Piper’s wake-up calls for Queen turn to final lament
Murray Mansfield has woken the Queen up and now, in a manner of speaking, he is laying her to rest.
Mansfield will be the piper at the state memorial service today for Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8 aged 96.
Mansfield, QSM, has won every bagpiping award New Zealand has and has competed around the world, including twice coming in the top 10 in the World Pipe Band Championships in Scotland.
And it was a mastery of the pipes that saw him enlisted on the Queen’s last visit to New Zealand to stand in for the Piper to the Sovereign, a British position to play the bagpipes on request of the sovereign. This meant playing outside the Queen’s window most mornings at 9am.
So it was, in 2002, that Mansfield found himself on the lawns of Government House in Auckland playing bagpipes on a February morning. Then he looked to an upstairs window and there she was looking down at him.
‘‘She came out with her little camera and took a photo of me,’’ Mansfield said.
Fortunately for Mansfield, the piper for the Air Force Band and based in hakea, a Defence Force photographer was there and took a photo, just showing the Queen looking out.
Mansfield has also met Prince Charles – now King Charles III – including at Gallipoli Anzac ceremonies.
So when Mansfield plays a lament at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul this afternoon, he will be blowing some of his own experiences through the pipes.
‘‘It is just a special thing to be part of,’’ he said. ‘‘It is a unique part of history.’’
The service starts at 2pm. The programme for the event is strictly under wraps until later on this morning. There will be a public screening of the service on Parliament grounds from 2pm today.