THE LAST RITES.

Southland Times, Issue 19720, 28 November 1925, Page 7

THE LAST RITES.

A QUEEN’S FUNERAL.

GREAT CITY IN MOURNING.

VAST CROWDS LINE ROUTE.

Along snow-covered lanes the coffin containing the mortal dust of Alexandra, the Queen Mother, was on Thursday taken to Wolferton Station and there placed on a train and brought to London, where it lay during the night in St. James’s Chapel. Friday morning dawned bleak and later snow fell but this did not deter the vast, sombre clad crowd that lined the route of the last procession to Westminster Abbey. The service was brief and, majestic and before midday the distinguished gathering had departed, leaving the great Queen alone in that building of mighty memories.

1 THROVE SNOW-COVERED LANES. LAST JOURNEY BEGINS. COUNTRY PEOPLE'S TRIBUTE. IMPRESSIVE YET SIMPLE. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, November 26. The remains of the late Queen Alexandra were borne this afternoon through lanes covered with snow to Wolferton Station, whence the body was conveyed by special train to London. Intensely impressive in its simplicity and spontaneity was the tribute of the country people, many of whom walked miles to participate in the last farewell. Nothing should be more poignant than the sad farewell by Alexandra’s household and tenantry. The tiny bell at Sandringham was tolling when the King and Princes walked across the snowcovered ground followed by the Queen in a brougham. The Royal Family entered the church and knelt silently round the coffin, being led in prayer by the Bishop of Norwich. After several minutes they left, when the coffin was borne from the church by ten giant Grenadier Guardsmen and placed on the gun-carriage drawn by four horses mounted by artillerymen. A DISTINGUISHED PROCESSION. SCENES AT THE STATION. LONDON, November 26. (Received November 27, 7.25 pan.) The procession left the Church, and there followed, their heads bowed, the King with the Prince of Wales on his right and King Olaf on his left. Then came the Duke of York, Prince Henry and members of the household. There were three closed carriages; in the first was Mary, Queen of Norway;. in the second, Victoria-Marie Queen of Greece; in the third the ladies in waiting. Then came the clergy of the estate parishes and the people of the estate, mostly simple folk in humble clothes. The route lay between pine woods, the crowds falling into line as the procession passed. It gradually grew till it numbered 1,000 when it reached the station. There were hundreds of tearful men and women. Seldom has the district seen a more moving ceremony than the homely passing of Alexandra the Loved. When the coffin was lifted from the gun carriage and placed in the funeral coach of the Royal train, a company of Norfolk Guards formed a guard of honour and the Norfolk Territorial’s Band played the Dead March. The Royal wreaths were placed round the coffin. In the second carriage there was a bewildering profusion of wreaths which had been brought from the Sandringham ballroom. Their Majesties took seats in the Royal saloon and the train steamed out to the strains of Chopin’s Funeral March. Then, in accordance with custom, when the train had departed the band broke into a quick march tune and afterwards Rule Britannia. On arrival at London the body was taken to St. James’s Palace where it rests overnight. The High Commissioners on behalf of the governments are forwarding wreaths. Invitations to attend the service include Sir James and Lady Allen, Mr Justice Chapman, Lady Bell and Mr T. M. Wilford. THE ABBEY SERVICE, FIRST WOMAN ARRIVES AT 11 P.M. LONDON, November 27. (Received November 27, 9.35 p.m.) A woman arrived at Westminster Abbey at eleven last night determined to wait throughout the night to be first to enter the sendees. Others arrived early in the morning despite freezing weather. THE MARCH THROUGH LONDON. NO EXCESSIVE PAGEANTRY. LONDON, November 27. (Received November 27, 0.55 p.m.) The King was most anxious to save the nation unnecessary expense. Those responsible for the arrangements, therefore, were careful to avoid excessive pageantry. Moreover, it was realised that undue military display was unfitting, so the troops were confined to representatives of the regiments with which Queen Alexandra as princess and Queen had been officially connected. The keynote of the procession was to afford Londoners an opportunity for showing their affection for the Queen Mother, as the service in the Abbey was intended to allow the Court and the official world to pay their last tribute to a well loved mistress. Throughout the night the coffin lay in the Chapel Royal at St. James where it was received on Thursday evening by the Bishop of London. Apart from the recital of sentences from the burial services there was no ceremoniaL The chapel had its lovely interior brilliantly lighted throughout the night. A gold communion plate was displayed on the altar beneath the tall candles. The altar vases were filled with white roses, and wreaths in rich profusion were placed on and about the coffin which was watched by Gentlemen at Anns and Yeomen of the Guards in the familiar crimson and gold uniforms. King George reached the Chapel Royal from Buckingham Palace at 10.45 accompanied by the Kings of Denmark and Belgium. Here he was joined by the King of Norway, who spent the night at Marlborough House. The bearers carried the coffin to the Colour Court where the coffin was placed on a gun carriage drawn by six horses. The bearers of the party marching alongside were accompanied by Queen Alexandra’s equerries. The procession then moved on, marching - with arms reversed, headed by two hundred men and officers of the Air Force, and two hundred brigade guards. Troops in single rank lined the whole route from Marlborough Gate to the Mall, the Horse Guards and the massed I bands of the Brigade Guards playing continually, and minute guns booming from a field battery in St. James’s Park. The first gun was fired as the coffin was placed on the gun carriage and the last as the coffin entered the Abbey. Following the detachments of the Air Force and the

