On Friday afternoon, about 100 Chelsea Pensioners paid their last respects at Queen Elizabeth II’s lying-in-state.
Veterans were spotted entering Westminster Hall in their recognisable scarlet jackets, tricorn hats, and white gloves to pay homage to Her Majesty.
The Chelsea Pensioners removed their hats while entering the Hall to pay their last respects to the deceased king.
As they exited the Palace of Westminster, people greeted them with shouts and enthusiasm.
The Chelsea Pensioners were praised by members of the public for filing past the Queen’s coffin ‘without stopping and holding up the queue’.
One person said: ‘Look how dignified the Chelsea Pensioners were, they were able to pay their respects without stopping and holding up the queue.’
A second person posted: ‘Oh how wonderful, they’ve let all the Chelsea Pensioner in together….#QueenLyingInState’.
Another said the queue was ‘very special for many reasons’, adding it was a ‘bonus seeing the Chelsea Pensioners and the changing of the guard’.
People reacted to the Chelsea Pensioners paying their respects to the Queen on Friday afternoon
The Chelsea Pensioners swapped their scarlet uniforms for a solemn navy blue earlier this week to honour the late monarch during a Drumhead Service of Remembrance.
On Tuesday, some 150 men and women gathered at the Royal Chelsea Hospital to honour their commander-in-chief, who commanded the British Armed Forces for seven decades.
During the ceremony, the Pensioners stood as a bugler played “The Last Post,” a British custom for military funerals, followed by a minute of silence.
The Chelsea Pensioners finished the ceremony by singing “God Save the King.”
Following the passing of the Queen on Thursday, the governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, said that the veterans ‘held their Queen in the very highest regard’ and were ‘all immensely proud to serve and protect their country under her 70-year long reign’.
Her first investiture as monarch was with Bill Speakman, a Korean War veteran who subsequently became a Chelsea Pensioner.
They remained friends throughout his lifetime, till his death in 2018.
Having first visited the Royal Chelsea Hospital as Princess Elizabeth in 1947, the Queen has a long-standing relationship with the Chelsea Pensioners.
General Sir Adrian Bradshaw characterised the late king as a ‘regular and much-loved visitor to the Royal Hospital,’ having first been as sovereign at an army luncheon in 1956, and then on many times to watch the Chelsea Pensioners during Founder’s Day.
In 2014, Her Majesty attended the London Regiment World War I Commemoration.
Her extended family also routinely visited the annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which is hosted at the hospital.
Sir Bradshaw said, ‘Her Majesty The Queen will be profoundly and very sadly missed by our community here at the Royal Hospital.’