Queen’s last resting place is a small chapel in historic Windsor Fort

WINDSOR, England (Reuters) – On the finish of a state funeral watched by hundreds of thousands of individuals the world over, Queen Elizabeth was being introduced residence to her beloved Windsor Fort to be buried in a small chapel in a personal ceremony.

Initially constructed by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest in 1066, Windsor Fort has been rebuilt and remodelled over the centuries however is the oldest and largest occupied citadel on the earth.

Simply outdoors London, it was the queen’s major weekend retreat and within the later years of her reign her most popular residence.

An enormous fireplace there in 1992 brought about a lot injury, capping what the queen known as her “Annus Horribilis” (Horrible Yr), which noticed a string of scandals hit the royal household.

Windsor Fort is the resting place of greater than a dozen English and British kings and queens. Most are buried in St. George’s Chapel, together with Henry VIII, who died in 1547, and Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649.

The queen will likely be buried on the King George VI Memorial Chapel, which is subsequent to the quire of the principle St George’s Chapel. She commissioned the memorial chapel in 1962 and named it for her father.

King George and his spouse, the Queen Mom, are interred there, together with their youthful daughter Princess Margaret.

A lot of the music for use on the service was composed or organized by William Henry Harris, organist on the chapel between 1933 and 1961. He’s thought to have taught the queen the piano as a baby.

The queen, then princess, and her husband Prince Philip have been put in as members of the Order of the Garter – Britain’s most senior order of chivalry – at St George’s Chapel in 1948.

Residing Knights of the Garter have banners displaying their arms hung within the chapel. These are taken down once they die, however a brass “stallplate” stays as a memorial.

Queen Elizabeth attended the Maundy Service, when cash is distributed to individuals who have accomplished nice work for his or her communities, on the chapel in 1959, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

St George’s Chapel hosted the funerals of Philip, the queen’s father, her grandfather George V, and great-grandfather Edward VII.

Her grandson Prince Harry was baptised there, and married there in 2018. Prince William, now inheritor to the throne, was confirmed there.

The coffin of Prince Philip, who died on April 9, 2021, final yr, has been saved in a Royal Vault in order that he may be buried alongside the queen.

(This story refiles to right to take away repetition in first paragraph).

(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Angus MacSwan; Modifying by Alex Richardson)