History in the making: a story behind Queen Elizabeth's State Funeral

There have only been 12 State Funerals for British monarchs since 1695, including the State Funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on 19 September 2022. Queen Elizabeth herself attended two State Funerals, for her grandfather George V and her father George VI. This photograph is the exact vantage point where the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret witnessed the funeral procession of their grandfather King George V, as it travelled up Piccadilly towards Hyde Park Corner on the occasion of his State Funeral on 28 January 1936. It is the view from 145 Piccadilly, the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth II.

Not an inkling did the 9-year-old Elizabeth have that there would be a State Funeral in her honour, even grander in scale, 86 years later and that billions around the world would be viewing her own funeral procession, with the same state gun carriage bearing her own coffin. Her own grandchildren, Prince George, a future King, and Princess Charlotte, would be walking behind her coffin.

Elizabeth watched the spectacle from a window, while Margaret could be seen on the balcony as the procession passed by. It was most probably the first funeral the Princesses participated in. They then travelled by car to Windsor with Queen Mary and their mother, the Duchess of York, where the King was laid to rest. Our photo was published on 5 February 1936, in The Sketch, a sister title to the original SPHERE magazine.

The rest, as they say, is history.