August 2, 2015

Finest Hour 167, Special Issue 2015

Page 05

By Randolph Churchill


unnamedOn 30 January 1965 the world stood still for the State Funeral of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. It was the end of an era—an era that had seen two terrible world wars but also an era where the leadership and sacrifice of the good, the brave, and the valiant prevailed over evil and tyranny. The images broadcast that day showed the grief of ordinary men and women tinged with pride. Their respect for Churchill is humbling even today. My cousin Nicholas Soames reflected that the moment that “undid us all” was the unexpected dipping of the cranes along the Thames to salute the funeral barge Havengore.

Now, fifty years on, we who have not known the horrors of world war have our chance to reflect on the sacrifice and the legacy of those who gave their lives for our freedom.

The Churchill family has been overwhelmed by the support we have received over the past few weeks during the commemorations of the fiftieth anniversary of Sir Winston’s death. Friday, 30 January 2015, was a particularly proud day. It began when my cousin Celia Sandys and I laid a beautiful wreath at the Churchill statue in Parliament Square. We saw photographs from around the country and were touched by the flowers that had been laid at the many other Churchill statues, as well as at his grave at Bladon.
The first formality of the day was a commemoration in the beautiful Chapel of St Mary Undercroft at the Palace of Westminster. The service was led by the Speaker’s Chaplain, Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, and attended by the leaders of the three main parties: Prime Minister David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband. Afterwards, before the Churchill statue standing guard at the entrance to the Commons, the Speaker himself spoke about “Churchill the Parliamentarian.” The Prime Minister then reminded us that the wartime leader’s service to “humanity as a whole” should be celebrated and that Britain would always be grateful for his leadership.

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It was fitting that so much of the Churchill legacy was also represented at this occasion. There were scholars from Churchill College, Cambridge, Fellows from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and also seventeen-year old Nathania Ewruje, the most recent winner of the English-Speaking Union’s Winston Churchill Cup for Public Speaking, who recited words from Churchill in great style.

From the Palace of Westminster we went to St Katharine Docks. Here accompanied by pipers the wreath, which was to be laid in the Thames from the Havengore, was delivered from the Tower of London by a ceremonial guard made up of Beefeaters, the Royal Navy Reserve, the United States Navy and an Officer of Churchill’s regiment, the Queen’s Royal Hussars.

With quiet dignity the Havengore proceeded up the Thames. Linking past and present, our group onboard included Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Mather, commander of the original Grenadier Guards bearer party in 1965, and Barry de Morgan, who commanded the second bearer party from the Royal Irish Hussars.

Most striking to behold was the sight of Tower Bridge fully raised in Churchill’s honour. All of us onboard Havengore were also struck by the extraordinary crowds that had come out on a freezing-cold January day to watch us pass and pay their own respects. Many thousands of onlookers lined the embankment and packed the bridges.

Although no cranes line the route today, people from offices waved Churchill posters and Union Jacks. The Havengore had once again played a memorable part in commemorating Churchill’s legacy.

In the evening we celebrated Evensong at Westminster Abbey with uplifting music from the Abbey’s choir. Thereafter, at the great memorial stone bearing the inscription “Remember Winston Churchill,” flowers were laid by three of Churchill’s great-great-grandchildren: Iona Pite, Christabel Fraser and John Winston Churchill.

What a day and what a magnificent commemoration! The Churchill 2015 team, led by the indefatigable Sir David Cannadine and with the leadership of Allen Packwood, truly gave us an occasion of which we can be proud. And 2015 has only just begun. We still have the seventieth anniversary of Victory in Europe, followed by the International Churchill Conference at Blenheim in May; and at the end of the year we have the opening of the National Churchill Library and Centre in Washington, DC.

The Churchill legacy is very much alive among all  freedom-loving people.


Randolph Churchill is a Trustee of The Churchill Centre.

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