The Chelsea Pensioners traded their famous scarlet tunics for somber navy blue on Tuesday as the old soldiers bade farewell to their commander in chief, Queen Elizabeth II.
The veterans, some leaning on canes and others using mobility scooters, gathered under a steel gray sky in the quadrangle of the Royal Hospital Chelsea for a service of remembrance for a woman who led Britain and the nation’s armed forces for 70 years. The 150 or so men and women stood as straight as they were able as a bugler played “The Last Post,” a tradition of British military funerals.
