During that period, in 1958, Churchill nearly died from a sudden attack of pneumonia. In time this became one of friendship and mutual admiration. His mother, born Jennie Jerome, was an American heiress whose father was a stock speculator and part-owner of The New York Times. The United States and the United Kingdom have long enjoyed what Winston Churchill dubbed a "special relationship" - yet no US president has ever attended a royal coronation. The United States and the United Kingdom have long enjoyed what Winston Churchill dubbed a "special relationship" - yet no US president has ever attended a His was the first state funeral in the United Kingdom for a non-member of the Royal Family since Edward Carson's in 1935. Winston Churchill resigns as Britains prime minister - POLITICO According to the Daily Mirror, theQueenreportedly wrote Sir Winston a heartbreaking, handwritten letter after he retired in 1955, saying how much she would miss him. Churchill had also changed his mind in one significant respect: he originally wanted to be cremated and to have his ashes interred alongside the bodies of his beloved pets at Chartwell (you can read more about Churchills pets in my book Churchills Bestiary: His Life Through Animals); instead he decided that his corpse should be buried in Bladon churchyard, close to his parents graves and to his birthplace, Blenheim Palace. Born at Blenheim Palace in 1874, Churchill joined the British Fourth Hussars upon his fathers death in 1895. ", After a couple of false alarms ("each time he rallied"), Churchill died on the morning of the 24th of January 1965. Winston S. Churchill - Biography, Death & Speeches - History Death and state funeral of Winston Churchill, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, "On this day: 1965: Winston Churchill dies", "Churchill is Dead at 90; The World Mourns Him; State Funeral Saturday", "Remembering Winston Churchill: About this collection", "Remembering Britain's WWII hero Winston Churchill", "Churchill to Get a State Funeral; Will Be First Commoner So Honored Since Gladstone", "A state send-off even grander than for Churchill", "Winston Churchill's Funeral, 50 Years Ago", "Winston Churchill's funeral was 12 years in the planning", "Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill: 50 years since Britain buried its iconic wartime leader", "As it happened: The state funeral of Winston Churchill, January 30, 1965", "British royal and state funerals: music and ceremonial since Elizabeth I", "Sir Winston Churchill's family kept his strokes hidden, new drama reveals", "The death of Winston Churchill was the day the Empire died", "Top secret plans for Winston Churchill's funeral revealed after 50 years", "Statement by the President on the Death of Winston Churchill", "Death of Sir Winston Churchill (Hansard, 25 January 1965)", "My grandfather, Winston Churchill, was buried fifty years ago today. The clock was muted for the rest of the day. Thus he found himself in Canada when the Queen finally By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. A view from above as Winston Churchill's coffin arrives at St. Paul's Cathedral for his state funeral. "The Queen Mother and Mountbatten had nothing to say to each other at any point in their lives, and there was no question about them conspiring about anything," Vickers said. [7][35] The coffin was carried from the hall by a bearer party of eight guards from the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards, placed on a gun carriage and draped with the Union Flag, on which was placed the insignia of the Order of the Garter on a black cushion. [112], De Gaulle commented: "Now Britain is no longer a great power."[58]. After the debacle at Gallipoli, Churchill left the Admiralty. [29] He was placed on a catafalque before Lady Churchill and the Earl Marshal. MV Havengore bore Churchills coffin up the River Thames Her Majesty The Queen made her wish known after her Coronation in 1953 that Winston Churchill But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! He hasn't watched the series, but he knows about it.". In 1953, Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. [25][26], He also ordered flags throughout the United States flown at half-staff to pay tribute to America's first honorary citizen through the day of the funeral. To these unusual deeds by Queen Elizabeth II, Nicholas Soames commented: "It is absolutely exceptional if not unique for the Queen to grant precedence to anyone. Underground trains ran all night; Westminster Hall stayed open for 23 hours a day; and in bitterly cold weather people waited for three hours in mile-long queues before passing the catafalque on which rested Churchills coffin, Union flag-draped, lead-lined and made of Blenheim oak. For her to arrive before the coffin and before my grandfather was a beautiful and very touching gesture. "The spine in my back. The last was on 15 January 1965, from which he never