Andrew Marr: Queen's procession would be recognisable to Victorians - Imperial pageantry of grief
14 September 2022, 18:08 | Updated: 14 September 2022, 18:13
The Queen's procession on Wednesday would be recognisable to the Victorians - a piece of "meticulous Imperial pageantry of grief", Andrew Marr has declared.
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LBC's presenter noted how the centuries-old regiments of the British Army escorted the coffin and royals in military dress followed behind.
Speaking at the start of Tonight with Andrew Marr, he said: "There are so many things, it seems about this country that no longer quite work as they used to. But this still works. The meticulous Imperial pageantry of grief.
"The heart of ceremonial London saw scenes this afternoon which would have seemed familiar to a Victorian or Londoners a century ago.
"The coffin, covered by the Royal Standard and the Imperial State Crown, carried on a gun carriage just as Victoria's was, just as was the Queen’s father was, and Churchill, her first prime minister.
Andrew Marr's monologue after Royal procession
"Marching slowly past thickly packed silent and weeping crowds, as they carried the late Queen from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, this was a profoundly, proudly old-fashioned display - in front, the Life Guards, the senior regiment of the British Army, known to some of their rivals as the Piccadilly butchers, or the tinned fruit.
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"Then, flanking the the gun carriage and coffin, the Grenadier Guards in their bearskins and scarlet tunics. The headdresses come from the skins of Canadian black and brown bears - each one requires a full skin to make.
"The scarlet tunics go all the way back to Oliver Cromwell's parliamentary new Model Army. Why red? Back then it was the cheapest colour for a cash-strapped army.
Andrew Marr reacts to the Queen's coffin procession
"Behind the Grenadier Guards marched members of the royal family – the king wearing a field marshal's uniform and many others in military garb, though not Prince Andrew, not Prince Harry. Then Westminster Hall, and prayers and heartbreaking music.
"Will we ever see anything remotely like this ever again? I don't know. It was reminiscent of Lady Diana's funeral procession - but bigger, even grander, certainly more solemn.
"The message of today's elaborate and perfectly performed ceremony was simple. This goes on. The monarchy has been around forever: on a late summer day, it exhales self confidence. it dares you to imagine it gone.
"Across the country, of course, other Britons imagine exactly that. A conversation for another day.
"But today, September the 14th, was a day to remind us that modern Britain, for all the smartphones bobbing above the crowds, for the social media and the robust cynicism, remains a country hypnotised by its own history.
"We are living, yes, in 2022, but also, somehow, centuries ago."
