From Whitehall, the cortège crossed Horse Guards until it reached The Mall. There, it passed Marlborough House, Edward’s home of forty years, before cutting through to St James’s Street, where the crowds were estimated to be twenty deep. At Piccadilly, it headed west, entering Hyde Park by Apsley Gate, then proceeded northward along the Drive. As many as three hundred thousand mourners were gathered there alone. Barbed wire had been wound around the trunks of the trees to prevent climbing but, far from acting as a deterrent, it had facilitated the ascent of scores of young men who claimed
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