recovered. At 9:00p.m. the first watch was mounted in the hall by the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards. I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.. Insider spoke to royal historian Hugo Vickers author of the book "The Crown Dissected" who called the show "fundamentally dishonest.". [29] The gun carriage itself was drawn by ninety-eight sailors, with forty more behind holding drag ropes. Winston Churchill's funeral cortege makes its way down Whitehall in London. (US President Lyndon Johnson was widely blamed for not coming on the grounds that he had a cold.) Winston Churchill came from a long line of English aristocrat-politicians. Celia remembered: "We all sat down to a subdued breakfast and listened to the radio as the announcement of his death was broadcast to the world. 11The fate of Graham Sutherlands portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, a matter of speculation for 23 years, was revealed here tonight: Sir Winstons wife WebChurchill died in the morning of Sunday 24 January 1965 in his home at 28 Hyde Park Gate, London, exactly 70 years after the death of his father. Years later, when Churchill died in 1965, Queen Elizabeth broke protocol by arriving at his funeral before his family. The pair who ruled during World War II enjoyed a deep and enduring friendship despite their differences. Before taking his seat in the House of Commons, Churchill travelled to North America on a speaking tour. [57] Firstly, it was a common royal etiquette for the monarch to not attend funeral service outside of the royal family. [48] Menzies recited: In the whole of recorded history this [the Second World War] was, I believe, the one occasion when one man, with one soaring imagination, with one fire burning in him, and with one unrivalled capacity for conveying it to others, won a crucial victory not only for the Forces (for there were many heroes in those days) but for the spirit of human freedom. [107][106][108] The networks also carried highlights of the funeral in the evening hours. He is History's child, and what he said and what he did will never die. Elizabeth R.". Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill's friendship - British Here's what the ceremony looked like in real life. Richard Dimbleby (in one of his last events before his own death later that year) provided the BBC commentary, and Churchill's final journey was watched by 350 million. Not to mention, it seems the First Lady's comments weren't as bad as portrayed in the show. Where would Great Britain be without its greatest Briton? Lynch further went on to say that the dockers hated Churchill. The great figure who embodied man's will to resist tyranny passed into history this morning. "[19][20], Leading the world in tributes were Queen Elizabeth II, prime minister Harold Wilson, and Lyndon B. Johnson, the president of the United States.[21][22]. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. In 1951, 77-year-old Winston Churchill became prime minister for the second time. The monarch does not normally attend funerals, but sends a personal representative to pay respects on her behalf; the only other Prime Minister whose funeral she has attended is Margaret Thatcher. Politician Roy Jenkins said that Sir Winston had what he called near idolatry for Elizabeth and great respect for the monarchy. was issued on 26 January and implemented on 30 January 1965. He added that the Queen never would have visited him in person, however, Her Majesty would have been kept informed about his health during this period. ", The Queen immediately sent a letter of condolence to Clementine Churchill, saying: "The whole world is the poorer by the loss of his many-sided genius while the survival of this country and the sister nations of the Commonwealth, in the face of the greatest danger that has ever threatened them, will be a perpetual memorial to his leadership, his vision and indomitable courage.". Winston Churchill - 1951-55 Despite being credited with winning the Second World War, Winston Churchill lost the 1945 election, before returning to Downing Street for a second term in 1951. Protocol states that the Queen is supposed to be the last [50], Three countries were permitted to send delegations:[85][86], The chief members of the delegation were initially Warren, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and Bruce. So she made an exception for him. In 1899, he resigned his commission to concentrate on his literary and political career and in 1900 was elected to Parliament as a Conservative MP from Oldham. The roof over my head," she tells him. It was led by Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold, the Lord Chamberlain, in the company of family members. