Reports on the 50th anniversary of this epic event will not have escaped our readers.
What is not so well known is that the event was organised with outstanding military precision by Col. Paul Freyberg 2nd Baron Freyberg (1923-1993) who is #2079 on the family tree. (He is the author of his father’s biography; no mean task given that his father was arguably the most decorated soldier in the British Army). Paul served with the New Zealand Division in Greece in 1941 and the Long Range Desert Group in the Middle East in 1941-42, then with the Grenadier Guards in Tunisia and Italy 1942-45 where he won his MC. After the war he was with the British Army of the Rhine 1950-51 and following postings in the Ministry of Defence he was commander of the Honourable Artillery Company, Infantry Battalion in 1965 when Sir Winston died.
The world famous former Prime Minister’s death occurred during the time that Cameron Cobbold 1st Baron Cobbold (1904-1987) #490 was Lord Chamberlain (1963-1971). He had been Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961.
His responsibilities to the Monarch required his attendance at the funeral in St Paul’s and our photograph shows him (back left with an umbrella) leaving the cathedral with the Royal Family and Heads of State including President de Gaulle (circled), Sir Winston’s wartime ally.
