| Death and state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill | |
| Date: | 30 January 1965 |
| Location: | St Paul's Cathedral, London |
| Cause: | Stroke |
| Burial: | St Martin's Churchyard, Bladon |
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Sir Winston Churchill, the British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, died on 24 January 1965, aged 90.[1] [2] His was the first state funeral in the United Kingdom for a non-member of the royal family since Edward Carson's in 1935.[3] [4] It was the last state funeral until Queen Elizabeth II's on 19 September 2022. The official funeral lasted for four days. Planning for the funeral, known as Operation Hope Not, began after Churchill's stroke in 1953 while in his second term as prime minister. After several revisions due to Churchill's continued survival (mainly because "the pallbearers kept dying", explained Lord Mountbatten), the plan was issued on 26 January 1965, two days after his death.[5]
By decree of Queen Elizabeth II, his body lay in state at Westminster Hall for three days from 26 January. On 30 January, the order of funeral was held at St Paul's Cathedral. From there the body was transported by water along the River Thames to Waterloo station, accompanied by military salutations. In the afternoon he was buried at St Martin's Church, Bladon, the resting place of his ancestors and his brother. Attended by representatives from 120 countries, 6,000 people, and (unusually) by Queen Elizabeth II, the funeral involved more than 1,000 police and security personnel, nine military bands, 18 military battalions, 16 English Electric Lightning fighter jets of the Royal Air Force, a special boat MV Havengore, and a funeral train hauled by Winston Churchill, homage paid by 321,360 people, and witnessed by over 350 million people. It was the largest state funeral in British history, and was noted "as demonstrating the British genius for public spectacle".[6] [7]
See main article: Operation Hope Not. Voted as the greatest Briton in a BBC poll in 2002, Sir Winston Churchill is remembered for leading his country (with the Allies) to victory as prime minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. In June 1953, during his second term as prime minister, he had a severe stroke at a dinner party at Downing Street. Unknown to his guests, he collapsed and was left partially paralysed. The family kept the incident secret.[8] Among the few who were informed of the news was Queen Elizabeth II, who had occupied the throne for just a year. She instructed the Duke of Norfolk, who, as Earl Marshal, was in charge of state funerals, to make preparations in the event of Churchill's death that should be "on a scale befitting his position in history".[9] A meticulous and confidential plan titled Operation Hope Not was prepared.[10] Churchill survived the next 12 years, during which necessary modifications were frequently made. During that period, in 1958, Churchill nearly died from a sudden attack of pneumonia.
The final documents, titled State Funeral of the Late Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, K.G., O.M., C.H., were issued on 26 January 1965, two days after Churchill's death. The documents dictated the entire course of the funeral down to the minutest detail.[11]
Churchill died on the morning of Sunday 24 January 1965 in his home at 28 Hyde Park Gate, London, exactly 70 years after the death of his father. Since 1949, he had suffered eight strokes. The last was on 15 January 1965, from which he never recovered. After the stroke, he was mostly in a coma; his last words were to his son-in-law Christopher Soames: "I'm so bored with it all."[12] [13] His physician Lord Moran first informed the Queen and the Prime Minister Harold Wilson of the death, and then made the announcement at 8:35 a.m. which was given to the press, saying, "Shortly after eight this morning, Sunday, Jan the 24th, Sir Winston Churchill died at his London home. [Signed] Moran."[14] [15]
Leading the world in tributes were Queen Elizabeth II, prime minister Harold Wilson, and Lyndon B. Johnson, the president of the United States.[16] [17]
The Queen immediately sent a letter of condolence to Lady Churchill after hearing Churchill's death, saying:
Wilson announced:
Johnson, hospitalised at Bethesda Naval Hospital with influenza, issued an official statement, saying:
He also ordered flags throughout the United States flown at half-staff to pay tribute to America's first honorary citizen through the day of the funeral. This was also the first time that the American flag was flown at half-staff for a foreign leader.[18]
Other world leaders who joined in the tributes included former British prime ministers Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, French President Charles de Gaulle, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin, former US presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Pope Paul VI.[16]
The Queen sent a message to the House of Commons concerning the procedures for Churchill's funeral, and was read on 25 January, which ran:
When members of the House met to pay tribute,[19] the Prime Minister moved the motion that was a request from the Queen regarding the places for lying in state and funeral service, and was resolved as:
J. H. Kenyon Ltd, of Paddington, London, the funeral directors to the Royal Household since 1928, were tasked with preparing Churchill's remains for the funeral. Desmond Henley, the company's chief embalmer, went to Churchill's Hyde Park Gate home to oversee the process.[20] Churchill's body was embalmed in the same room where he had died. When the process was completed, the remains were dressed in his silk pyjamas and dressing gown and placed back into his bed. Churchill lay in repose in private at his home until 9:00 p.m. Tuesday evening when Kenyon's staff transported his remains to Westminster Hall for public viewing.[20]