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Current one is: January 24. [8], By decree of Queen Elizabeth II, his body lay in state at Westminster Hall for three days from 26 January. The statesman's body was then transported by steam train to the cemetery where he was to be buried with his family in Oxfordshire. | George VI, indeed, had been a staunch opponent of Churchill over the appeasement of Nazi Germany and wanted Lord Halifax, another appeaser, to succeed Neville Chamberlain as prime minister in May 1940. Dignitaries from 112 countries attended Churchill's funeral. Noting that Germany was growing more and more bellicose, Churchill began to prepare Great Britain for war: He established the Royal Naval Air Service, modernized the British fleet and helped invent one of the earliest tanks. .css-gegin5{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#9a0500;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-gegin5:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}The Crown's third season depicts his funeral, and the grief that the Queen felt in losing her first prime minister. WebHe served as Conservative Prime Minister twice - from 1940 to 1945 (before being defeated in the 1945 general election by the Labour leader Clement Attlee) and from 1951 to 1955. [7] Churchill had expressly objected to inviting de Gaulle as he believed, although they were allies in the war, he was anti-British[45] and was pleaded with by the Duke of Norfolk on the ground of political amnesty; to which Churchill agreed on the condition that London Waterloo station be used instead of Paddington, as planned. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. [27], Other world leaders who joined in the tributes included former British prime ministers Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, French President Charles de Gaulle, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin, former US presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Pope Paul VI.[21]. His old friend and physician, Lord Moran, gave the news to the world after informing Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Contrary to myth, Churchill himself was not much involved in the planning. Menzies and Eisenhower gave their tributes after the funeral, speaking from the cathedral's crypt. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). The day began with the chiming of Big Ben, and 90 cannon salutes at Hyde Park. [43] Walking just in front of the main pallbearers, he stumbled on the steps, making the pallbearers lose their balance, almost dropping the coffin, only being saved by two soldiers, "pushers", from the back. The monarch later discovers that Jackie Kennedy badmouthed her to the dinner guests, calling her "a middle-aged woman so incurious, unintelligent and unremarkable that Britain's new reduced place in the world was not a surprise but an inevitability. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was descended from the First Duke of Marlborough and was himself a well-known figure in Tory politics in the 1870s and 1880s. [85], Irish President amon de Valera wasn't invited,[80] being an outspoken antagonist of Churchill, particularly for the latter's involvement in the partition of Ireland. They will be paid something to cover their expenses. [1][2][3] His was the first state funeral in the United Kingdom for a non-member of the Royal Family since Edward Carson's in 1935. After he left Sandhurst, Churchill traveled all around the British Empire as a soldier and as a journalist. The Labour politician Richard Crossman wrote: It felt like the end of an epoch, possibly even the end of a nation.. [31], The lying-in-state lasted from Wednesday 27 January to 6:00a.m. on 30 January,[32] during which Westminster Hall was kept open for 23 hours daily. Asked by Churchills son, Randolph, what a state funeral was, the Earl Marshal replied succinctly: One for which the state pays. (Churchills funeral cost 55,000, not counting the military expenditure.). In July 1945, 10 weeks after Germanys defeat, his Conservative government suffered a defeat against Clement Attlees Labour Party, and Churchill resigned as prime minister. Here's a view of the crowd, lined up, Two members of the Womens Voluntary Service serve cups of tea to the crowds of people lining up to pay their respects to Winston Churchill lying in state. "The Queen Mother disliked Mountbatten because she thought he was a schemer, and he would have of course disliked her because she was more powerful and influential than him.". Cecil Beaton wrote in his diaries that Jackie was underwhelmed by Buckingham Palace and by the Queen's gown, according to People. Though he had no fear of death, he coveted always the opportunity to continue that service. What is the nature of Margaret Thatcher's legacy. The funeral itself then took place on 30th January. It is a royal custom in any event that the monarch is always the last to arrive. (Rich American girls like Jerome who married European noblemen were known as dollar princesses.). Just as Churchill predicted, the road to victory in World War II was long and difficult: France fell to the Nazis in June 1940. The congregation sang "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" as the coffin was carried out through the Great West Doors.