The Life of King Edward VII
Connaught, who was born in 1850. His surviving sisters were Princess
Helena, married to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein; Princess
Louise, married to the Duke of Argyll; and Princess Beatrice, widow of
the late Prince Henry of Battenberg.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Solemn Funeral of the King
The death of King Edward was an event of more than British importance,
of more than Imperial significance. His funeral was a stately, solemn
and splendid ceremony preceded by two weeks of real mourning throughout
his Empire, of obvious and sincere regret throughout the world. In
London and Cape Town, in Melbourne and Toronto, in Wellington and Dawson
City, in Ottawa and Khartoum, in Calcutta and in Cairo; wherever the
British flag flies, efforts were made to mark the funeral as one of
individual and local and national sorrow. All the great cities of the
Empire, the smaller towns, and even the hamlets, had their drapings of
purple and black. In every church and chapel and Sunday meeting-house
during the two weeks of mourning at least one service was given up to
the memory of the late King. In all foreign countries preparations were
made for the formal expression of the general admiration which the
qualities and reign of the dead monarch had aroused. Formal resolutions,
public meetings, the appointment of national representatives to the
coming funeral were world-wide incidents.
At home in London the casket to contain the Royal remains was fashioned
of British oak from the Forest of Windsor and on May 14th, the body of
King Edward was removed from the room in which he died to the Throne
Room of Buckingham Palace, and there placed on a catafalque in front of
a temporary altar where it was guarded night and day by four Royal
Grenadiers. On May 16th, amidst a solemn and imposing but preliminary
pageant the late King was carried from the Palace where he died to
Westminster Hall, where the remains were to lie in solemn state. A
farewell family service had been held by the Bishop of London and then
the body at 11.30 in the morning was transported to its new
resting-place between double lines of red-coated soldiers, flanked by
dense and silent masses of mourning people, with buildings on every hand
heavily draped.
Preceded by the booming of minute guns, the slow pealing of bells and
the roll of muffled drums the procession passed to its destination. It
included the Headquarters Staff of the Army with Lord Roberts leading,
the Admiralty Board, the great officers of Army and Navy, dismounted
troops, Indian officers. These preceded the plain gun-carriage on which
rested the Royal remains, the coffin covered with a white satin pall and
the Royal Standard, on which rested the Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre.
Drawn by eight magnificent black horses and flanked by the King's
Company of the Royal Grenadiers the bier was followed by King George on
foot with his two eldest sons and behind them were the Kings of Denmark
and Norway, the Duke of Connaught, various visiting royalties, or
representatives, and the household of the late King. A mounted escort
succeeded and then came a carriage containing the Queen-Mother, her
sister the Dowager Empress of Russia, the Princess Royal and Princess
Victoria, another with Queen Mary, and others with the Queen of Norway
and various members of the royal family. Last of all came a body of
mounted troops. All along the route, which was scarcely half a mile in
length, the attitude of the uncounted multitude was one of deep personal
grief. No word was spoken and after heads had been uncovered, the masses
of people were described as looking like an assembly of graven images.
At the noble Hall, famous in British history for more than 800 years,
the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Norfolk received the coffin
and preceded it to the catafalque. No attempt at funeral decoration
marred the noble simplicity of the grand interior. The spacious floor
was laid with dull grey felt. In the centre, on a slightly elevated dais
spread with a purple carpet stood the lofty purple draped catafalque. No
flowing draperies softened its outlines and it appeared like smoothly
chiselled blocks of purple granite.
Slowly and quietly a great company assembled and then the Westminster
Abbey choir of men and boys clad in white surplices and scarlet
cassocks, took its position. On the left, preceded by the mace-bearer
with his glittering mace, came the Speaker of the House of Commons in
his flowing robes of black and gold, followed by 400 members of the same
House led by the Prime Minister. All the members of the Cabinet were
there while Radical, Labour and Unionist members mingled behind the low
purple barrier. A little later the Lord Chancellor, wearing his
full-bottomed wig and black and gold gown and preceded by the
mace-bearer, led the Peers down the staircase in front of the choir to
an enclosure on the right side of the catafalque. On bars immediately
opposite each other rested the masses of the House of Commons and the
House of Lords. Behind each there was arranged a nearly equal number of
Commoners and Peers. Between them stood the catafalque. Presently, amid
a deep hush, great military and naval officers led the procession into
the hall. Proceeded by the Garter King-at-Arms, and Heralds they marched
slowly and ranged themselves in a glittering array over the steps below
the choir while the coffin was borne in by soldiers. Behind it was
carried by other soldiers the covering of the coffin on which rested the
crown, sceptre and orb. Very gently the heavy coffin was raised to the
catafalque and the glittering emblems of royalty replaced on its top.
