A Tradition Unplanned That Yet Continues Today

This photo of King George VI’s coffin on the State Gun Carriage was taken by my Dad on February 15, 1952 out the window of a friend’s flat during the funeral procession of HM King George VI. Dad was stationed in London at the time of his death. We found it in his Navy foot locker after he passed away along with this copy of the Royal Funeral Edition of The Evening News. The photo on the front page shows the full complement of sailors pulling the State Gun Carriage. Tomorrow at 10:44AM BST (5:44AM EDT) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will begin the procession from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey, borne in procession on same State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy, the same one that has been used for every State Funeral since HM Queen Victoria. On February 4, 1901, the day of HM Queen Victoria’s funeral, the horses couldn’t be controlled in the cold weather and there was concern if they bolted, the coffin could fall off during procession. Captain Prince Louis of Battenberg, future First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, recommended to HM Edward VII that as the senior service – the Royal Navy should step in. With the King’s agreement, instead of horses, 98 sailors pulled the gun carriage weighing 2.5 tons - and 40 sailors followed behind on ropes to act as the gun carriage breaks. It would become enshrined as tradition for State Funerals only seven years later when HM King Edward VII died and has since been used for HM King George V, HM King George VI, Sir Winston Churchill, and the last time – for Lord Louis Mountbatten, the son of Captain Battenberg, following his assassination on September 5, 1979. The carriage was built at the Royal Gun Factory at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich to carry the standard light field gun of the Army at the time, the breech-loaded 12-Pounder. It was converted into a ceremonial gun carriage by fitting a catafalque – a raised platform with horizontal rollers for moving the coffin. It is housed at HMS Excellent on Whale Island in Portsmouth in a temperature-controlled room to prevent any deterioration.