[54]. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. The arrangements were embodied in a so-called war book, as though for another D-Day, and the entire procedure was code-named Operation Hope Not. Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. There was a 19-gun salute, and Royal Air Force fighters flew overhead. He spent most of this term working (unsuccessfully) to build a sustainable dtente between the East and the West. With officials from more than 112 countries attending, 3,500 people attended the service, and it was the largest gathering of dignitaries in history until the 1980 funeral of Josip Broz Tito, the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II and the 2013 funeral of Nelson Mandela. We strive for accuracy and fairness. [65] The cranes were under the Hay's Wharf (now Hay's Galleria) and the homage was praised as a gesture of respect[66] in an unrehearsed[67] and spontaneous action. West Point Superintendent Major General James Lampert laid a wreath from President Johnson to pay tribute to both FDR and Churchill. A new stone was dedicated in 1998 in a ceremony attended by members of the Spencer-Churchill family. A Whitehall committee was therefore established, on which Churchills private secretary Anthony Montague Browne sat, to work out a programme for a state funeral. Sir Winston Churchill died on 24 January 1965 70 years to the day after the death of his father. [59][60] Additionally, it is a royal convention that the monarch is also the first to exit or end an ongoing event. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, dies in London at the age of 90. However, Churchill agreed to the generals presence on condition that the train taking his body to its final resting-place did not leave from Paddington but from Waterloo a wicked posthumous putdown. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth made Winston Churchill a knight of the Order of the Garter. "The spine in my back. Twenty-five million Britons and more than 350 million people around the world watched the ceremony. It was then taken by train to Oxfordshire, where Churchill was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Bladon. Inside Winston Churchill's History-Making Funeral, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. For example, in the United States, a memorial service for Churchill took place at FDR's grave at his home in Hyde Park, New York to mark the anniversary of Roosevelt's birth. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. [7] Planning for the funeral, known as Operation Hope Not, began after Churchill's stroke in 1953 while in his second term as prime minister. ", A full scale rehearsal of Sir Winston Churchill's funeral is carried out in Oxfordshire. Queen Elizabeth II instructed the Duke of Norfolk, who as hereditary Earl Marshal of England was in charge of important ceremonial occasions, to ensure that the wartime leaders obsequies were on a scale befitting his position in history. Moreover, as Elizabeth IIs first prime minister he laid his vast experience at her feet, much in the manner of Lord Melbourne vis--vis the young Queen Victoria. The coffin was then taken along the River Thames from Tower Pier to Waterloo Station, where the dock workers bowed their cranes in salute as the boat passed by. Reporters besieged his London house at Hyde Park Gate and the state of his health filled the newspapers. LONDON, Sunday, Jan. 24--Sir Winston Churchill is dead. [7], As the coffin passed up the River Thames, more than 36 dockers lowered their crane jibs in a salute on the south side of the bank. On 30 January 1965, millions of people watched the state funeral of Winston Churchill take place at St Paul's Cathedral, but what was it like for the soldiers who Attended by representatives from 120 countries, 6,000 people, and (unusually) by Queen Elizabeth II more than 1,000 police and security personnel, involving nine military bands, 18 military battalions, 16 English Electric Lightning fighter jets of the Royal Air Force, a special boat MV Havengore, and a funeral train hauled by Winston Churchill, homage paid by 321,360 people, and witnessed by over 350 million people, it was the largest state funeral in history. Although the funeral took place in the early morning hours in North America, the audience in the United States was larger than JFK's fourteen months before. It was a celebration of a great thing that we did in the past. Relatives gathered by his bedside. You can unsubscribe at any time. He persuaded U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide war supplies ammunition, guns, tanks, planes to the Allies, a program known as Lend-Lease, before the Americans even entered the war. As we know, the late Queen Elizabeth met with the current Prime Minister for weekly