Too heartbroken for any words..
Shock at sudden death of Queen’s trooper
THE dad of the teenage soldier found dead after serving at the Queen’s funeral said his family are “too heartbroken for words”.
Relatives of Jack Burnell-Williams, 18, were last night being comforted over the tragedy, which happened less than a fortnight after he walked behind Her Majesty’s coffin.
Jack’s father Daniel, a 41-year-old heating engineer, told the Sunday Mirror: “We are too heartbroken for words, but I want to thank everyone for their support and sympathy.”
Yesterday Daniel, with Jack’s mum Laura, sister Elisha, girlfriend Molly Holmes and friends dressed in blue released balloons in his memory at a football club close to the family home in Bridgend, South Wales. The colour was chosen as a mark of respect to Jack’s service in the Blues and Royals regiment.
One of his friends, who was among the mourners, said: “Everyone in Bridgend is devastated by his death. He was a lovely lad. He’d do anything for anyone.”
Jack died at Hyde Park Barracks in London on Wednesday evening, not long after he accompanied the Queen on her final journey to Westminster Abbey on September 19.
Household Cavalry member Jack was seen in full uniform in the official Army film of the Queen’s funeral while leading a black horse to a soundtrack of the Queen’s first-ever televised Christmas speech in 1957.
His death is still under police investigation, but it is understood there are no suspicious circumstances.