The funeral started on Tuesday 26 January 1965. By 8:30 p.m. police and security personnel had taken up their positions in what The Daily Telegraph reported as "the most extensive security operation of this sort ever undertaken in England".[7] At 9:15 p.m. Churchill's body was transported from his London home to Westminster Hall for the lying in state. It was led by Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold, the Lord Chamberlain, in the company of family members.[19] He was placed on a catafalque before Lady Churchill and the Earl Marshal. At 9:00 p.m. the first watch was mounted in the hall by the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards. In the subsequent days the Royal Navy, five regiments of foot guards and the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars also took turns.[21]
The lying-in-state lasted from Wednesday 27 January to 6:00 a.m. on 30 January, during which Westminster Hall was kept open for 23 hours daily. An hour was reserved for cleaning. The queue was most times more than one mile long, and the waiting time was about three hours;[19] 321,360 people came to pay their respects.[22]
At 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, 30 January, the funeral began with the chiming of Big Ben. The clock was muted for the rest of the day. A ninety-gun salute was fired at Hyde Park to mark the ninety years of Churchill's life.[23] The coffin was carried from the hall by a bearer party of eight guards from the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards, placed on a gun carriage and draped with the Union Flag, on which was placed the insignia of the Order of the Garter on a black cushion. The procession started upon a drum beat by the Royal Navy and was then led by the Royal Air Force and the Foot guards. The gun carriage itself was drawn by ninety-eight sailors, with forty more behind holding drag ropes.[23]
Following the gun carriage were Randolph Churchill and his son Winston side by side, followed by male members of the Churchill family and Churchill's private secretary, Anthony Montague Browne, all on foot. Lady Churchill and two daughters followed in the Queen's town coach. As the procession was leaving the New Palace Yard of the Palace of Westminster, a single gunshot was fired at St James's Park.[24] The march processed through Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, the Strand, Fleet Street, and up Ludgate Hill. A marching band consisted of three officers and 96 soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards. Banners of the Danish resistance movements were lowered in respect at the Cenotaph.[25] Altogether 2,500 soldiers and civilians took part in the procession, while four half-companies of soldiers lined the streets. Four majors of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars were assigned to carry Churchill's medals, orders and decorations. A single gunshot was fired every minute until they arrived at St Paul's.
The coffin arrived at St Paul's at 10.45 a.m.[26] The pallbearers picked up the coffin from the gun carriage at the west end of the cathedral, and carried it up the 24 steps[27] leading to the entrance.[28] The main pallbearers were eight soldiers of the Grenadier Guards.[29]
There were twelve honorary pallbearers walking in front of the main pallbearers, including Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies, and the former British Prime Ministers Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan. Aged 82, Attlee was frail with ill-health but insisted he be the pallbearer as Churchill had asked him to do the honour.[30] Walking just in front of the main pallbearers, he stumbled on the steps, making the pallbearers lose their balance, almost dropping the coffin, only being saved by two soldiers, "pushers", from the back.[31]
The service began as the coffin was laid in St Paul's Cathedral. With officials from more than 112 countries attending, 3,500 people attended the service, and it was the largest gathering of dignitaries in history until the 1980 funeral of Josip Broz Tito, the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II and the 2013 funeral of Nelson Mandela. Guests included the French President Charles de Gaulle, the Canadian prime minister Lester B. Pearson, the prime minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith, former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, many other past and present heads of state and government, and members of multiple royal families. Churchill had expressly objected to inviting de Gaulle as he believed, although they were allies in the war, he was anti-British and was pleaded with by the Duke of Norfolk on the ground of political amnesty; to which Churchill agreed on the condition that London Waterloo station be used instead of Paddington, as planned. Sir Robert Menzies, then the longest-serving Commonwealth Prime Minister, and Eisenhower, both of whom had known Churchill well in wartime, paid tribute on the BBC's broadcast of the funeral.[32] [33] Churchill's favourite hymns were sung, including "Fight the Good Fight", "He Who Would Valiant Be" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic". Choral music was William Croft's Funeral Sentences sung during the entry procession, and the Kontakion of the Departed, "Give rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy Saints". "Battle Hymn of the Republic" paid tribute to Churchill's American roots, including his honorary US citizenship, his close relationship with the US, particularly his friendship with US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his American-born mother. The other two recalled his personality and career.
The (cavalry) Last Post was played by Trumpet Corporal Peter Wilson of the Life Guards with Reveille played by Trumpeter Basil King of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars.[34] As the service was over at one o'clock, Handel's "Dead March" was played on the organ while the pallbearers were getting ready. The congregation sang "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" as the coffin was carried out through the Great West Doors.[35]
Menzies and Eisenhower gave their tributes after the funeral, speaking from the cathedral's crypt.[33] Menzies recited:
. Mary Soames. Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage. 2003. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 978-0-618-26732-3. 539. en.