Post date: Apr 15, 2013 1:34:44 PM
Military stages dawn rehearsal for Thatcher's funeral with the coffin carried through the streets ofLondon to St Paul's on a gun carriage.
LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (APRIL 15, 2013) (ITN) - More than 700 members of Britain's armed forces staged a dress rehearsal for the funeral of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher at dawn on Monday (April 15).
Draped in a union jack flag, the coffin was carried to St Paul's Cathedral on a gun carriage.Military procession bands played funeral marches of Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
Thatcher, Britain's only female prime minister, died on April 8 at the age of 87 years.
The funeral, on Wednesday (April 17) will be a ceremonial one with military honours.
The body will be taken to St Mary's undercroft at the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday afternoon for members of parliament to pay their respects. The coffin will leave parliament by hearse, before being transferred to the gun carriage at the Church of Clement Danes on the Strand.