Piers Morgan has heaped praise on the young pallbearers who carried Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin into St Georges’ Chapel in Windsor.
The world held its breath as the eight soldiers from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards inched their way meticulously up the steep steps of the Chapel this afternoon carrying the 96-year-old monarch on their shoulders.
The moment was likely one of great pressure for the young men, with the event expected to have been the biggest TV event in history with an estimated 4.1billion viewers.
READ MORE: Piers Morgan leads tributes to ‘greatest Monarch’ as Queen Elizabeth
Keen royalist Piers paid tribute to the young men on Twitter, writing: “These magnificent 1st Battalion Grenadier Guard pallbearers have been done their Queen and country proud.”
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Fans agreed, with one replying: “Incredible job under hugely stressful conditions.”
“Absolutely amazing under a huge amount of pressure! I can’t even imagine having all that one my shoulders at such a young age.
“Nobody can ever train for this. With billions of people watching you. Nothing prepares for that. These men have done the country so proud.” added a second.
(Image: Getty Images)
A third penned: “These 8 men deserve a medal, the pressure on them this week has been immense with the world watching, their careers on the line. crazy amount of pressure.
“Give them a nice holiday, boy they deserve it, what gets me is the lifting onto the shoulders then the turning.”
Soldiers were initially seen transferring the Queen’s coffin from Westminster Hall and on to a gun carriage, which carried the late Monarch to the state funeral at Westminster Abbey.
They then sprang into action once again to carry the coffin up the aisle of Westminster Abbey for the service.
Without a hint of a slip-up, the eight men then transferred the coffin out of the Abbey and back on to the carriage, where it was moved in procession up The Mall and Constitution Hill to Wellington Arch.
(Image: Getty)
With their enormous task not yet completed, the soldiers returned again to move the coffin into a hearse to be driven to Windsor, where they took on perhaps their most difficult task of the day – carrying the coffin up the steps to the more than 500-year-old St George’s Chapel.
Of the team of guards taking part in the historic spectacle, five are understood to have been flown back from a deployment in Iraq in the hours after it was announced the Queen had died, on Thursday, September 8.
The guards are understood to have been given specially-built rubber boots to help stop them slipping on the smooth stone steps of the chapel, which is more than 500 years old.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
