Sole rehearsal for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral was ‘comedy of errors’

‘It was a minor miracle there were no major glitches on the funeral day itself,’ Robert Hardman writes in his biography of King Charles. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

The only rehearsal for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral had a band at the wrong start point, a Gentleman at Arms nearly crushed at Marble Arch and “everything that could go wrong … go wrong”, a new biography on King Charles has said.

The journalist Robert Hardman wrote about the chaos behind the preparations for the state procession in his book, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story. “It was a comedy of errors,” said Garrison Sergeant Major “Vern” Stokes, who was responsible for the military and ceremonial aspects of the funeral.