Lining the way for Her Majesty: My role in The Queen’s funeral
Lance Sergeant Wordsworth from 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards talks about the preparation that has gone into Her Majesty The Queen’s funeral
Preparations are continuing to take place for Her Majesty The Queen’s funeral, which will take place on Monday 19 September. Members of the Armed Forces have been taking part in early morning rehearsals, ensuring every single detail is perfectly planned to give Her Majesty the send off she deserves.
A devoted champion across the services, Her Majesty always maintained a close relationship with the Armed Forces, previously serving as part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in 1945.
Lance Sergeant Wordsworth is one of the many troops from the Armed Forces from both the UK and across the Commonwealth who will be participating in the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen.
We spoke to Lance Sergeant Wordsworth following an early morning rehearsal in Windsor:
Can you tell us about your role in the funeral?
“For the funeral of Her Majesty, I am involved in doing the street lining. We’re also lining the route to St George’s Chapel for when The Queen comes down.
“On Wednesday 14 September, I was part of the Guard of Honour at Buckingham Palace when the coffin was received, and then when Her Majesty left to be taken in the procession to Westminster Hall.”
Have you done anything like this before?
“I was part of the The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip’s funeral. I was at the top of Windsor Castle when he came there. I’ve been involved in both Royal Family funerals now.”
Can you tell us about your day-to-day role?
“I have served in the Army for nine years now and usually when I’m not doing ceremonial events, I’m a section commander in the anti-tank platoon.
“It’s completely different to what we’re doing now. Last week we were up in Scotland, then we got the call to come down here. We got a 24 hour turnaround from being out in the field, to doing ceremonial preparation.”
How do you feel about doing something like this, any nerves? Any excitement?
“No nerves. Once you’ve done a lot of this stuff, and by the time you’ve done Trooping the Colour and other things, I think you kind of get used to it.
“This is one of the biggest occasions, as sad as it may be, you’re not going to define anything more in your Army career than starting as a Queen’s guard and probably finishing as a King’s guard.”
— Lance Sergeant Wordsworth
How much preparation has been put in for today?
“Obviously this has been planned for, and you can see how many people are with us, how it is trying to get them working in unison, but as a battalion, this is our bread and butter. It hasn’t been too hard to get around it.”
How does your family feel about this, are they proud?
“My wife has kind of got used to it now, and everyone asked her about what I do. Obviously my mum and my brother, they absolutely love it. To them, it’s part of the norm now since I’ve been doing it so long, it’s what I do.”
To read more about the UK Armed Forces’ involvement in commemorating the life of The Queen, head to:
