An individual who enhances early colour photography has shared a video of the queue for the lying in state for King George VI in 1952, as well as footage of his funeral procession days later, prompting viewers to compare the period of mourning to the one currently underway for Queen Elizabeth II.
Stuart Humphryes, who goes by BabelColour on Twitter and Instagram, pieced together clips taken in February 1952, when Queen Elizabeth II’s father died, in an edit that he has shared on social media.
The video begins with a colourised clip showing a queue of mourners formally dressed in dark clothes waiting in line near Lambeth Pier to pay their respects to the late King, whose coffin was lying in state in Westminster Hall after his death on 6 February. The clip shows the line composed of thousands of people, and serves as a poignant comparison to the current queue to see the Queen after her death on 8 September.
According to Westminster Abbey’s website, more than 300,000 came to view the King’s coffin as he lay in state.
In addition to video footage showing mourners queuing to enter Westminster Hall, on the same route thousands are currently following today, the video created by Humphryes also shows footage captured of the late King’s funeral procession to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, for his funeral on 15 February 1952.
In these clips, mourners lined the streets to watch the procession, which saw the King’s coffin pass by on a carriage drawn by the King’s Troop of the Household Artillery, according to The Guardian.
“I have edited together for you some rare colour film footage of the queues and London crowds for the Lying In State and funeral procession of King George VI in February 1952. Events, just as today, separated by 70 years. (This is not colourised),” Humphryes captioned the video, which has since been viewed more than 478,000 times.
In the comments, many have compared the video footage of the public’s mourning for King George VI to the mourning for his daughter 70 years later.
“Really good to see this. Similarities come across strongly. Fascinating,” one person commented, while another said: “Beautifully poignant. 70 years and the only difference is the fashions.”
“Just so incredibly interesting to see, Stuart. Thank you. History repeating itself,” someone else acknowledged.
The queue to see Queen Elizabeth II lying in state at Westminster Hall is currently five miles long, with the line of mourners waiting as long as 14 hours to pay their respects to the late monarch.
The entrance to see the Queen’s coffin was closed briefly on Friday due to capacity concerns, however, it was reopened shortly after when a second queue began to form outside the park along Jamaica Road, causing attendants to eventually reopen the gate.
Westminster Hall will remain open so mourners can pay their respects to the ruler until 6.30am on the day of the Queen’s funeral, Monday 19 September, at which point the Queen’s coffin will be taken in a grand military procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the funeral.
Like her father, the Queen’s final resting place will be in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
