Seventy years on from the death of King George VI, a 95-year-old former Grenadier Guard has recalled his key role in the monarch’s funeral.
John Walmsley, a Sergeant in the King’s Company stationed at Victoria Barracks, Windsor, at the time, accompanied the King’s coffin.
Aged just 25 at the time, John was in charge of an escort detachment when word came through of the King’s death in Sandringham, on 6 February 1952.
He formed part of the guard which went with the coffin from a train station at Windsor, to the castle, and into St George’s Chapel.
Now a resident at the Royal Star & Garter care home for veterans in High Wycombe, Bucks, John remembered: “We escorted the coffin, walking on either side of the gun carriage, all the way from the station into Windsor Castle itself and towards St George’s Chapel, ready for its burial. I had 15 men on one side, 15 on the other and that was my little detachment.”
“The steps to St George’s Chapel are very steep, and the coffin was lead lined, so the lads who were carrying it had to practice in advance with weights inside it, to make sure they were prepared,” added John.
“The coffin was walked up the chapel steps by the four men on either side.
These men were strong and strapping, but the coffin was very heavy, and as they walked up the steep steps, it sloped a lot, and the boys were struggling with it. So the Warrant Officer behind it had to push the back of the coffin, by just easing it forward, up with the boys.
“We also had to adjust our march to the shuffle of the men who were carrying it. When the coffin went into the Chapel that was the end of the responsibility for us.”
John joined the Grenadier Guards in 1944, and served until 1967, rising to the rank of Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant. He served in post-war Germany, Palestine and Malaya.
He also took part in the Queen’s Coronation ceremony, on 2 June 1953.
The Royal Star and Garter charity provides care to veterans and their partners living with disability or dementia at its three homes in Solihull, Surbiton and High Wycombe.
