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Death of Queen Mary – Tuesday 31st March 1953

Paul Tobin

The death of Queen Mary, coming little over two months before the coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth ll, meant that the stands for the processional route from Marlborough House in The Mall, where Queen Mary had died, to Westminster Hall for the lying in state had already been erected.

Queen Mary’s funeral took place on the morning of Tuesday 31 March 1953 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, whilst at Westminster Cathedral at 4pm that afternoon a special service was held at which prayers were offered to beg ‘Almighty God to console and sustain the Royal Family in their bereavement.’ Pontifical Benediction, given by Cardinal Bernard Griffin (Archbishop of Westminster 1943-56) followed. Being Holy Week, the Metropolitan Cross seen to the left of the carpet and the High Altar Cross can both be seen veiled. In the front row of the choir stalls on the left are the Familiari of the Cardinal, Mgr Derek Worlock, Private Secretary, and Sir Harold Hood, Bt, as Gentiluomo. The servers are all boys from the Choir School.

On Good Friday afternoon at Stations of the Cross at 3pm, which always attracted a far larger congregation than the Mass of the Presanctified in the morning, the preacher was Mgr Fulton J Sheen, Auxiliary Bishop of New York during the period of office of Cardinal Francis Spelman. There is no mention of his sermon in the Cathedral Chronicle of the time but The Tablet noted that the sermon lasted almost one hour!

Sources:

The Tablet: 4 and 11 April 1953

Westminster Cathedral Chronicle: April 1953

Image: Universe Archives, Volume 13 https://westminstercathedral.org.uk/the-cathedral-community/about-oremus/ Email: oremus@westminstercathedral.org.uk

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