Publish date: 18 May 2023
Edward Flaherty, Bank Capital Works Escort, was invited to take part in the King’s Coronation. Eddy served more than 20 years in the armed forces and joined the Royal British Legion and become a Standard Bearer. Eddy has shared his story with us.
After serving more than 20 years in the armed forces, I left thinking that was the end of my life in uniform, little did I know that I would join the Royal British Legion and become a Standard Bearer. This happened quite by accident, I went to Standard Bearer Training to see what would be expected from me, and that night was told to join in. I was then told that there was a competition for the coveted County Standard Bearer appointment, in just eight weeks time. I was due to go to Portugal on holiday for two weeks before the competition so took my shoes with me to ‘bull’ up and was practicing the moments with a brush on the veranda.
8 weeks later, I came second amongst eight other standard bearers and became the Deputy County Standard Bearer. I was told I would be lucky if I was asked to carry the East Liverpool Branch Standard three times within the year. My first year, I took the standard out on parades and at funerals more than 30 times. That was it, the bug had bitten.
Within four years I became the County Standard Bearer and then Regional Standard Bearer which I achieved three times.
I thought the highlight of my Standard Bearer career was going on the pitch at St Helens Rugby Club, Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs for the Remembrance match, but then I went to the Royal Albert Hall for the Festival of Remembrance.
As the County Standard Bearer, I was asked by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool to attend a pilgrimage to the battle fields of the First World War, along with the Lord Lieutenant, and the High Sheriff of Merseyside. The following year along with 1,250 other Standard Bearers and 1,250 Wreath Layers we marched through the Menin Gate recreating the first parade of The British Legion commemorating the first anniversary of WWI and we were doing the same thing on Centenary.
In 2022, I was invited to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. I felt that I would never be able to ‘better’ this great honour and decided to concentrate on my role as a parade marshal and future judge. At the age of 70, I decided to semi retire as a Standard Bearer. I was still the County Standard Bearer and had retained this for nine years so thought it was time to give the younger people the opportunity to be County Standard Bearer.
But then the call came that I had been chosen to attend King Charles III Coronation, we had to keep this totally secret for nearly three months. A couple of weeks before, the Royal British Legion issued letters to employers, but still we were not allowed to put anything on social media or announce our attendance. As per Queen Elizabeth’s funeral we had to be in London from the Tuesday before the Coronation. Therefore, we travelled to London on Tuesday 2 May, checked into our room and ensured my ‘kit’ had survived the journey, we then had a briefing at 5pm and our evening meal, we then collected our wrist bands and got on the coaches. We arrived at Horse Guards (Golden Acre) and had a full dress rehearsal and arrived back at the hotel just after 4am. Wednesday was a rest day, however our ‘kit’ had to be polished and bulled.
Thursday and Friday were practice around the hotel and in Hyde Park. Then came the big day. It was breakfast at 5am then onto the buses, we marched onto Parliament Square just before 10am in the pouring rain. The first royal dip was ok, however the second and third became more and more difficult as the rain had soaked the standards making them much heavier.
As the only civilian contingency taking part in the Coronation, it was a great honour to be asked to be one of the 100 Standard Bearers and something at my age that I am not likely to do again. The day was amazing and emotional, but the sense of pride that I have in all the Standard Bearers of the Royal British Legion is immense, whether they took part in London or in towns, villages and cities across this and other countries.