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Q: What were you doing on the night before the Coronation?
I was having dinner in Carlton House Terrace with Colonel John Astor who in those days owned The Times. In the middle of dinner the butler came in with a letter, which John Astor opened. He said: "I've got some news for you; please don't tell anybody until tomorrow. Everest has been climbed". [The Times newspaper sponsored the climb on Everest.]
Then I walked all the way back from Carlton House Terrace to Knightsbridge Barracks, walking over bodies who were sleeping there the night before in order to get a good view of the Coronation procession.
Q: What did you do on the day of the Coronation?
Hundreds and thousands of troops which took part had to get up about three or four in the morning, but we in our barracks got up at almost the usual time, about six o clock. All we had to do was ride out to Buckingham Palace and be ready for the procession to start. When we got to the Palace we all formed up in our various positions which were called the divisions of the escort - sort of blocks of about 36 soldiers, troopers on horses.
I was in the arch where the steps come down to the main entrance, and the coach was there. I was on the right, by the wheel of the coach. The Queen came down about two minutes too early, which was unusual because royal things are pretty well timed.
We couldn't start until the man on the roof dropped his baton. The whole thing was timed and all the way down they had marshals with batons. I gave the order "Sovereign's Escort: Walk March" .
We did a fairly small distance. We went from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey - a short way down the Mall turning right. And then when The Queen went into the Abbey all the escort disappeared to Wellington Barracks where we dismounted from our horses. The escort officers went into the officers' mess and watched the Coronation in Westminster Abbey. We of course knew what time that everything was going to finish, as I'd been to the rehearsal the day before when the Duchess of Norfolk took the place of The Queen.
We were back outside Westminster Abbey so that when The Queen came out we were ready to go. And then the procession started and it was fabulous, really. The whole way along there were different reactions - down by the Embankment there were thousands of schoolchildren waving flags and yelling their heads off. When we got to the area where all the clubs are, like St James's Street, the people stood still and said nothing. In some places they sang "God Save The Queen", in some places they cheered - it was a different reaction.
All the way down the procession route there was a band and as The Queen's coach approached it struck up God Save The Queen - so all the way down the five mile procession, one heard nothing but God Save The Queen!
Q: Did anything unusual happen as you processed around London?
As we went around these various areas the worst thing that happened to me was that when we got down Regent Street, where there were a lot of offices, all the office people decided to throw down ticker tape rather like they do in America.
And although our horses had been beautifully trained to tolerate every sort of noise and bang and frightening things, they hadn't been trained, or mine hadn't, in having ticker tape wound round its tummy, so it did a couple of bucks.
The brake man at back of the coach - who applied the brakes whenever there was a hill - London is actually very hilly - came out and pulled all the ticker tape from underneath my horse, which quietened down, but about two more bucks and I would have been on the ground.
It's not very easy in that full dress, when you're mounted on those horses: you can't grip with your knees because the jack boots come up to the knees, and it's quite a difficult ride.
Q: The Queen's Coronation Day is often associated with the bad weather. Did it affect the escort?
The only thing which spoilt that day was rain - it rained a lot. General Julian Gascoigne, commanding the London District of the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry, decided not to put on cloaks and anti-rain things. We were all in our full dress, so we all got wet.
The Foot Guards and the Life Guards wear scarlet, so their tunics stained worse than my lot. I was in the Blues and Royals and I was in a blue tunic and it wasn't quite so bad.
The rain didn't do an awful lot of harm but of course there was a lot of cleaning-up afterwards. With all the Household Cavalry wearing cuirasses and helmets and so on, they all had to be cleaned, having been rained on heavily.
Q: Did you have to attend any rehearsals?
There were two separate rehearsals. The rehearsal in the Abbey was done with the Duchess of Norfolk representing The Queen. We saw the whole thing and heard all the singing, as I was mounted on the actual day.
As for the rehearsals for the horses themselves, there was more than one. They were usually done about three o'clock on a Sunday morning, so as to not interrupt normality of course. We'd even been round the whole thing on our feet as well as on our horses.
Of course the horses had a tremendous amount of training at Windsor. Richard Dimbleby from the BBC came and watched us training the horses. We threw thunder flashes at their feet, we opened umbrellas in their faces, we did everything we could to frighten the horses and they were extremely well trained. In fact there were no untoward events and, what's more, no one fell off either.
There was one slight incident I think on one of the rehearsals when a coach itself got lodged in one of the gates, but it didn't happen on the day, so it was fine.
There were people who marched beside the coach, apart from the mounted ones. There were Gentlemen at Arms and Yeoman of the Guard and there were quite a lot of people walking close to the coach.
Q: How did you prepare in the morning of the Coronation?
You have to have help when you get dressed; it's much too complicated otherwise. You could wear almost anything you liked underneath your tunic. I always wore a silk shirt without a collar and then you had your very tight fitting breeches. The boots sort of stood up on their own, so you could step into them; the spurs were already fitted. Then having got the tunic on you have to put on your cuirass - that's the breastplate - which is in two parts.
Q: What were your thoughts and feelings on the day?
Well, of course I was terribly worried, most of the time, that something could go wrong. Luckily I had a very nice horse and there was no problem riding. I remember hearing the band play God Save The Queen absolutely non-stop all the way. I was well behind the coach, so everybody could see The Queen, and I was in that position for the whole thing. As we had our rehearsals there were no problems really. It was a wonderful day - except for the rain!
Q: Do you have any special mementoes?
I received the Coronation medal, which I am very proud of.
Q: What is your most distinct memory?
I think it would be sitting in the barracks when we dismounted watching the service. Although I'd been to the rehearsal I thought watching that service was absolutely magnificent. The music, the ceremony and the whole atmosphere. I will always remember it.
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