Calls for ‘heroic’ pallbearers who carried Queen’s coffin to be given MBEs

There have been numerous calls from MPs and military leaders to award the pallbearers who carried the Queen’s coffin to receive awards from the King. 

Specially selected soldiers from the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, were chosen to lift and carry Queen Elizabeth’s coffin during her state funeral on Monday September 19th. 

There were ten pallbearers in total carrying the coffin, which reportedly weighed a quarter of a metric ton – that’s at least as much as fifty stone. 

The soldiers’ performance and professionalism impressed the millions of people across the country and the rest of the world, with many saying they ‘did the nation proud’. 

And now, in the days following Her Majesty’s state funeral, there have been several calls for the soldiers to receive awards from King Charles for the role they played in the ceremony.

MP Tobias Ellwood is among the MPs who have called for the pallbearers to get gongs in the New Years Honours list, with him saying: “Their performance did the Queen and the nation proud.”

Ashfield MP Lee Anderson praised his constituent Company Sergeant Major Dean Jones, who walked ahead of Her Majesty’s oak coffin.

In a post on Facebook, he said: “Ashfield Lads. Doing their duty and making their families and the whole of Ashfield feel incredibly proud. Serving Queen and country.”

Other social media users also called for the soldiers to receive an award for their service, with one person writing: “Such a sad and momentous day today with the funeral, but I’ve got to say those eight young men/pallbearers from the Grenadier Guards carrying the coffin on her final journey were absolutely faultless.

“Even going up the steps of St George’s Chapel. They deserve a medal.”

Another noted: “Hope the Pallbearers get a special mention somewhere and a medal for their efforts today… they were amazing, especially climbing those steps.”