LAST JOURNEY STARTED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 29 January 1936, Page 5

LAST JOURNEY STARTED

TROOPS LINE THE ROUTE FROM HISTORIC HALL OF WESTMINSTER LONDON, 28th January. The sun broke through a heavy mass of clouds as King George Y r . started his last journey from the historic hall of Westminster and a solemn silence fell on the waiting crowds, broken only by the tolling of Big Ben and the distant boom of minute guns. Troops and naval ratings along the entire route reversed arms and stood with bowed heads. At the first beat of the muffled drums the enormous cortege moved slowly forward and every head in the crowd was bared. While orders were flashed to the leaders of the procession over a mile away picked men of the Grenadier Guards bore the coffin from Westminster Hail into the yard where Kings and statesmen of Europe were assembled. The coffin was still draped with the Royal Standard, which had covered it at Sandringham. The Crown, orb, sceptre and insignia of the Garter lay along its length yet the beauty of the Queen’s Cross of red and white flowers seemed more striking than all the jewels of England. Behind the coffin came the King with his mother. His feautres set and his face pale, he stood at the salute while Guardsmen placed the coffin on the gun-carriage. The Queen stood motionless, eyesAowncast A the rear stood the Queen of Norway, the Princess Royal, the Duchess of York and then the tines Royal brothers, at the salute like the King. Neither the '«King nor his brothers moved until the Queen was seated in her carriage. Then His Majesty turned on his heel and took up his position behind the Royal Standard bearer. His brothers formed a rank two yards behind, after which came foreign Kings and Princes resplendent in gorgeous uniforms, peiliaps the most conspicuous being King. Zeid of Iraq in white headdress and gold and brown robes. ENTRY INTO WHITEHALL

The solemn strains of Handel’s Funeral March, played by the massed bands of the Guards, heralded the procession’s entry into Whitehall. Wireless signals ensured that the foiemost section was simultaneously moving up St. James Street as the head of the procession passed the Cenotaph, where the King had paid homage to the Empire’s dead. Every woman in the vast crowd leaned forward to see the Queen and murmur sympathy and greeting to the passing coach in ; which she sat erect, looking straight before her with that regal bearing which she lias not lost for a single moment during her great sorrow. After the Queen, with the Duchess ot York and the Princess Royal had passed, the crowd watched with respectful attention the seemingly endless cavalcade of illustrious men and women, many of whom are known all over the world. Sir James Parr represented New Zealand in the procession, also at St. George’s Chapel. Seven carriages bore the Royal and other ladies, and afterward came members of King George’s household, members of foreign delegations, foreign army, navy and air attaches, brilliantly uniformed. Police escorts and Royal Horse Guards wound up the procession. PICCADILLY REACHED

Meanwhile, the foremast sections were entering Piccadilly. Every branch of the fighting services, among which were detachments from the Dominions, was represented. bieldMarshals, Admirals of the Fleet, Air Marshals, and the entire Army and Air Councils and the Board of Admiialty were conspicuous figures. The Horse Guards’ Parade was a vast arena reserved for ticket-holders, mostly members of the lighting sei - vices. In the stately Admiralty Buildings every window was crowded and they formed a background of massive dignity. . . The sun was now shining brightly. The Duchess of York leaned forward and appeared to direct the Queen s attention to three Hags carried by members of the French United Front deputation. Royal servants watched the cortege from the low roof of Marlborough House. The melancholy swirl of pipes was heard faintly in the distance as the coffin passed up St. James Street into Picadilly. The King still walked with a firm step and head bowed. The pressure of the crowds here was terrific and ambulance men, bearing on stretchers people overcome by fatigue or emotion, passed continuous i between the sections of the procession, which took 08 minutes to pass the various points. The high-pitched lament of the massed pipers suddenly changed to the grave beauty of a Skye folk song. The thoughts of the crowd flew to the slim lonely figure of Edward VIIT. H ( j ni> of his subjects had ever before seen his face so grave, as though he was not merely mourning the ioss of his beloved father, but conscious of the solitude and burdens of kingship. SAD-FACED LITTLE FIGURE From the roof of St. George’s Hospital at Hyde Park corner the mourning multitude stretching as far as the eye could see along Piccadily and Hyde Park formed a sombre background for the corlege. I Princess Margaret Rose, a sad-faced little figure in grey, watched from the purple-draped balcony of her father s home the sorrowful procession. She stood immobile for a. whole hour except a moment when the gun carriage passed, when she curtsied. All reverently removed their hats when they heard the moving strains ot Chnnin’s “Funeral March.”

Thereafter the silence was broken only by the dull thud of marching feet. r I be sun shone In full winter glory as the wet surface of the road gleamed like a

mirror, making a, shining path for the beloved monarch.

CROWD OUT OE CONTROL

Hyde Park presented an amazing spectacle. Far back over the grass a mass qf people stood shoulder to siioulder. Again and again the police announced through megaphones that all vantage points were full and appealed to the people to seek other positions. The crowd got out of control at the Marble Arch and the police cordon was once broken. Reinforced by the Tank Corps and mounted troops it again failed to withstand the pressure of the colossal gathering. An unbroken stream of people fainted or crushed were conveyed to first aid stations. All was disorder at 10.45 a.m., when the procession began to move forward. The police broadcast repeated appeals to those in the rear of the crowd to stop the pressure and remember that those in front were liable to serious and perhaps fatal injury. Guards of honour along the route were forced into a ragged line, but all displayed good humour in a most trying situation.

