I found this on another forum and found it interesting but sad, regarding the trombonist.
“My brother in law plays with The Prince of Wales’ Regimental Band… the marching has been practiced (“hammered”) for over a week, all with bands playing (almost continuously)…
After six hours a day playing/marching, they have had night rehearsals in London and then, on the day itself, had to be at barracks at 1:30am for a obligatory breakfast (nobody fainting through not eating) then chartered trains to Waterloo (if I remember that right).
They marched up from Waterloo into position, playing all the way. They then played/marched in the procession. And then (off camera!) they played/marched again back to Waterloo to catch their trains back to barracks! When playing, there was no break between marches - literally turn the card and off you go with the next.
The bass drummer for his band was signed off with exhaustion on Wednesday after rehearsing for over a week - it was his last engagement before retirement and he was absolutely gutted, but otherwise there was a real danger of him collapsing mid parade!
My BiL has blisters on his blisters, a split lip (he’s a cornet player) and is still aching from the marching. He drove home from barracks last night and by the time he came in at midnight yesterday he had done 24 hours straight. Needless to say, he had a lie in this morning and a long afternoon nap, too!
As he has said, he is immensely proud to have taken part in it all and says the planning and execution of the music for the occasion by the military bands was first class. At the end of the day, our military can absolutely out perform anyone when it comes to pageantry, but there is a human cost in sheer hard work and physical exhaustion to achieve it.
On an even more solemn note, watchers may have noticed the timpani and tuba players in the mounted band having problems with their horses during the parade; and there has been footage of one of the Life Guard’s horses being spooked and crashing into the barriers. What hasn’t been reported is the trombonist thrown from his mount after it was spooked and, as a result, having to have major facial surgery last night! My B-I-L knows him - he’d left the army but is in the reserves, and having previously played with the mounted band was helping them out due to personnel shortages. From the reports of his injuries, he’ll possibly never play his instrument again. Having said that, we all hope he makes a full recovery from his injuries.
My BiL is only thankful that - unless the King has an unexpected heart attack and drops dead sooner than expected - he won’t have to do the next one! In fact, he said that he would probably resign if they got notice of a second state funeral (and he thought that was hard work!)”