Guardsmen came twenty officers and men of the yacht Victoria Albert, and immediately preceding the gun carriage were 250 blue jackets and marines. Behind the gun carriage King George walked alone, followed by the Kings of Belgium, Denmark and Norway walking abreast. The Crown Princes of Rumania and Sweden on either side of the Prince of Wales followed. Then came the Duke of lork, the Crown Princes of Norway, Waldemar and Denmark and others, including Prince Henry and Prince Arthur of Connaught, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the equerries of the King and the Princess with • gold and silver sticks and aides-de-camp. The procession was completed by detachments representing Queen Alexandra’s Regiments, the 15th and 19th Hussars, the Yorkshire Regiment and Queen Alexandra’s Own Gurkha Regiment, who represented the people of India at the ceremony. The Life Guards turned out as the coffin passed the Horse Guards avenue and entered Whitehall. Queen Mary, the Queens of Norway and Spain and the Royal Princesses drove direct to Dean’s Yard and reached the sacrarium by a cloister door. Meanwhile the Abbey was crowded with notable personages. , While they were gathering Mr S. H. Nicholson, the Obbey organist, played a selection of solemn music including Stanford’s funeral march from Becket Parry’s prelude to “Abide With Me,” choral preludes by Bach and Brahms, a solemn melody from Walford Davies and Greig’s Death of Ase from Peer Gynt, ending with Tchaikovsky’s funeral march. Arriving at the west door of the Abbey the troops fell out and the procession, headed by the choir chapter, passed up the nave, the coffin being borne by a bearer party from the King’s Company of the Grenadier Guards, the choir meanwhile singing sentences to Dr. Croft’s music. The bearers stopped under the lantern and placed the coffin on a catafalque, the King and the mourners standing at the head of the coffin and the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Steward at the foot of the Abbey. The altar was hung in funeral black. THE BURIAL SERVICE. The Archbishop of Canterbury conducted the service assisted by Canon Carnegie and the Precentor of the Abbey, all wearing purple capes. The service commenced with the 23rd Psalm. The lesson was from the 15th chapter, Ist Corinthians, verses 51 to 58. Then the hymn, “Now the Labourer’s Task is O’er” was sung. The Lord’s Prayer and collects from the burial service and an anthem from the Russian liturgy, “Give Rest O Christ” followed, the service concluding with the hymn “On the Ressurrection Morning.” When their Majesties and the Royal Family left by the west door the coffin, covered by Queen Alexandra’s standard, remained under a lantern watched by the Gentlemen-at-Arms and the Yeomen of the Guards. Tfce general public was admitted to the Abbey at one o’clock and continued to enter until late in the evening, entering at the Poet’s Corner and leaving by the north door. IN AUSTRALIA. OBSERVANCE IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY, November 27. (Received November 27, 9.35 p.m.) To-day was recognised as the official day of mourning for the death of Queen Alexandra. All State schools were closed. The afternoon was devoted to lessons dealing with Alexandra’s life. The services in St. Andrew’s Cathedral J was attended by the Governor and other prominent people from all walks of life. At sunset a salute of forty guns was fired by the Navy followed by a similar salute by the Army. IN MELBOURNE. MELBOURNE, November 27. (Received November 27, 9.35 pm.) Services of mourning were held throughout Victoria to-day. Salutes similar to those in Sydney were fired at sunset. SERVICES IN SUVA. SUVA, November 27. (Received November 27, 7.35 p.m.) Services were held in all the churches today in connection with Alexandra’s funeral SERVICES IN WELLINGTON. ROYAL SALUTE FIRED. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, November 27. Synchronising as nearly as practicable with the solemn observances at Westminster, special memorial services were held this ' morning in several of the churches, while Government and municipal and other offices reverently closed for three hours from 10.30 a.m. In accordance with instructions received from Home, a Royal salute of forty minute guns was fired from Mount Cook barracks commencing at 11 o’clock. Similarly the bell in the Post‘Office clock tower tolled at intervals of one minute for ten minutes after eleven. The request for the cessation of traffic for a period of five minutes from the same hour was partly observed, all trams being stopped. The Mayor issued a request this morning for shops to close, but the advice came too late to be very widely circulated, and only a few retailers closed their premises. All Government and municipal offices, however, and many places of business were closed from 10.30 until after lunch. Memorial services were held at 11 o’clock at St. Paul’s proCathedral, where State and Governmental and other officials attended, and at St. Peter’s and St. Mark’s. IN CHRISTCHURCH. UHRISTUHURCH, November 27. A memorial service for the late Queen was held at the Anglican Cathedral this morning, and the majority of business places and hotels closed from 11 till noon. BIG ATTENDANCES AT DUNEDIN. DUNEDIN, November 27. The town was closed during the memorial service to Queen Alexandra. St. Paul’s Cathedral was crowded, many being unable

