LYING IN STATE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 21, 25 January 1936, Page 9

LYING IN STATE

THOUSANDS DO HOMAGE

ENDLESS QUEUE OF

MOURNERS

SCENE IN GREAT HALL

LONDON, January 24.

King George now lies in state in historic Westminster Hall, where his dead father similarly received the last homage of his people.

The coffin, whence the gold, scarlet, and blue folds of the Royal Standard fall over the purple catafalque, stands out on the dais with the dignity of a cenotaph in the pool of light thrown by four huge candelabra. Eight others direct their rays upward, flood-lighting the age-old timbered roof. The remainder of the vast hall lies in shadow. At the head of the coffin rests a single wreath, Queen Mary's, and in the centre scintillates his Majesty's Imperial Crown. Below shine the sceptre, with the Cullinan Diamond, and the Royal Orb, while draped at the foot of the coffin is the scarlet King's Colour of the Grenadier Guards. Six candles of unbleached wax in great silver candlesticks burn unwaveringly in the stillness. A silvern jewelled cross rises above the head of the coffin. Yeomen of the Guard, their scarlet surcoats hidden by. blue cloaks, stand at the four corners of the dais, crimson-., tasselled pikes reversed. Exhausted by his vigil at the catafalque, one of the Yeomen of the Guard fell in a dead faint and was carried from the hall. Another yeoman immediately took his place. GUARDING THE COFFIN. At the corners of the coffin stand the officers, the candlelight reflectedin their burnished breastplates, with gauntleted hands crossed on their sword-hilts, and helmeted' heads bent. Four officers of the Corps of Gentle-men-at-Arms, their cloaks covering their brilliant uniforms, lean on reversed halberds at the end of the dais. King Edward introduced an innovation by extending to all Guards regiments the privilege hitherto enjoyed by the Horse Guards and the First Battalion, Grenadier Guards, of supplying officers to attend the bier. Thus, until Tuesday, will the King be guarded in silent majesty. The guards will be relieved every halfhour. Hundreds eager to pay, homage to the late King attempted to queue up last night in readiness for the opening of Westminster Hall at 8 a.m. today. Many arrived with camp stools, rugs, and vacuum flasks. The police refused to permit a queue and continued to move on arrivals, mostly women, who insisted upon being first to enter and frequently returned. Finally, towards midnight, a queue was allowed, and soon it stretched half a mile. As Big Ben tolled 8 o'clock, the great doors of .Westminster Hall were flung open, and a seemingly endless queue of mourners began to move forward, men removing their hats and women lowering their, heads. The first to enter was an elderly man who had waited since midnight. "I wanted to make sure of seeing my King once more," he quietly declared. ALL TYPES REPRESENTED. Every type oE Londoner was represented. Smartly-dressed women stood beside tram drivers returning from the night shift. Labourers on the way to work mingled with hundreds of civil servants anxious to pay early homage

before proceeding to the offices at Whitehall. It was noticed that, whereas most were composed before entering the Hall, few came away without signs of grief. Women declared it was "too impressive for words." It was hard to realise after such a solemn experience that one was back again to a workaday world. The mourners filed three abreast on either side of the great catafalque. It is estimated that 6500 passed in the first hour—just a handful of the millions who will make the four-day pilgrimage from the whole of Great Britain. NONE UNDULY HURRIED. The mourners were so well marshal-1 led and passed so rapidly through the hall that there was little or no queue by 10 a.m., when classes of school children began to arrive. As they left the hall nearly all the children were crying. Later, queues formed again with startling rapidity and soon stretched far towards Vauxhall, police shepherding the crowds at the rate of 100 a minute through the hall. None felt unduly hurried or unable properly to take in the scene. Many invalids, unmindful of their own distress, were wheeled in chairs past the catafalque or else hobbled by slowly on sticks or crutches. It is now disclosed that the vibration of the gun-carriage in passing through London caused a loosening of the Maltese Cross, jewelled with valuable Indian stones, which surmounted the Crown. The- cross eventually fell to the road, where it was picked up by an officer in the procession. A member of the Court jewellers, hastily summoned, repaired the damage in a few seconds before the service started in Westminster Hall. PROGRESS SPEEDED UP. As the morning wore on the queues became so long that the rate of movement was speeded up to 250 a minute. By noon over 25,000 had filed through the hall, yet the queue was more than a mile long and ever increasing. It extended 'beyond Lambeth Bridge, necessitating a diversion of traffic. Inside the hall the solemn silence was only broken by the shuffling of feet in the awe-inspiring pilgrimage.

The changing of the guard i<s a simple ceremony and the orders are given in subdued voices.

The King spent the morning ax Buckingham Palace attending to a mass of State papers. Later he visited offices of the Duchy of Cornwall and conferred at length with officials regarding the future of the duchy. The first foreign royalties to arrive in London were the King and Queen of Norway. They were greeted at the station by the Duke of Kent, who kissed his aunt on both cheeks. Queen Maud, dressed in the deepest black, walked down the platform with her nephew.