A wonderful change from disorder to order occurred just before the leaders of tho procession arrived. The police exhorted the crowds to remember the solemn nature of the occasion, and the appeal had an immediate effect, pressure slackened, and the troops were able to reform the line and obey appropriate commands as the procession drew near. As it was the foremost sections of the procession had barely room to pass, yet tlie magnificent escorts did not falter. Such a great mass of people has probably not before been compressed in an area of a few hundred yarns. Looking from a height at this part of the route, the scene was ever memorable. Tlie greater part of the cortege could be seen slowly winding its way the entire length of the Park \botween an unbroken mass of people and lines of bare trees. Well may the Navy be proud of the detachment pulling tlie gun carriage. The rhythm and smoothness of movements was perfection. AT PADDINGTON STATION

No further incidents marked the progress of the procession to Paddington at which it arrived late, delaying the start of the Royal train twenty-ebyit minutes. The vast arch of the station was draped with prpule, and great wreaths of laurels and Flanders poppies surmounted it, while long purple banners edged with white lined the approach road. The red carpet stretching across the Royal platform was used at the funeral of King' Edward VII twenty-six years ago. The noise and bustle of the station were solemnly hushed. Instead of hurrying throngs of travellers an unceasing procession of uniformed men and veiled .women walked slowly to the special trains for Windsor.

The Royal train consisted of the same ■line coaches which brought the King’s body from Sandringham. Oil each headlamp of tlie engine was a model of the Imperial Crown, and a draped shield bearing the Royal Coat of Arms was placed on either side of the gleaming boiler. Princess Elizabeth, who arrived early, walked to the end of tlie platform and peeped around to catch a glimpse of the train. She was a wistful little figure in black, with a black beret.

Ihe head of the procession arrived 35 minutes late and slowly filed through the station, which was hushed except for tlie tramp of marching men until the Royal Artillery Band halted at tlie foot of the platform and played the coffin to its place beside the train. The King and his brothers and other leading mourners formed a. line from tlie gun carriage to the railway coach. Queen Mary and the ladies took positions opposite them, forming an aisle along which the Grenadiers reverently carried tlie coffin. When they laid it inside tlie coach the King looked carefully into the darkened interior. Then satisfied that all was well he escorted the Queen and his sister-in-law to their compartments. The guard waved a flag and the train drew slowly from tlie platform, while massed pipers played the Highland dirge “Flowers of the Forest.”

Within a few moments the train rounded a sweeping curve and was lost to view.

Marly eyes were dimmed with tears as it was realised that tlie beloved King had left the capital of the Empire for the last time. SOLID WALL OF WATCHERS

In the more congested sections hundreds of thousands were prevented from seeing anything by a solid wall of watchers in front. Every roof top and balcony was crowded and the cornices of lofty buildings were a frieze of heads. Tiie concourse bristled with improvised periscopes on the top of walking sticks and umbrellas. Luckier spectators hired places on costers’ barrows for 10s each, enabling them to overlook the twentydeep rank separating them from the line of troops fringing the route, but such good fortune was rare. Yet with the arrival §f the leaders in the procession an atmosphere of devout reverence' permeated the restless crowds, whose confusion gave place to solemn recognition of the presence of the dead. SLOWLY PACING FIGURE OF THE KING

More significant to the spectators than all its attendant pomp was tile coffin itself draped with the Royal Standard and surmounted by the Imperial emblems, followed as if he walked in lonely dream by the slowly pacing figure of their King. lo the tolling of Big Beil, which had not so tolled since Edward VII died, every head of the thousands was uncovered as the gun carriage bearing the Royal coffin left Westminster Hall, and rumbled out of the New Palace Yard to the measured tread of feet. Here and now death had become the nation s affair, significant and terrible. J he pale gleam of sunlight broke through as the gun carriage moved into the Mail, followed by the Royal Standard dripping after the rain. .There was an incredible array of kings, princes, captains, statesmen, and a brilliant retinue from thirty-one nations. lloro^ strode the tall, sad young Belgian King; there rose the tall white plume of the Italian prince amid helmets, turbans, busbies, bearskins, and pikelhaubcn. CONFUSION AT MARBLE ARCH Five hundred people were injured or fainted in the confusion at the Marble Arch before the cortege arrived. Here was the densest crowd on the route. Even the sight of the coffin could not still cries of apprehension and pain of those being crushed by the opposing pressure of police in front and thousands behind. Children were passed over peoples heads. The journey to Paddington completed, the gun carriage disappeared in tlie darkness of the station entrance, and the King and his brothers and other potentates in the Royal coaches vanished into the gloom. The. King helped Queen Mary into the train which, moving from the station with extraordinary silence, and slowness, began the journey to Windsor. TRIBUTES TO POLICE Foreign visitors paid tributes to the police’s skilful handling of the crowds,

including a difficult situation at tlie Marble Arch. It was the first great public ceremony Sir Philip Game had handled since iie was appointed Police Commissioner. It is pointed out that it is almost impossible to provide for every contingency. In such a complex, vast procession" delays were commcndahlv few