Racing pays its respects to the Queen with state funeral held yesterday
Racing joined the rest of Britain and much of the Commonwealth yesterday when it came to a halt for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
Racing was an abiding passion for the Queen and the sport’s governing body in Britain moved quickly to ensure its participants would be able to spend the day following events in London and Windsor.
At 10.44am the Queen’s coffin was borne by gun carriage on the short journey from Westminster Hall in London, where it had been lying in state since last Wednesday, to Westminster Abbey, where the state funeral began at 11am.
Around 2,000 mourners attended the funeral, led by King Charles III and members of the royal family, and will number foreign heads of state as well as political and spiritual representatives from the devolved nations.
The Queen’s racing manager John Warren joined the congregation, while a number of other figures from the world of racing were also in attendance.
Chris Waller initially featured among the special guests invited as part of the Australian delegation by the country’s prime minister Anthony Albanese, but the New Zealand-born trainer had to withdraw after a close contact tested positive for Covid-19.
Australian training great Gai Waterhouse was in attendance, having received an invitation on behalf of the royal household from the Lord Chamberlain, Baron Parker of Minsmere.
As the service drew to a close, a bugler sounding the last post marked the start of a two-minute silence, followed in the abbey by the national anthem.
The Queen’s coffin was then taken to the Wellington Arch, her gun carriage pulled by a team of 98 Royal Navy sailors. From there it travelled by royal hearse to Windsor, where at 3.10pm it joined a procession for the final journey up the Long Walk to the castle and then to the steps of St George’s Chapel.
At 4pm the committal service began in the chapel, the last major televised part of the day’s proceedings.