A JERSEY soldier who helped carry Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin at the state funeral has returned to Iraq with his British Army regiment, according to reports.
Former Grainville student Fletcher Cox (19) was part of a group from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards who carried the lead-lined coffin.
National media reports said that the group of eight pallbearers had returned to Iraq, where they were previously on duty before the Queen died earlier this month.
Mr Cox was once a cadet in the Grainville detachment of the Army Cadet Force. The school is the only non-fee-paying secondary in the Island to have its own section in the Jersey Militia Army Cadet Force.
Mr Cox is also a previous recipient of the Lieutenant-Governor’s Award, which is the highest accolade a cadet can achieve.
He is now part of the Queen’s Company Guardsmen, which is an elite British Army infantry unit famed for their bearskin hats and red tunics. They are the senior Guards regiment, with members being fully trained combat soldiers.
UK MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defence Select Committee, recently told The Times that the Queen’s coffin bearers ‘did such an astonishing job under the spotlight that they do justify consideration for the New Year Honours List’.
