Selected by Kate O’Brien, Archives Services Manager

What

The order for the formal procession at the state funeral of King Edward VII, 20 May 1910.  There were two processions: from Westminster Hall, where the King had been lying in state, to Paddington station, then from Windsor station to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.  In both, the coffin was carried on a gun carriage, followed by King George V, who rode between his uncle the Duke of Connaught and his cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II, followed in turn by 7 kings, 27 princes, and 12 royal dukes from all over Europe and beyond.

Why

With the benefit of hindsight it’s fascinating that all these royals (many of them related) were riding shoulder to shoulder in procession in 1910.  The placing of Prince Fushimi of Japan next to Grand Duke Michael of Russia looks as though it could have been diplomatically provocative: their countries had been at war five years earlier. And I wonder if the King of the Belgians ever looked back in later years to the occasion when he was sandwiched between the Hereditary Prince of the Ottoman Empire and Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

Ref: A E Bethell 11

www.kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma/collection/b/be60-001