffin was guarded by the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms and the Yeomen of the Guard.[8]

George VI's coffin was afterwards placed on a dais in Westminster Hall, under a vigil guard.[6] The public were permitted to view the coffin and, at times, queued for 4 miles (6.4 km) to do so. Over the next three days some 304,000 people passed through Westminster Hall.[3] The numbers were lower than they had been for George V, which was ascribed to the effects of the widespread television coverage.[5] After the final day of lying in state it took a team of three jewellers two hours to clean the dust off the crown jewels which lay on the coffin, in preparation for the funeral.[3]

Funeral

Platform 8 of Paddington Station (far right), pictured in 1963

The funeral of George VI took place on 15 February. Mourners, including representatives of foreign governments, were assembled outside Westminster Hall by 8:15 am.

At 9:30 am George VI's coffin was carried from Westminster Hall by eight soldiers of the Grenadier Guards and placed on a gun carriage.

royal dukes: Edinburgh, Gloucester, Windsor (George VI's brother, the former King Edward VIII) and Kent (Prince Edward, grandson of George V) and senior military and royal household figures.[8][12]

Behind them walked the kings of Denmark (

King's Flight, further foreign dignitaries and representatives of their armed forces. There followed the Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers and a police band, ahead of detachments from every police force in the country and representatives of the colonial police forces. The rear of the procession was made up of representatives from the fire services and the Civil Defence Corps. During the parade a 56-gun salute was fired, one round for each year of the king's life.[8] Likewise, Big Ben was rung 56 times, one for each year of the king's life.[13]

Acheson, in a report to the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs complained about the waiting around at the start of the day and the slow pace of the procession, which took 3 hours and ten minutes to reach the station. He commented on the silence and stillness shown by the crowd, who he called "solid, courageous, but tired people."[12]

The GWR 4073 Class locomotive 7013 Bristol Castle, which drew the royal funeral train under the nameplates of 4082 Windsor Castle

The route was lined with soldiers, sailors and airmen of the British forces, standing with

arms reversed. The procession passed along Whitehall, where the Cenotaph was saluted, and later passed through Hyde Park to Marble Arch and along Edgware Road.[11] The party including coffin and carriage processed onto platform 8 at Paddington.[14][11] The Queen's party dismounted to watch the coffin carried onto the royal train by eight guardsmen.[11] The royal family boarded the same train and other guests followed in a separate one.[12] The train was pulled by GWR 4073 Class locomotive 7013 Bristol Castle, though it carried the nameplates of classmate 4082 Windsor Castle. The latter was considered a more appropriate choice as it was named for the royal residence and had once been driven by George V but was unavailable on the day of the funeral.[15] As a mark of respect the Royal Air Force was grounded during the time of the funeral. On one transatlantic flight from London to New York, in air during the time of the funeral, all of the passengers rose from their seats and bowed their heads in acknowledgement.[3]

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

At Windsor the coffin was taken from the train and hauled, like in London, by sailors on a gun carriage through the town to

St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.[11] This procession was similar to the one in London, though smaller.[8] It moved along the road (today the B3022) from the station past the castle and St John the Baptist Church before turning into Park Street at the Soldier's Statue and eventually moving up the Long Walk towards the castle. The coffin's arrival at the Royal Chapel was marked by naval petty officers piping the admiral over the side. Following the coffin, carried again by eight guardsmen, up the chapel steps, Elizabeth II gave way to usual precedence in allowing her mother to proceed ahead of her.[11] Television cameras were excluded from the funeral inside the chapel,[16] however it was broadcast on radio by the BBC and NBC.[17] The service was presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, and the Archbishop of York, Cyril Garbett[11][16] Also present were the Bishop of Winchester (Alwyn Williams), who read the lesson, and the Dean of Windsor (Eric Hamilton).[8]

The music for the service included the last funeral sentence from the

king's colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin at the end of the service.[8] The recessional voluntary was Hubert Parry's prelude to "Ye boundless realms of joy", which had been specifically requested by Elizabeth II to end the service on a hopeful rather than mournful note.[19]

The former ledger stone naming George VI and his wife Elizabeth in the memorial chapel, as it appeared before replacement after the interment of Elizabeth II and her husband Philip in September 2022

Floral tributes were left outside the chapel; Churchill laid one on behalf of the British government, on the card of which he wrote "for valour", the phrase engraved on the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military award for gallantry.[2][11] George VI was buried within the Royal Vault of St George's Chapel.[20] During the burial, the Lord Chamberlain had carried out the tradition of symbolically breaking his staff of office, actually by unscrewing a joint in the middle, and placing half on the coffin.[21] Finally, Elizabeth II dropped in a handful of earth from Windsor.[22]

Guests

As per report in London Gazette.[8]

British royal family

The House of Windsor

Mountbatten family

Teck-Cambridge family

Foreign royalty

Nobility

Other guests

Prominent absences

The Belgian King Baudouin refused to attend, believed to be on the advice of his father, Leopold III, who held a grudge against the British prime minister Winston Churchill. Churchill had criticised Leopold for remaining in Nazi-occupied Belgium during the Second World War, rather than escaping to lead a government in exile. Baudouin went on to attend the funeral of Queen Mary in 1953.[26][27] George VI's daughter and successor Elizabeth II did attend the funeral of King Baudoin in 1993. His being the only foreign state funeral she ever personally attended as sovereign.

