FUNERAL OF THE LATE DUCHESS OF KENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 496, 1 June 1861, Page 9

FUNERAL OF THE LATE DUCHESS OF KENT.

The funeral of her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, yesterday, March 25. The only strangers present were the representatives of the press and some, members of the deceased princess's household. The service and the whole , scene were deeply impressive. The time occupied was not more than half-an-Kour. The body was removed in the morning from Frogmore to St. George's Chapel,lWindsor/ where it was received by the vice^Ghamber--lain of her Majesty's Household, staid ;thefre remained under the charge of the ''officers* ap^'.pointed by the Lord. ChamberlainSftintil hour fixed the^funer^'servic^'^f is£& past 10 o'clock^ those^iio^had tHeKo^^ 1 ;^ receive the Qiieen's Commands to aWe^&FCfi¥

*ceremony, but who did not take part in the procession, were admitted to St. George's Chapel. At 11 o'clock the royal family and t>ther royal personages assembled in the Chap-ter-room of St. George's Chapel, from which they were conducted to their places in the procession by the Lord Chamberlain. The Dean and Canons of Windsor, attended by

the choir, received the body at the antechapel, and then joined the procession. The remainder of those appointed to take part in the procession having assembled in Wolsey's Chapel, formed' in the following order in the nave of St. George's Chapel :— The members of the late duchess's household, and various members' of the royal household; together with the representatives of absent royal personages, jfibrpn de Loewenfels represented the Dnke^oC^xe Coburg, and the King of Hanover wirrejpresented by one of his aides-de-camp. Then followed the choir and clergy t>f Windsor \ the coronet' of her late royal highness, borne by Lord James Murray, equerry to her late royal highness ; the Controller in the Lord Chamberlain's department ; the Lord Chamberlain, and the Vice Chamberlain. Next came the body, and the following ladies acted as supporters of the pall :— The Lady Fanny Howard, Lady Aumista Bruce, Lady* Susan Leslie Melville, Lady Katherine Vernon Harcourt, Lady Gardiner, and the Dowager Lady Couper. The body was immediately followed by the Garter King of Arms; and then came the chief mourner (the Prince Consort,) supported by the Prince of Wales and the Prince of Leinin-

gen, and attended by Earl Spencer, Groom of Stole to his royal highness. The procession closed in the following order : — Prince Arthur, the Duke of Cambridge, the Count de Paris, the Duke de Nemours, the Duke de Chartres, the Duke d'Alencon, Duke Phillip of Wurtemberg, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Au-gustenburg, Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Lan-genburg. Upon arrival within the choir, the coronet and cushion were placed upon the coffin. The chief mourner sat at the head of the corpse, and the Prince of Wales and the Prince of Leiningen sat on each side of his royal highness. The ladies who supported the pall occupied stools on either side of the coffin. The Lord Chamberlain stood at the foot of the coffin. The other royal personages in the procession were conducted to stalls in the chapel. The attendants on their royal highnesses were also seated. The rest of the procession, having previously advanced towards the centre of the choir, remained there during the ceremony, in the same order in which they entered "the chapel. "The Dead March in Saul" was played while the procession moved up the chapel. The first part of the service and the anthem having been performed, the corpse was lowered into the entrance to the royal vault, and the dean concluded the burial service, upon which Garter King of Arms proclaimed the style of her late royal highness. After which the royal family and other royal personages were conducted out of the chapel, and the others composing the procession retired. A guard of honour of the Scots Fusilier Guards mounted during %he ceremony at the entrance to St. GeorgeVChapel. Every shop in Windsor was closed. In the metropolis the shops, at the time announced for the funeral, were very, generally partially closed. The great bell of St. Paul's tolled forth its solemn note, and the usual public signals of mourning were visible. At Woolwich 30 minute guns were fired per hour, commencing from the Royal Artillery gun-park battery, at 4.16 p.m., followed by the guns of the flag-ship Fisgard, stationed off the dockyard, and the Royal Artillery alternately, until 16 minutes past 6, when the ' Toyal «tandara, hitherto Itoatms half-mast high in the garrison and over the Government offices, since the announcement of her royal highriess's death, was hauled down. The battery guns were manned by the 3rd Brigade Royal Artillery, and the Fisgard's guns by the seamen gunners of the ship. The Government regulations for the guidance of officers of the army, the fleet, and the Royal Marines, with reference to the general mourning had been posted throughout the establishments'at Woolwich, and were minutely carried out, not only by officers in uniform, but universally also in the civil departments of the State. . r . .. . . Minute gunt were also fired from the ships ofjyjrtir at Portsmouth, and the various forts ' surrounding the arsenal* extending from Cumberland fort, at the mouth of Langston Harbour, to Fort Victoria, near the Jfeedles, at ' the west end of the Isle of Wight. The time occupied in the firing, was from noon until six p.m. .

. At Plymouth, minute guns were fired, commencing at the citadel to the east, and continuing on. the line of forts to Mount Wise and Mount Edgecumbe, on the West, after which the firing was taken up by all the ships of war in commission in the fort.