to obtain admission. The service was attended by the Vice-Regal party, Commodore Beale of H.M.S. Dunedin, leading citizens and visitors to the Exhibition. Bishop Richards preached the sermon, Dean Fitchett read the service and Canon Neville read prayers. The Bishop, as his text, used the words of the Prayer Book: “Imbue her with Thy Holy Spirit, enrich her with Thy Heavenly Grace.” This was the prayer of the church for 60 years and was an answer to the noble life of the Queen. The Argyll and Sutherland Band took part in the final portion of the service. At the First Church the service was conducted under the auspices of the Council of Christian Churches and the Dunedin Presbytery. Addresses were given by the Rev. Tulloch Guille. Argyll pipers played a lament. An impressive service was held at the Synagogue. Prayers and Psalms were recited in both Hebrew and English, the late Queen’s favourite, Pslam 23, being included. INVERCARGILL MOURNS. MEMORIAL SERVICE AT ST. JOHN’S. ALEXANDRA, “THE BELOVED.” An impressive service to the late Queen Alexandra was held at St. John’s Anglican Church yesterday when the majority of business houses ceased work for a period of two hours—from 11.30 a.m. till 1.30 p.m.— in order to allow as many persons as possible to pay their last respects to the late Queen Mother. The large assembly completely filled the church, and there were many who were unable to gain admission. The Rev. J. A. Lush conducted the service, he being supported by Rev. Canon Fynes-Clinton, who read the lesson, and Rev. J. Lawson Robinson, who delivered the address. The basis of Mr Robinson’s meditation was taken from Job 5: 26—“ Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.” As a shock of corn fully ripe, said the preacher, so the Queen Mother came to the ■ end of her pilgrimage. They did not sorrow as over one who was taken in the morning of his days, or in the full noontide of his life. Deaths like these seemed to have few alleviating features. But God was good to the Queen Mother in that he allowed her to come to her grave full of years, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. Their feelings of sorrow were tempered with thankfulness that God in His goodness spared her to the nat-on so long. In appreciation of the .Queen Mother’s character the speaker confessed that his difficulty was to determine the method of approach to a character so full-orbed and complete. But they might find the secret of her greatness in her simple loyalty to great principles. This “sea-king’s daughter from over the sea” brought to the nation a lofty idealism, and a princely disdain of all that was petty and ignoble. She Won the admiration of the world by the exaltation and purity of her character, by her queenly womanliness, and by the cleansing and uplifting moral influence of her axample. It must not be forgotten that it was the woman in her that won the heart of the nation. It was not the passing glitter of royalty or the fading pomp of courts. It was not her queenly place, her jewelled sceptre or her illustrious crown, but herself that was loved. It was her great mother-heart throbbing with sympathy for the suffering and bereaved, her gentleness and grace, her true interest' in the poor and distressed—these were the things that compelled their homage and won their loyalty and respect. Queen Alexandra left a name that would endure, not because she was a queen, but because she was an honest, Godfearing, self-disciplined/ and self-sacrificing