The Pipes He Loved
Windsor Castle, the engine which drew the train containing King George's body and the Royal Family to Windsor, was an engine which the King had actually driven.
This was in 1924 when he visited the G.W.R. works at Swindon. The King drove the train for about a mile and brought it to a standstill in Swindon station, the Queen riding on the footplate.
The engine belongs to the G.W.R., but the rest of the funeral train to the L.N.E.R.
The Highland Lament The music played by the pipers of the Scots Guards, the Black Watch and the Cameron Highlanders during the funeral procession recalled King George's love for the pipes.
Lord Lovat's Lament, The Skye Boat Song and Allan Water, which were played, were all favourite tunes of his and he was particularly fond of The Flowers of the Forest which was played both in London and at Windsor.
King George's piper, Pipe-Major Forsyth, was constantly in attendance during the King's last years, and paid a tribute at Sandringham with his lament under the dead monarch's window, shortly before the body was brought to London.
In his fondness for the pipes King George recalled Queen Victoria, whose arrivals and departures at Balmoral were always accompanied by a skirl, even were she only setting out for a drive.
Tree Climbers in Hyde Park In Hyde Park the tree climbers helped to while away the hours for the crowds who had taken up their position long before the funeral procession was due to start.
One tree was burdened with 30 onlookers, and the branch of another ?fear Marble Arch broke under the weight of a climber. He fell on to the heads of the crowd below, and there were minor casualties.
Some people brought ladders, ropes, and folding tables, and one man surveyed the scene from a pair of stilts.