catch-ups, of which no record is kept. Venetia Scott was the daughter of an The distraught queen wrote to his widow, "[60] There was a historical precedent however; Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather, George V, had attended the state funeral of Lord Roberts in 1914 and similarly forgone his royal privileges for the occasion. At the time, it was the largest state funeral in history. "[70] But when Jeremy Paxman aired his BBC documentary Churchill: A Nation's Farewell in 2015, he created a controversy. In grateful remembrance. Here, author Piers Brendon explores the top-secret plans in place for the funeral and reveals the true nature of Churchills relationship with Queen Elizabeth II. By royal decree Winston Churchills body lay in state for three days in Westminster Hall he was the first commoner to do so since William Gladstone in 1898. The chat ranged from political to personal, and over the years stories have emerged that tell tales of how the Queen's meeting with Mr. Churchill stretched from 30 minutes to two hours. De Gaulle therefore had some reason to declare (with relish) upon Churchills death: Now Britain is no longer a great power. Actually, Britains power had been waning for years. Did Princess Margaret charm (and kiss) President Lyndon B Johnson? [26] This was also the first time that the American flag was flown at half-staff for a foreign leader. [52] NBC had the highest ratings among the three networks at the time (ABC, CBS, and NBC) for their live coverage,[106] with Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, and Merrill Mueller (himself a former NBC London bureau chief) presenting the coverage live from London. She wrote that no other Prime Minister would "ever for me be able to hold the place of my first prime minister, to whom both my husband and I owe so much and for whose wise guidance during the early years of my reign I shall always be so profoundly grateful". [49] "Battle Hymn of the Republic" paid tribute to Churchill's American roots,[50] including his honorary US citizenship, his close relationship with the US, particularly his friendship with US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his American-born mother. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [30] Churchill's body was embalmed in the same room where he had died. So of course, this makes it much worse as you can't just dismiss it as tabloid gossip, because it looks very professional and very convincing," he told Insider. [68][69], Nicholas Soames, grandson of Churchill, remarked this unexpected activity as one that "undid us all. [9][33][34], At 9:45a.m. on Saturday, 30 January, the funeral began with the chiming of Big Ben. He became leader of the opposition and in 1951 was again elected prime minister. Certainly, Churchill deserved the sovereigns gratitude. Eisenhower gave his tribute after Menzies: With no thought of the length of time he might be permitted on earth, he was concerned only with the quality of the service he could render to his nation and to humanity. [21], Johnson, hospitalised at Bethesda Naval Hospital with influenza,[15][24] issued an official statement, saying:[25]. There are strong suggestions, too, that the Queen found Churchill stubborn, anachronistic, unwilling to listen and apt to mistake monologue for conversation. Churchill was born at the familys estate near Oxford on November 30, 1874. British Heritage Travel is published by Irish Studio, Ireland's largest magazine publishing company. All told, it was a brilliant spectacle, impeccably executed. An hour was reserved for cleaning. All Rights Reserved. After Winston Churchill died, Queen Elizabeth II gave special permission for him to lie in state at Westminster Hall for three days before he was given a state The roof over my head," she tells Churchill while he dozes. Published: Sunday, 17th November 2019 at 8:00 am. A wreath and note from Queen Elizabeth on Winston Churchill's grave in Bladon. S2464S, had been set aside in 1962 specifically for the funeral train. During the next five years, he enjoyed an illustrious military career, serving in India, Sudan, and South Africa, and distinguishing himself several times in battle. It reads "From the nation and the Commonwealth in grateful remembrance, Elizabeth R.". [77], There were many memorial services taking place for Churchill outside of Britain during the funeral. [61][62] As the funeral service was over, Queen Elizabeth II followed the Churchill family out of the cathedral. From the MV Havengore, the coffin was borne to a black Austin Princess hearse at Festival Pier by non-commissioned soldiers of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars in No 2 Dress Uniform. READ MORE:10 Things You May Not Know About Winston Churchill. [94], US President Lyndon Johnson did not attend upon the advice of his doctors after hospitalisation for influenza. The coffin arrived at Waterloo Station at 1:23p.m. and was picked