Queen Victoria's funeral

[Grunty]

Many years ago, I read that an army regiment dropped Queen Victoria's coffin. For their sin, they were banished by never again having a home posting (the regiment of course, not individual soldiers). I have never been able to substantiate the story. Is there any truth in it, and if so which regiment?

[Drusilla1S]

During Queen Victoria's funeral, the Royal Horse Artillery experienced problems manouevring on an icy slope and a trace snapped, injuring one of the horses pulling the gun carriage. As the RHA prepared to replace the damaged trace, sailors stepped forward and began to haul the gun carriage by hand and a tradition was born.

No blame was attached to the RHA because the equipment failure was deemed to have been a manufacturing fault.

[Drusilla1S]

Sorry, I should have mentioned this is the only blunder I have read about with reference to Queen Victoria's funeral.

[Grunty]

Many thanks. It is not the story that I heard, but it is interesting anyway. The one I heard definitely included a dropped coffin and blame was attached.

[stoo_pid]

Like Drusilla I am not aware of any story about the funeral other than the problem with the gun carriage.

Click here to view a transcript of a letter written to the Times newspaper regarding an article that had been written in later years about the incident (scroll to the bottom of the page). Looking at the wording of it it may be that they story you read was perhaps a misinterpretation of events. Certainly, the author of the letter states

...King Edward told me that no blame for the contretemps attached to the Royal Horse Artillery by reason of the faulty material that had been supplied to them...

[Mikeyd2]

From an article about the funeral....

Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901 took place in the chapel, very delayed, due to the horses pulling the coffin, breaking their traces at Windsor station.

[Tatty Rollox]

..... and here she is ...........

[Grunty]

Thanks everyone. I read it when I was young, so maybe I hadn't yet learnt to be discriminating in reading material.