The extraordinary photo above captured in April 1936, showed the funeral of the German Ambassador Leopold Von Hoesch, with the people clearly giving the Nazi salute on the balcony of the Germany Embassy on Carlton House Terrace, overlooking The Mall. This photo was unearthed for the Discovery Channel programme: ‘Wartime London with Harry Harris’, a London cab driver and historian who has driven a taxi for two decades.
The Grenadier Guards and Nazi soldiers march together down The Pall Mall carrying a swastika-draped coffin; well-liked by most British statesmen, von Hoesch was considered as the best hope for enhancing the Anglo-German relations during the early 1930s. He was a career diplomat but no Nazi; he would even be disturbed by this display of Nazi pageantry at his funeral — he frequently feuded with Hitler over disarmament and vocally denounced Hitler’s invasion of Rhineland. If it were not for this untimely death, it was most likely that he would have been recalled.
Von Hoesch was replaced by his nemesis, Joachim von Ribbentrop, who lasting legacy in London was to transform the German Embassy into a grandiose building that would convey some of the portentous glamour of the Third Reich. The 6-9 Carlton House Terrance, the then embassy within the sight of the Buckingham Palace and the Foreign Office, was renovated with Albert Speer himself flying in from Berlin and designing staircase inside made from Italian marble donated by Mussolini. No. 7 was used as a base to house German military attachés and the headquarters of the Nazi espoinage machine in London.
The Germans were kicked out at the outbreak of war, and the building was stripped of its Nazi fixtures before it was rented to the Royal Society in 1967. There are still signs that this was once a Nazi residence, including the border designs of swastikas on the floor of one public room. A memorial to Giro, von Hoesch’s dog which died in 1934 when he made a fatal connection with an exposed electricity wire, was also buried here. Its grave on the front garden to No 9, with the epitaph “Giro: Ein treuer Begleiter” (“Giro: A true companion”), remains Great Britain’s sole Nazi memorial, situated somewhat inappropriately in an area filled with monuments to heroes of the British Empire.
Iconic Photos 
Better watch out. Much of this article is plagiarized from other sources.
Plagarised perhaps; more importantly, is it accurate?
If I am not mistaken, this photo has been cropped. I believe the original print shows a group of guardsmen, present as the guard of honour, are also (under orders) raising their arms in the Nazi salute.
Interesting. Do you know where the original can be seen?
Churchill and Fascist plotters. Recently shown on Channel 4. We can see the Nazi funeral in movie filming. I got big surprise from that
I think the war is still on about fascism. I read many years ago working on a grad paper (Propaganda) an old text that described the original movement led by the wealthy and their corporations as Corporate Fascism – they are winning – but I hope not.
no suprise nazi’s in london they were even in churchill’s bunker but it is great to see that some remanance remain this will show that nazi’s were in england and at piece before Churchill but not after the war monger became priminister
They’re still there they’re called Tories and Tory lite Labour, nothing much really changes at the top end of their club
Check out more info here – including a different angle. Photos appear to be stills from newsreel.
https://darkestlondon.com/2011/11/10/giro-londons-favourite-dead-nazi-dog/
And you can view that newsreel footage here.
http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//BHC_RTV/1936/04/16/BGU407210395/
Or just walk through the London streets of the New Reich 2016
Strictly speaking this was not a funeral. It was a common courtesy afforded all Ambassadors who died in post in the UK. The gun carriage (from the RHA) only carried his coffin to the nearest railway station ( usually Victoria, or if by Hearse to the Duke of York’s HQ in Chelsea) and from there he would have been taken to the nearest airport ( probably Croydon then) and flown back to Berlin. German soldiers did not march down the Mall. This courtesy continued until the early 1960s by which time the practice ceased as it was no longer required.