King presents medals to 150 Navy personnel for key role in late Queen's funeral
The King has presented medals to around 150 Royal Navy sailors and officers who played a vital role in the late Queen's funeral procession.
Charles awarded honours from the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) – in the King's gift and bestowed independently of Downing Street – to the personnel at Windsor Castle.
Almost 100 Royal Naval ratings, known as a Sovereign's Guard, pulled the gun carriage carrying the Queen's coffin as it was borne from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in London in September, with 40 marching behind acting as a break.
The Royal Navy's State Ceremonial Training Officer, Warrant Officer Class One Eddie Wearing, said he felt "mixed emotions" after receiving his RVO honour.
He told Forces News: "It's very mixed emotions... it's a sombre event conducting Operation London Bridge, but it's a massive honour to be here today and for the King to graciously give us these awards and recognise the Royal Navy and our part, small part, that we played on the day."
Commander Nicola Cripps, Officer of the State Gun Carriage, also received an RVO honour and said Royal Navy personnel did themselves "proud" at the funeral.
She said: "Huge amounts of pride across the whole of the service and I think that was something that when we trained, we trained very intensely for 10 days in our own little bubble, away from everybody else within the Navy and the media.
"And we came out on the day and we really did ourselves proud and the service proud.
"I think everybody left that day realising that we had done our very best and that we had upheld the traditions of the Royal Navy and been able to contribute to such an important day."
Armed Forces personnel from across all three services played a key role in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II – the military's Commander-in-Chief for 70 years.
Around 4,000 UK and Commonwealth military personnel were on parade in London and Windsor for the funeral and committal service.
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