up by ten commissioned officers from the Queen's Royal Irish hussars in No 1 Dress uniform and was placed in a specially prepared funeral train,[37] the locomotive of which was named Winston Churchill that was to carry it to the final destination, Hanborough station in Oxfordshire. You ask, what is our policy? The main funeral service was held at St Paul's Cathedral. The now-former prime minister spent the next several years warning Britons and Americans about the dangers of Soviet expansionism. A modern photo of Sir Winston Churchill's grave. "Prince Philip was actually perfectly happy to kneel before his wife, he was brought up as a member of the Greek royal family and he knew the rules from day one. It was nerve-racking enough for the audience: watching eight young guardsmen carry the Queen's coffin through Westminster Abbey in front of 2,000 guests, and four billion viewers around the world (and then pick it back up again to heave it from Westminster Hall to the Royal Vault under St George's Chapel its final resting place). By 1964, when The Crown season three begins, Winston Churchill was in very poor health. 5 by Beethoven, the opening theme with three short notes and a long note that indicated the letter "V" in Morse code to symbolise Churchill's iconic wartime gesture, two fingers held aloft to show "V" for victory. [71] In response, David Freeman reported that way back in 1965, David Burnett, the then managing director of Hay's Wharf, had publicly revealed that the gesture was voluntary. With characteristic good taste, the new satirical magazine Private Eye referred to him as the greatest dying Englishman. Winston Churchill | Biography, World War II, Quotes, Books, & Facts British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.CC. As the Havengore made its way down the Thames, dockside cranes dipped their jibs in homage to the saviour of the nation, bowing their long necks like metal plesiosauruses and, incidentally, facing extinction as London (still scarred by the war) ceased to be what it had been, the trading hub of the workshop of the world and the entrepot of the British empire. Among all the things so written or spoken, there will ring out through the entire century one incontestable refrain: Here was a champion of freedom. [15], The final documents, titled State Funeral of the Late Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, K.G., O.M., C.H., were issued on 26 January 1965, two days after Churchill's death. When Sir Winston Churchill died, he was honoured with a state funeral - the most recent one to take place in the UK before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Sir Winston served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945, then again from 1951 to 1955 and was the first leader Queen Elizabeth worked with when she ascended the throne in 1952. In addition Churchill would not permit the royal offspring to be called Mountbatten because the dynastys name was Windsor, thus turning the consort into what Philip referred to as a bloody amoeba by which he perhaps meant sperm-donor. Lady Clementine Spencer-Churchill, the widow of former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, died yesterday after a heart attack at her apartment in London. Normally the monarch does not go to commoners funerals, for the obvious reason that it would be invidious to choose whom thus to honour. Chamberlain was pushed out of office, and Winston Churchill took his place as prime minister in May 1940. The season three episode shows Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) say an emotional goodbye to Winston Churchill (John Lithgow). Sixteen Royal Air Force English Electric Lightning fighter jets flew-past in formation as the boat sailed. [23], Sir Winston will be mourned all over the world by all who owe so much to him. In 1904, he joined the Liberals, serving in a number of important posts before being appointed Britains first lord of the admiralty in 1911, where he worked to bring the British navy to a readiness for the war that he foresaw. Guests included the French President Charles de Gaulle, the Canadian prime minister Lester B. Pearson, the prime minister of Rhodesia Ian Smith, former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, many other past and present heads of state and government, and members of multiple royal families. His work on behalf of progressive social reforms such as an eight-hour workday, a government-mandated minimum wage, a state-run labor exchange for unemployed workers and a system of public health insurance infuriated his Conservative colleagues, who complained that this new Churchill was a traitor to his class. Our Royal Insider Facebook group is the best place for up-to-date news and announcements about the British royal family, direct from Insider's royal reporters. It was the last state funeral until Queen Elizabeth II's on 19 September 2022.
did winston churchill die in front of the queen