The Queen’s state funeral service was steeped in tradition, complete with a military procession and age-old hymns. However, there were also some incredibly personal touches within the ceremony and pageantry.
They served as a gentle reminder that this event was also a loving homage to a mother, grandmother, churchgoer, and dog lover. It was also a nation’s farewell to a monarch.
Corgis
Two of the Queen’s beloved corgis Muick and Sandy awaited the procession carrying her coffin to St George’s Chapel inside Windsor Castle.
One on a red lead and one on a blue, they were escorted by two pages in red tailcoats as the coffin of their beloved former owner came past.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York, will take on the two young dogs that the prince and his daughters gave the Queen as a present in 2021.
Her Majesty owned more than 30 corgis during her lifetime. So strong was the association that almost immediately after her death, well-wishers began asking who would adopt the dogs.
Emma, the Queen’s fell pony, also greeted the procession, standing in a gap in the floral tributes on The Long Walk – an avenue leading to Windsor Castle.
Jewellery
The Princess of Wales wore a four-row Japanese pearl choker necklace with a curved diamond clasp, which once belonged to the Queen.
The Queen, who commissioned the design using cultured pearls from the Japanese government, wore it regularly in the 1980s and 1990s.
It had previously been loaned to Diana, the former Princess of Wales, in 1982. Catherine wore it for the first time in 2017 to celebrate the Queen and Prince Phillip’s 70th wedding anniversary and later for his funeral in 2021.
The princess also wore a pair of diamond and pearl earrings known as the Bahrain Pearl Earrings, which she had been given by the Queen.
The earrings feature a large Bahrain pearl hanging from one large round diamond stud, from which four smaller round diamonds and three baguette diamonds are also suspended. They were given to the Queen as a wedding present by the Hakim of Bahrain in 1947.
The Duchess of Sussex also paid tribute to Her Majesty through her choice of jewellery for the funeral, by wearing a pair of pearl stud earrings, which the Queen had given her as a gift for her wedding to Prince Harry.
IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIAA lone piper
The service at Westminster Abbey closed to the haunting sound of bagpipes, played by the Queen’s personal piper.
For 70 years, largely without exception, the Piper to the Sovereign would play each morning for 15 minutes beneath the Queen’s window, wherever she was resident.
The inclusion of Pipe Major Paul Burns – who had served since 2021 – was a personal request of the Queen, Buckingham Palace said.
He played the traditional lament “sleep, dearie, sleep” – the sound of which appeared to fade as he turned and walked down the internal steps of Westminster Abbey.
He is the 17th Piper to the Sovereign – the role was created by Queen Victoria in 1843 after she grew fond of the sound of bagpipes on a visit to the Highlands with Prince Albert.
Flowers
At King Charles III’s request, the wreath for Her Majesty’s funeral contained flowers and foliage cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House in London – and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire.
It included foliage chosen for its symbolism: Rosemary for remembrance – rosemary has long been associated with remembrance, Myrtle, the ancient symbol of a happy marriage, cut from a plant that was grown from a sprig of myrtle in The Queen’s wedding bouquet in 1947, English oak, a national symbol of strength, in a nod to the Queen’s constancy and steadfast duty. It also symbolizes the strength of love.
In among the flowers was a handwritten card that read: “In loving and devoted memory, Charles R.”
A favorite hymn
The Lord’s My Shepherd was one of the hymns sung by the 2,000 mourners at Westminster Abbey. It was said to have been a personal favorite of the Queen and was also sung at her wedding to the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 at Westminster Abbey.
The young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret had summoned the Master of Choristers to Buckingham Palace in the lead-up to the wedding and sang for him the particular version she wanted to be used.
The hymn’s roots have been traced back to a parish in Aberdeenshire, not far from Balmoral Castle, where the Queen passed away.
The hymn ends: “Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me, and in God’s house forevermore my dwelling place shall be.”