Four Kings Attend Funeral Service For Duke of Kent

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1942, Page 4

Four Kings Attend Funeral Service For Duke of Kent

British Official Wireless.

Kec. 8.30 p.m. » Rugby, Aug. 29. In 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, this 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 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, of the Netherlands and the Crown Prince of Norway. Ladies of the Royal family occupied seats in the choir. Queen Mary, with the Duchess of Kent, entered the choir just before the procession made its way into the chapel. Detachments from'the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Royal West Kent Regiment and the 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 procession 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 persona] standard with two wreaths resting on it, was lowered into the vault and, to the music of Chopin's Funeral March, the Royal family passed by the open vault, The Duke's body, in an oak coffin draped with a flag of Air Force blue, on which there was a single wreath of multi-coloured flowers, was brought to London by train on Friday from the north of Scotland. Aircraftmen guarded the coffin throughout the night at Dunrobin Castle, the Duke of Sutherlands i •Highland seat. Two special coaches car- I ried the bodies of the other victims I from farther north. The Duke's coffin I was placed beside them at Dunrobin | station, where 30 members of the Air Force lined the platform and presented arms in a guard of honour. Country folk from the Highlands stood silent and bareheaded, paying their last respects.