Queen Elizabeth’s funeral: Military and civilian heroes show respect

Five Australian recipients of the Commonwealth’s highest awards for gallantry attended the state ­funeral for the Queen, with one joining a formal procession through Westminster Abbey.

Victoria Cross recipient Mark Donaldson.

Five Australian recipients of the Commonwealth’s highest awards for gallantry attended the state ­funeral for the Queen, with one joining a formal procession through Westminster Abbey.

Victoria Cross recipient Mark Donaldson, 43, joined the Procession of the Orders of Chivalry in Westminster Abbey, alongside Willie Apiata, 50, from New Zealand, as an estimated television audience of more than four billion watched on.

Seven holders of the VC and the ­George Cross took part in the ­procession, with a total of 17 ­holders of the Commonwealth’s highest military and civilian awards for gallantry among the 2000 mourners in the abbey.

Two other Australian veterans of the Afghanistan war who hold the VC, Daniel ­Keighran and Ben Roberts-Smith, attended at the invitation of the late Queen, as did Vietnam War veteran and VC recipient Keith Payne, 89.

A former Victoria Police ­constable honoured with the ­GC for his efforts in stopping a bank robbery while off duty in 1976, ­Michael Pratt, was also among the mourners.

Before the service began, the abbey’s tenor bell began to toll, one chime a minute for 96 minutes, representing the 96 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s life.

As the bell tolled, holders of the VC, GC and other orders of chivalry made their way solemnly through the abbey.

The heroes took their seats at the front of the abbey in the north transept, near the high altar, while the heads of state and other royal families sat opposite in the south transept.

Before he left Australia to ­attend the funeral, Mr Roberts-Smith paid tribute to the late ­monarch, who was ­patron of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association from 1956 until she died. “I was deeply saddened to hear the Queen had passed,” Mr ­Roberts-Smith said. “She was a stoic leader and ­importantly a lovely lady – a very nice warm person,’’ he added.

His attendance at the funeral had been controversial, given a war crimes investigation in Australia and a related ­defamation case brought by Mr ­Roberts-Smith, who had surprised the ­Australian High Commission by accepting the invitation to ­attend.

He has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Donaldson was awarded his VC for his bravery in a firefight on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2008.

He met the late monarch several times, ­including at Windsor Castle, and told a Melbourne radio station she had been a “rock’’.

“I think the best thing about Her Majesty in that particular ­setting was she made me feel as welcome in that place as anyone else, and I think that was, from my experiences with her, one of the many things she was able to do,” Mr Donaldson said.

“I just had a huge amount of ­respect for her, who she was and what she does.

“She had a genuine … concern and love for humanity.”

A young Elizabeth, then still a princess, served in uniform as a mechanic and driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service in World War II and maintained close ties with the military all her life. Her husband Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, and held ceremonial roles in the army and the air force.