US President Harry S. Truman did not attend the funeral upon agreement with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, who had planned his trip to London for meetings on issues pertaining to Germany one week before the king died.[28][25] London wanted to see Truman,[28] but British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden asked Acheson, Robert Schuman, and Konrad Adenauer to come to London to work out a Western Big Three agreement to bring Germany into the European defence organisation ahead of a NATO conference in Lisbon.[25][29] In addition, Acheson also met with key American officials on the issues.[30]

Later events

A plaque in Westminster Hall commemorating the lying in state

Three days after the funeral, George VI's widow, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother issued a statement thanking the nation and commending to them "our dear Daughter", Queen Elizabeth II.[1]

A 47-page report was written after the funeral to recommend improvements for the next royal funeral. Suggestions included attaching metal rollers to the catafalque to make a smoother landing of the coffin, which being lead lined weighed around a quarter of a ton.[3] The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953; unlike at the funeral she permitted BBC cameras to film the event, which became a landmark in British television history.[16]

The body of George VI was moved from the Royal Vault on 26 March 1969 and reinterred in the newly-built King George VI Memorial Chapel.[20] His daughter, Princess Margaret, died on 9 February 2002 and, in accordance with her wishes, a private funeral was held at St George's Chapel. This took place on 15 February 2002, the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral and Margaret was afterwards cremated and her ashes placed in the Royal Vault.[31] Queen Elizabeth, who became known as the Queen Mother to distinguish her from her daughter, died on 30 March 2002. Like her husband she lay in state at Westminster Hall. After a funeral at Westminster Abbey she was buried next to her husband in the King George VI Memorial Chapel on 9 April 2002.[20][32][33] At the same time the ashes of Princess Margaret were also transferred to the chapel.[20] On 19 September 2022, Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip were interred alongside them in the Chapel.[34]

See also

Notes

  1. male-preference primogeniture, and could have been superseded in the line of succession by a younger brother including one born after the death of George VI. However, the government and courtiers had long discounted the possibility of the Queen becoming pregnant again, and consequentially treated their eldest daughter as the de facto heir apparent
    for several years prior to the King's demise.

References

  1. ^ a b Rieden, Juliet (5 February 2022). "The Queen's Platinum Jubilee also marks 70 years since the death of her father, King George VI". Australian Broadcasting Company. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "George VI (r.1936–1952)". The Royal Family. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Knight, Sam (17 March 2017). "'London Bridge is down': the secret plan for the days after the Queen's death". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  4. ^ "Death of King George VI (Hansard, 6 February 1952)". UK Parliament. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d Range 2016, p. 286
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "King George VI funeral procession throughout England". Reuters Archive. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  7. ISBN 978-0-600-56287-0
    .
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "No. 39575". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 1952.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-1-107-60467-4
    .
  10. ^ Range 2016, pp. 281–282
  11. ^
    YouTube
  12. ^ a b c d United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs (1980). Selected Executive Session Hearings of the Committee. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 241–242.
  13. ^ Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher. The London Encyclopaedia (1992 ed.). Macmillan. p. 66.
  14. ^ "Centenary of Paddington Station". The Railway Magazine. 100. IPC Magazines: 425. 1954.
  15. ISBN 978-0-600-56287-0
    .
  16. ^ a b c "Television's crowning moment". History of the BBC. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  17. ^ Skene, Gordon (8 September 2022). "February 15, 1952 – The Funeral Of King George VI". pastdaily.com. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  18. ^ Range 2016, p. 282.
  19. ^ Range 2016, p. 315.
  20. ^ a b c d "Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805". College of St George. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  21. ^ Michie, Allan Andrew (1952). The Crown and the People. London: Secker & Warburg. p. 32.
  22. ISBN 978-0345320049
    .
  23. ^ a b c Queen Ena, the Count and the Countess of Barcelona and the Duke and Duchess of Anjou and Segovia are attempted for the funerals of the King.
  24. ^
    ISBN 978-2-85157-745-0
    .
  25. ^ a b c d e Waggoner, Walter H. (31 January 1952). "West, Bonn Parley on Defense is Due". The New York Times. p. 15.
  26. ^ "Royal Vault in Scenes of Courtly Sorrow". Life. 13 April 1953. p. 37.
  27. ^ Tomlinson, Richard (23 October 2011). "Obituary: King Baudouin I of the Belgians". The Independent. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  28. ^ a b Daniel, Clifton (9 February 1952). "7 Monarchs to be at King's Funeral". The New York Times. p. 3. One man that London would particularly like to see, President Truman, will not be coming but will be represented by Secretary of State Dean Acheson.
  29. ^ "West Big 3 Convene in London Saturday". The New York Times. 10 February 1952. p. 3.
  30. ^ Reston, James (13 February 1952). "Acheson Departs with Plans to End German Arms Snag". The New York Times. p. 1.
  31. ^ "A break in Royal tradition". BBC News. 15 February 2002. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  32. ^ Ahmed, Kamal (31 March 2002). "Ten days of mourning". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  33. ^ "Lying in-state". UK Parliament. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  34. ^ Elston, Laura (19 September 2022). "Queen reunited with Philip in tiny King George VI Memorial Chapel". Evening Standard. Retrieved 20 September 2022.

Bibliography

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