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Poignant moment King’s Guard rehearse for Queen’s funeral as they march towards Westminster in emotional scenes
THIS is the poignant moment the King's Guard rehearsed for the Queen's funeral before dawn broke today.
Union Jacks lined the Mall outside Buckingham Palace as funeral marches by Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Chopin rang out.
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Scots Guards and Royal Guards, dressed in their ceremonial attire, could be seen practicing in the inner courtyard shortly after 4.45am.
And the regiments marched down the Mall in what would be their only practice ahead of receiving the Queen's coffin this evening, which will remain in the Bow Room at Buckingham Palace overnight.
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Their early morning practice - for what is known as Operation Lion - saw a black coffin placed on the horse-drawn carriage of the King's Troop Royal House Artillery.
It was then marched from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where the Queen will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday.
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Taking part in the procession is "our last opportunity to do our duty for the Queen," the senior officer in charge said today.
And his officers put in some of their final preparations this morning before the real procession takes place at 2.22pm on Wednesday.
Major General Christopher Ghika, of the Household division who is responsible for organising the ceremonial aspects of the Queen's funeral, said: "For everybody on parade it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"It's a very sad day, but it's our last opportunity to do our duty for the Queen and it's our first opportunity to do it for the King, and that makes us all very proud."
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Those involved in the procession have been preparing since the news first broke of the Queen's death.
And they are not the only ones who have been preparing for the big day.
Sergeant Tom Jenks, from the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, said the horses have undergone special training for the funeral, including how to handle weeping mourners, as well as flowers and flags being thrown on to the procession.
Sgt Jenks, who will be leading the gun carriage that pulls the Queen's coffin, said: "The horses go through preparations and training, so they get taken away after we've been training for our normal daily routines.
"They get exposure to loud noises, crowds, flags, flowers, people sobbing, even to the point of banging lots of drums and making aggressive noises."
He added that the main issue for the horses is moving at a slower pace.
"They've struggled to slow them down, and it's quite a tall order to ask them to walk at a slow march pace."
Luckily for the procession, they have the experience of Cassius, an 18-year-old horse who participated in Margaret Thatcher's funeral, on hand.
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"So he's retiring after this parade, and he was not kept on especially but he was kept because we couldn't retire him until we had another horse of his establishment to be able to replace him," Sgt Jenks said.
"It's quite fitting that he gets to retire doing this job."
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