Then, leaning on either side of the catafalque, and resting on the
ground, were placed two plain wreaths of cypress. Behind the coffin
followed the Queen Alexandra, King George and the Dowager Empress Marie
of Russia, each holding one of her arms. The purple carpeted dais was
occupied by the dead King's family and royal visitors. A short service
followed and the first part of the royal funeral was over while from the
heart and pen of the great poet of the Empire--Rudyard Kipling--came
verses addressed to and representing the people of which a few lines may
be quoted:
And God poured him an exquisite wine, that was daily renewed to him
In the clear welling love of his peoples, that daily accrued to him.
Honour and service we gave him, rejoicingly, fearless;
Faith absolute, trust beyond speech, and a friendship as peerless.
And since he was master and servant in all that we asked him
We leaned hard on his wisdom in all things, knowing not how we
tasked him.
For on him each new day laid command, every tyrannous hour
To confront, or confirm or make smooth some dread issue of power.
To deliver true judgment aright at the instant unaided
In the strict, level, ultimate phrase that allowed or dissuaded;
To foresee, to allay, to avert from us perils unnumbered;
To stand guard at our gates when he guessed that our watchman had
slumbered;
To win time, to turn hate, to woo folly to service, and mightily
schooling
His strength to the use of his nations; to rule as not ruling.
These were the works of our King; earth's peace is the proof of
them.
God gave him great works to fulfil and to use the behoof of them.
Following these events Westminster Hall for two days was thrown open to
the public and a continuous procession of half a million mourners passed
the coffin and looked for the last time upon the face of their
well-loved Sovereign. Into Windsor, meanwhile, there poured innumerable
evidences of the peoples' sympathy from the costliest tribute of wealth
and aristocracy to the thousands of simple green wreaths sent in by the
poorer classes. To Westminster Hall, on May 19th, the Emperor William of
Germany, soon after his arrival, proceeded with King George, stood for a
while in the private enclosure as the countless stream of people passed
slowly by, then descended to the floor of the Hall--the Kaiser carrying
a wreath of purple and white flowers--and together knelt within the
rails while the stream of passers-by was temporarily suspended. When the
two monarchs arose the Emperor William held out his hand which King
George clasped and held for some moments.
By May 20th the preparations were all in readiness for the final
functions and splendid ceremonial. The streets were draped from
Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, and thence to Paddington Station,
in great masses of purple and white and black; Venetian masts lined the
route on which hung masses of funeral wreaths from the people;
half-masted flags were everywhere. The town of Windsor was almost buried
from sight in the purple trappings of grief and royalty. On the day
itself solemn, silent multitudes of men and women, estimated at from
three to five millions, were massed along the route of the procession
with 35,000 soldiers lining the streets and a parade which even London
had never equalled for mingled splendour and solemnity. At 9:10 a. m.,
the deep-toned bell of Westminster announced the beginning of the royal
obsequies. King George, Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the royal family
and the visiting monarchs and representatives of the powers and the
Empire, left Buckingham Palace and proceeded with a small escort to
Westminster Hall amidst the tolling of bells and the firing of minute
guns. Only Queen Alexandra, the Princess Victoria, the King and the
Emperor William entered the Hall and saw the body removed from the
catafalque to the gun-carriage outside where it rested under conditions
similar to those of the earlier removal from Buckingham Palace. Outside,
the Queen Mother entered her coach and, as the body-guard of Kings
wheeled around and passed her carriage, three by three, each saluted her
with silent reverence.
The procession left Westminster at 9.30 headed by a long column of
troops and bluejackets and the greater officers of the Army and Navy.
Bands of the Household cavalry, the new Territorial troops, Colonial
soldiers, were first and then came various volunteer corps, the
Honourable Artillery Company, officers of the Indian regiments in their
picturesque uniforms and turbans, followed by detachments of infantry,
Foot Guards, Royal Engineers, Garrison, Field and Horse Artillery. Naval
representatives came next with the military attaches of the foreign
embassies, the officers of the Headquarters Staff of the Army and the
Field Marshals and massed bands playing solemn funeral marches. Then
followed the chief officers of State, followed by the Duke of Norfolk
and succeeded by a single soldier carrying the Royal Standard; the
gun-carriage carrying the mortal remains of the King came next and just
behind it walked a groom leading his favourite charger and another with