Big Ben is to be silenced during Baroness Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday as a mark of respect to the former prime minister, it has been announced.
House of Commons officials said that the last time the chimes of Westminster’s Great Clock were halted in this way was for the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965, although the bells were silenced for a period in the 1970s due to a mechanical breakdown.
The announcement by Commons Speaker John Bercow came as the Ministry of Defence revealed the names of the military pall-bearers who will carry Lady Thatcher’s coffin into St Paul’s Cathedral for the ceremonial funeral.
Made up of personnel from all three services drawn from units, stations and ships which served in the Falklands War, the eight-strong bearer party includes Scots Guards Lance Sergeant Paul Quayle, whose father fought in the 1982 conflict.
Walking behind the coffin will be the party’s commander Major Nick Mott and his Warrant Officer brother Bill, both Welsh Guardsmen who served in the Falklands.
More than 700 serving armed forces personnel gathered in central London before dawn for a full-scale rehearsal of the funeral parade.
A Union flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage from St Clement Danes, the church of the Royal Air Force, down the Strand to St Paul’s.