Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 1926 - 2022 On 8 September 2022 at 15:10, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and the longest reigning British monarch, died at Balmoral Castle at the age of 96. The Queen’s death was announced publicly at 18:30. Her funeral took place on Monday 19 September. The Dulwich community was immensely proud to be involved in both the preparations for the funeral and on the day itself.
PAGE 47 PAGE 43
The Vigil
After university, Hamza Huda (97-07) had a short stint in the City before attending the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons, also known as the Blues and Royals; a regiment of the Household Cavalry which makes up part of the Household Division and the only regiment to be known by its nickname. Hamza was lucky enough to spend a year at ceremonial duty in 2014, but since then his career has been predominantly operational, having been deployed on three separate combat operations across the Balkans and the Middle East.
Fortunately, as a serving officer within the Household Cavalry, who had also been trained ceremonially, we have always kept our ‘kit’ ready, ensuring that it is correctly fitted and prepared can take weeks given the nuances of wearing breastplates and leather with gold thread accoutrements. During the vigil itself what were you aware of? Over the course of a six-hour period, you would be expected to be on the catafalque for at least three, twenty-minute stints. Although this sounds relatively short, in reality, with the uniform and having to remain still throughout; it was a little daunting. Not only have you got the world’s press zoomed in on you, but you’re also representing and taking part in a significant piece of history. It was a real honour to be there and it also made you realise how respected HM Queen Elizabeth II was; if you needed any confirmation. It was also important to be present mentally during the vigil so that you could truly engross in the atmosphere; it was one of the biggest honour of my career. During my vigil, the US President, Joe Biden, the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen all paid their respects. During your first time guarding the coffin on the catafalque, you’re mainly concentrating on your drill, any commotion within the crowds and focussing upon your job; it felt like an extremely long twenty minutes! However, in the next iterations of your duties, you were able to absorb the atmosphere and really feel the emotion within the room. What was noticeable was the lack of any sound apart from footsteps, no mobiles, no artificial sounds; just pure emotion, runny noses, sniffling and people quietly shedding a tear. Not too dissimilar to an exam hall. It was also remarkable how orderly the queue was and how respectful the public was for the whole occasion.
What was your role in the vigil? What went on behind the scenes that the public did not see? Behind the scenes, a mock catafalque was constructed at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment’s barracks in Knightsbridge and this is where many of the units and organisations taking part in the vigil came to rehearse. We had two, three-hour sessions prior to our vigil on the afternoon of day nine. Due to the lack of experience, the only recent lying-in-state being the Queen Mother some twenty years previous, much of the corporate knowledge of the drill had been lost. However, the Household Division standing orders and the palace directions, some 600 pages, provided ample direction. Under the watchful eye of the drill instructors from across the Household Division, the officers of the vigil were drilled and we rehearsed passionately during our allocated periods. The drill for the whole vigil has no verbal commands and follows four double taps of a sword from the vigil commander, who stood at the top of the western stairs. The timings had to be rehearsed and committed to memory, the drill itself was very different to other drills, and we also had to synchronise with the Royal Company of Archers and the Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters). The uniform was spectacular and not something I suspect that you wear very often? The uniform worn by the Household Cavalry officers is known as Mounted Review Order, this is one of our smartest uniforms and is only worn in the presence of the Royal family, hence the gold belts rather than white belts which are more common. Officers who have served at the Mounted regiment have their uniform preserved at the Regiment for Op Bridge, so technically, depending on your diet and exercise schedule, you shouldn’t need to have too much tailoring; especially as the uniforms are all bespoke to the individual.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online