All have been through a rigorous training process. Recruits to the Guards have to undergo a thirty-week training programme at the Infantry Training Centre, two weeks more than the regular training in order to prepare for drills and ceremonies like these, even before the funeral rehearsals.
Various soldiers across Britain have had some part in carrying the coffin from Balmoral, including eight from the Royal Regiment of Scotland. But the task in Westminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel yesterday, which involved navigating around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Abbey, and carrying the coffin up three flights of stairs in the Chapel, before King and country, was the greatest by far.
The Bearer Party transfer the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard, into the State Hearse at Wellington Arch following the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey
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The most recent comparable duty was at the last state funeral, for Winston Churchill in 1965, which Lance Sergeant Lincoln Perkins described to the BBC. ‘Strangely enough, you are very focused on what is going on in front of you, and your eyes are not swivelling around seeing too much […] It was spoken about that we would change bearer parties because it was such a long way that we had actually carried him by then, but being true Grenadiers we said, “No, we want to carry on and finish the job.” Perkins suffered from a bad back for some time but said that it was one of his proudest experiences. ‘Oh yes, I’d do it again, but on the other side, straighten my spine,’ he said.
After all, yesterday’s duty was the highest ceremonial honour imaginable for a young soldier. The eight guardsmen have won calls for medals and widespread praise, including from Sir Stephen Fry. ‘Bearer Party, to the pub – quick march. Bearer Party, lift tankard. Bearer party, down beer. You’ve earned it.’
