On This Day: King George VI is buried after dying from lung cancer aged 56

FEBRUARY 15, 1952: King George VI was buried at Windsor Castle following an elaborately planned and stirring funeral procession from London on this day in 1952.

The popular wartime monarch, who died of lung cancer at age 56 after reigning for 16 years, was the most recent sovereign to be laid to rest.

He was interred at St George’s Chapel in front of his eldest daughter, who became Queen Elizabeth II upon his death, while she was just 25 years old.

British Pathé footage showed the final journey of the man who restored faith in the monarchy after ascending the throne when his brother King Edward VIII abdicated.

At 9am, pallbearers carrying George VI’s coffin emerged from the Palace of Westminster, where 300,000 people had watched him lie in state over three days.

At the same time, sailors honoured the former Royal Navy admiral by blowing shrill sea whistles amid light fog on a bitterly cold day.

His casket – topped with the Royal Standard, his crown and orb - was then put on a gun carriage drawn by naval ratings to begin the procession through crowd-lined streets.

The cortege - of foreign royalty, heads of state and the armed forces – then slowly followed as Big Ben began 56 chimes – one for each year of the King’s life.

Dressed in black, the Queen, the then 51-year-old Queen Mother, sister Princess Margaret, 21, and 18-month-old daughter Princess Anne were in the first carriage.

They were followed on foot by the Dukes of Edinburgh, Gloucester and Windsor in dress uniform and the young Duke of Kent in formal mourning wear.

The 82-year-old Queen Mary, George VI's mother, watched from Marlborough House.

Three hours after the procession began, the funeral party arrived at Paddington Station – 3.5 miles from Westminster - and the royal train left for Windsor.

[On This Day: Pablo Picasso dies after suffering heart attack]

There, the procession continues to the 11th century castle with those following on foot, including the King’s brother Edward, who briefly returned from his exile in France.

Also there was George VI’s other surviving male sibling, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.

After the Archbishops of Canterbury and York’s short service at the resplendent 15th century St George's Chapel, a two minutes’ silence was observed at 2pm.

The King was again 'piped over the side' by Navy whistlers before finally being laid to rest, uniquly in front of three generations of British queens.

George VI’s death was as much of a blow to Britons as the shocking abdication crisis that allowed the shy, stammering man to become king – a role he never wanted.

Effervescent Edward, whom his brother had long lived in the shadow of, quit the throne so that he could marry unpopular American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

The Government threatened to resign if he married her - and this could have dragged Edward into an election and would ruin his status as a politically neutral, constitutional monarch.

[On This Day: Queen Elizabeth II crowned]

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin believed that, although the king was popular, people would not accept a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands as queen.

Marrying Mrs Simpson would also have conflicted with Edward being head of the Church of England, which opposed the remarriages of divorced people with living  former spouses.

The new king, who was actually christened Albert and called Bertie by friends and family, chose to rule as George VI to emphasise continuity with his popular father.

As well as restoring trust in the Royal Family, the unexpected soverign had to reassure the nation that it could stand up to German might and aggression.

After World War II, George had to lead a crumbling Britain mired in austerity and with its empire in rapid terminal decline.

He weathered those trials too, but in the end they shortened his life.

[On This Day: Decimal currency introduced across Britain]

The heavy smoker died from a coronary thrombosis on February 6, 19 - only five months after having his cancerous left lung removed.

His strong-willed widow, who was affectionately nicknamed the Queen Mum, lived for another 40 years and died aged 101 in 2002.

And his now 87-year-old daughter Elizabeth’s 62-year reign has been the second longest after Queen Victoria’s 63 years and 216 days on the throne.