ROYAL BURIAL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20876, 31 August 1942, Page 2

ROYAL BURIAL

THE DUKE OF KENT IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY TRIBUTE BY SERVICES . (By Telecrnph—Prew As,./i. —Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) (9.30 a.m.) RUGBY. Aug. 30. the presence of the King and Queen, Queen Mary, the Duchess of: Kent, and other members of the Royal Family, the remains of the Duke of Kent were laid to rest in St. George’s Chapel. Windsor, yesterday morning. The funeral was of a private character. The coffin was carried in procession on the shoulders of eight Royal Air Force sergeant-pilots. At the funeral six air marshals acted as pall-bearers, while the King, in Royal Air Force uniform, walked immediately behind the coffin with the Duke of Gloucester on his right and Sir Lionel Halsey, representing the Duke of Windsor, on his left. Then came King Peter •of Yugoslavia, King Haakon of Norway, and King George of the Hellenes, together with Prince Bernhard-, the Crown Prince of Norway, and the Duke of Holland. Ladies of the Royal Family occupied seats in the ’choir. Queen Mary, with the Duchess of Kent, entered the choir just before t-he procession made its way into the chapel. ■ Detachments from the Royal Navy. Royal Air Force; and Royal West Kent Regiment and Royal Fusiliers, of which regiments the Duke of Kent was colonel-in-chief, lined the west end of the chapel and the central nave; ‘ The choir singing “Abide With-Me” led the processiom up the nave on to the choir where the coffin was placed on the bier. The Duchess of Kent knelt in prayer as eight Royal Air Force sergeants placed the coffin on the bier. The Service concluded ’with Sir Gerald Woolaston, Garter King of Arms, stepping in front of the vault and proclaiming the-styles and titles of the late Duke. Then the “Last Post” was sounded by trumpeters of the Royal Air Force. The coffin, wrapped in the Duke’s personal standard, with two wreaths resting on it. was lowered into the vault, and to the music of Ghonm’s ‘•Funeral March’’ the Royal Family passed by the open vault. The Duke'of Kent received severe head injuries and a broken leg in the flying-boat crash; Death is believed to have been instantaneous. His body was thrown clear of the flames. Dr. Robert Kennedy, the first searcher to identify the Duke, said the machine was . shattered into a thousand pieces. “I recognised the Duke and. in addition, saw his name on his identity disc. He lay perfectly composed. Death must have been instantaneous. Thm same applied to his companions," he said.