woman. Of the faith of the Queen Mother, and of her inner convictions little could be said. These were known to herself, her family, and probably to a small circle of her most intimate friends. Hers was a simple trust in God. In quietness and confidence she rested upon the Divine power, and never faltered in her belief in the effii cacy of Christ’s finished work. She has exj changed her jewelled coronet for the crown of life, and stood now in the presence of the King of Kings. She rejoiced in her womanhood, and transfigured her position by the innermost glory of her own womanly character. The virtues of womanhood she practised would leave her an enduring fame in the history of the nation. She was brought up in an age very different from theirs, an age they sneered at and held in contempt, yet an age that was unexcelled in the glory of its achievements. Her discipline and training were markedly different from that which was to-day considered necessary; it was more rigorous; she was schooled to goodness, purity and prudence. She came to England a young girl fresh from her home in Denmark to become the royal consort of a truly royal prince. As wife an 4 mother she exhibited those virtues and loyalties that have made her an example to all decent womanhood. And finally she was loyal to the purest ideals of queenly rule. She attained greater eminence than that of Queen of England; she became queen of herself. She ruled her first and most immediate Empire in righteousness, with heroic, self-discipline, calm dignity, unwearied patience and unswerving loyalty to the highest ideals; and “greater is he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a city.” This achievement was the more remarkable when one remembered that she lived in a luxurious and opulent age. One of the proudest boasts of the British race was the purity of the English Court. One can recall monarchies where the life of the highest in the land was gross and licentious. It is a woman we must thank for sweetening the atmosphere of the palace of royalty, and for bringing in “sweeter manners; purer laws.” Queen Victoria ruled her kingdom in righteousness, realising that the purity of the home and of young life was the foundation of States. Her queenly successor in the throne followed the same noble tradition. How much they owed to the women who during the last century had occupied the throne, for the nobility and purity of the best of English life they would never really know; but the fact remained that the rigid self-discipline of these queens had gone far to give the ancient throne of Britain a reputation for honour and integrity unparalleled in the history of the world. He would have liked to say a good deal more, but it would destroy the character of the service to indulge in any lengthy and extravagant eulogy. The memory of the Queen Mother would abide for many years. Among British sovereigns were some whose greatness had been extolled in a word. They remembered Victoria the Good, Edward the Peace-maker and others. What should they say of the Queen Mother whose death they mourned to-day? History might give her no title, but there were many among them who would always think of her as Alexandra the Beloved. During the service the choir sang “Blessed are the Departed,” “Now the labourer’s task is o’er” and “Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another,” and at the close Mr Charles Gray played Chopin’s “Funeral March,” the assemblage standing throughout the rendering.