Remembering a lost King
Staff from Sandringham House follow the coffin of King George VI as it makes its way to Wolferton Station for the journey to London
SIXTY years ago tomorrow (Saturday) the body of the late King George VI was taken by train from his beloved Sandringham estate to London to lie in state at Westminster Hall.
The King had died peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of February 6, 1952, at Sandringham House, aged 56.
He remained there until the arrival of the new Queen, who had been in Kenya with the Duke of Edinburgh, on February 8 so that she could pay her respects to her father privately.
The coffin, made by estate carpenters and draped in the Royal Standard, was then moved to St Mary Magdalene Church, where estate workers kept a 24-hour vigil, four at a time.
On February 11, at about 11am, the coffin was placed on a gun-carriage from the Royal Horse Artillery, drawn by six bays and accompanied by the bearer party from the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, for the slow march to Wolferton Station two miles away.
A cortege of royal household staff and workers, led by the gamekeepers, followed behind and among their numbers was Maurice Bix, a young electrician at Sandringham House.
Now 80 and living at Dersingham, he recalled the solemnity of the occasion and the deep sense of loss among the staff and crowds lining the route.
He said: “My middle son John, a musician in the Royal Artillery Band for 22 years, followed the same gun-carriage when the Queen Mother died.”
The nine carriages, with the hearse-coach painted black with a white roof, were hauled from Wolferton to Lynn by locomotive No. 61617 Ford Castle.
Locomotive No. 70000 Britannia then took the funeral train to King’s Cross in London, passing through crowds of mourners beside the line along the way.
Bob Hammond, from Lynn’s Reffley Estate, was a young locomotive fireman at the Lynn depot, but still serving in the RAF on national service.
He recalled: “Being on leave at the time, I stood with other railway mates beside Lynn engine shed when the train departed.
“My photo shows large crowds of local people paying their last respects to the late King as it passes Lynn junction signal box.”
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Weather for King's Lynn
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
