Snapshot of three Queens in grief
TRIBUTES to the Queen included the remarkable photograph Three Queens In Mourning depicting the Queen, Queen Mary and the Queen Mother in sombre, veiled attire. It was not taken at King’s Cross railway station, where the King’s coffin arrived into London on February 11, 1952, four days before his state funeral, but later that day in the yard of the Palace of Westminster where the three Queens were awaiting the coffin for the lying in state.
Due to poor health, Queen Mary was not present at King’s Cross nor did she attend the funeral, except for watching the procession from her Marlborough House window.
It’s said that photographer Ron Case sent the image plates to Fleet Street expecting little to come of them. After his bus journey back to the office, he was called into a meeting by his boss. Fearing he would be fired, he was instead told his picture was a triumph. The following day, the photograph appeared on the front page of every national newspaper.
DAVID M. OUTTERSIDE,
Yarm, N. Yorks. THOUSANDS are expected to queue for hours to show their respects when the Queen’s coffin lies in state for four days at Westminster Hall. Before Winston Churchill’s funeral in 1965, I drove from Lancashire, stood in line for hours and got into the hall at 3am.
A. M. GRIFFITHS, Wymondham, Norfolk.
FEBRUARY 1952 at RAF Cranwell we were square-bashing in the freezing cold when the station warrant officer called us to halt. He said: ‘The King is dead, carry on.’
JOHN THOMPSON, Roberttown, W. Yorks. WHEN I die, I don’t expect to have crowds of people laughing and joking and taking selfies outside my house. So why do some people think this is appropriate behaviour following the passing of the Queen? This period of mourning is for the Royal Family. It is not all about you.
IAN RILEY, Normanton, W. Yorks. MY HUSBAND and I, aged 93 and 92 respectively, have lived during the reign of five monarchs. Though we were small children, we remember the death of George V in 1935 and the short reign of his eldest son Edward VIII. After the abdication, his younger brother unexpectedly had to take over and become George VI.
In January 1952, as a 21-year-old wanting to spread my wings, I went to South Africa for two years. George VI died a month later and his daughter Elizabeth became Queen.
I can hardly believe that 70 years later, having celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, we have witnessed the proclamation of her son, Charles III. Long may he reign. I doubt we shall make our sixth monarch!
ANGELA HUMPHERY, London NW3.