Sole rehearsal for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral was ‘comedy of errors’

Only practice procession saw marchers out of step and Gentleman at Arms almost crushed, royal biography says

The only rehearsal for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral had a band at the wrong start point, a Gentleman at Arms nearly crushed at Marble Arch and “everything that could go wrong did go wrong”, a new biography on King Charles has said.

The journalist Robert Hardman wrote about the chaos behind the preparations for the state procession in his book, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story. “It was a comedy of errors,” said Garrison Sergeant Major “Vern” Stokes, who was responsible for the military and ceremonial aspects of the funeral.