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:

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 his favourite dog "Caesar"; King George followed, riding between the German Emperor and the Duke of Connaught, all clad in brilliant uniforms with a long and unique line of nine Monarchs, Princes of great States and special Ambassadors and Imperial representatives. They rode in the following order:

The Duke of Connaught, King George and the Emperor William.

King Haakon of Norway, King George of Greece, and King Alfonso of Spain.

King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Frederick of Denmark and King Manuel of Portugal.

Prince Yussof Zvyeden, the Heir Apparent of Turkey, King Albert of Belgium and Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austro-Hungary.

Prince Sadanaru Fushimi of Japan, Grand Duke Michael of Russia, the Duke of Aosta, representing Italy, the Duke of Sparta, Crown Prince of Greece, and the Crown Prince Ferdinand of Roumania.

Prince Henry of Prussia representing the German Navy, Prince Charles of Sweden, Prince Henry of Holland, the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, the Crown Prince of Montenegro and Crown Prince Alexander of Servia.

Prince Mohammed Ali, Said Pasha Zulfikar, Watsen Pasha of Egypt and the Sultan of Zanzibar. Then followed the Princely and Ducal representatives of a dozen German States, the members of the British Royal family, the Duc D'Alencon, and Prince Bovaradej of Siam.

The mounted group was followed by twelve State carriages. The first was occupied by the Queen-Mother, Alexandra, and her sister the Russian Dowager Empress Marie, the Princess Royal and the Princess Victoria; the second carriage contained Queen Mary of Great Britain, Queen Maud of Norway, the Duke of Cornwall, heir to the British Throne, and the Princess Mary; the next four carriages carried Royal ladies and ladies-in-waiting; the seventh carriage contained Prince Tsai-Tao of China and his suite; the eighth carriage was shared by Special American Ambassador Theodore Roosevelt, M. Pichon, French Foreign Minister, and the representative of Persia; the ninth carriage was occupied by Lord Strathcona, High Commissioner for Canada, Sir George Reid, High Commissioner for Australia and William Hall-Jones, High Commissioner for New Zealand.

The train to Windsor contained a funeral car upholstered in purple and white silk with a catafalque on which the casket was placed and around it were grouped the near members of the Royal Family and eight Sovereigns of Foreign States. From Windsor station to the Castle the procession formed in the previous order except that the Royal mourners walked while sailors drew the gun-carriage to the famous home of Britain's monarchs and to the entrance of the historic St. George's Chapel. Here, where King Edward was christened and married and shared in so many stately functions, the final religious ceremonies were performed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. While the coffin rested on a purple catafalque before the altar, which was almost buried in floral emblems, and minute guns boomed and bells tolled, the briefest service of the Church of England—at Queen Alexandra's request—was proceeded with and the body slowly, reverently, lowered into the vault. A prayer was then uttered for the new King and the Benediction pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

What can be said of the day elsewhere? A full record would fill many volumes. In Canada, in Australia, in South Africa, in New Zealand, in Newfoundland, in all British countries and territories, there was a great similarity of solemn and popular demonstration. Everywhere factories and financial institutions and commercial establishments closed their doors. Wherever that was impossible in Canadian factories work was stopped at a certain stage in the funeral ceremonies and every man stood in silence, with bared head for the time arranged; on all the great railways of Canada at the moment when the King's body was lowered into his grave, and for three minutes, everything stopped, every kind of work ceased, every one of at least 40,000 men stood in reverent silence. Military parades took place with muffled drums and passage through long lanes of silent people, in Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Chatham, London, St. Catharines, Kingston, Woodstock, Ottawa, St. Thomas, Winnipeg and Victoria, and other places. Memorial services were everywhere held; in Ottawa, Vice-Royalty and the Ministers took part in a great open-air ceremony in front of the Parliament Buildings, with troops and massed bands and superb drapings, to still further emphasize the solemnity of the occasion. Toronto had 100,000 people attend a similar service under the auspices of the Government in front of its Parliament Buildings and so with other centres. It may be added here that besides Lord Strathcona, Canada had as representatives at the funeral ceremonies Hon. A. B. Aylesworth, Minister of Justice; Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Hon. C. Marcil, Speaker of the House of Commons; Hon. S. A. Fisher, Minister of Agriculture; Sir D. M. McMillan, Lieut.-Governor of Manitoba; Mayors Geary of Toronto, Sanford Evans of Winnipeg, and Guerin of Montreal.

In other parts of the Empire similar scenes occurred. Throughout South Africa the most solemn memorial services were held and attended by vast congregations. There were scenes of heartfelt sorrow and hundreds of magnificent wreaths were deposited on the statue of the King at Cape Town. Funeral services were held throughout India, the Hindus joining in the services in a remarkable manner. All military trains were halted for fifteen minutes. In Australia the Governor-General and all the Ministers assembled on the great tier of steps at the Parliament Buildings, Melbourne, in the presence of perhaps the most solemn assembly ever gathered together in that country. For a long space there was a reverent silence and the crowd then sang the National Anthem. The day was observed as a day of mourning in Sydney, bells were tolled from noon to sunset, and salutes of sixty-eight minute guns fired in the afternoon. A hundred thousand persons attended the memorial service in Centennial Park at Wellington, New Zealand. Services were general throughout that Dominion while every outpost of the Empire flew the Union Jack at half-mast and paid a tribute to the dead Sovereign's memory.

Thus there passed away and was buried a great King, a man of whole-souled, genial and honourable type, a character rich in graces granted to few in this world, a ruler who combined intellect with heart and knowledge with discrimination, a Briton who could love and believe in the greatness of his own country and Empire without antagonizing the legitimate pride and aspirations of other nations, a diplomatist made by nature's own hand to soothe international acerbities and embody the ideal of peace in an age of preparation for war.