Buckingham Palace released the first image of the tombstone installed at Queen Elizabeth II’s final resting place, showing that she has now been reunited with her loving husband, loving parents and beloved sister.
The monarch’s name is now shown inscribed on the Belgian black stone slab, in gold letters, alongside the queen mother, the former king and the Duke of Edinburgh, who has died aged 99.
The new slab replaces the old stone that bore the names and dates of birth and death of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth. It now contains, in list form, “George VI 1895-1952” and “Elizabeth 1900-2002”, and then “Elizabeth II 1926-2022” and “Philip 1921-2021”.
Between the two pairs is a single metal Garter Star, the insignia of the Order of the Garter, the country’s oldest and most noble chivalric order. All four were members of the order and St George’s Chapel, where the memorial chapel is located, is their spiritual home.
Also in the chapel is the queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, who died a month before the queen mother at the age of 71 in 2002. The public can pay their respects in St George’s Chapel from Thursday 29 September by buying a ticket to visit the castle, which costs £28.50 on Saturdays and £26.50 on other days.
The queen was laid to rest with the Duke of Edinburgh on Monday night in a private service attended by the king and royal family, which followed her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial service at Windsor.
When Philip died 17 months ago, his coffin was buried in the Royal Vault at St George’s, ready to be moved to the memorial chapel, a pale stone annex added to the north side of the building behind North Quire Aisle in 1969, when the queen he died.
His remains were then buried in the small family memorial annex built Monday on the north side of St. George’s Chapel. His coffins were gently lowered 18 feet to be placed one on top of the other, supported by a metal frame, inside the 10-by-14-foot chamber.
Her mother passed away at the age of 101 in March 2002. The queen lost her sister, Princess Margaret, the month before at the age of 71. She was cremated and her ashes were initially placed in the Royal Vault, before being transferred to the George VI memorial.
Why was the memorial built?
George VI died in February 1952 at the age of 56, a moment the queen always remembered privately at her Sandringham estate. King George’s coffin had originally been placed in the Royal Vault, but as it was his wish to rest in his own chapel with his beloved wife, his eldest daughter built a memorial chapel named after him. in 1969.
The King George VI Memorial Chapel, which is located within the walls of St George’s Chapel, was commissioned by the Queen in 1962 as her burial place, designed by George Pace and completed in 1969. The resting place of him and his wife was marked by a black headstone inscribed King George VI 1895-1952 and Elizabeth 1900-2002 in gold letters.
The chapel will reopen to visitors next week every day that the castle is open to the public, except for Sundays, when it is only open to the faithful. The castle is only open five days a week, Thursday through Monday, but St. George’s Chapel is closed to the public on Sundays as it is a living place of worship.
Tours of the castle are run by the Royal Collection Trust (RCT), a registered charity and a department of the Royal Household. The income generated from tickets and other commercial activities is used for the upkeep of the Royal Collection, one of the largest and most important art collections in the world and one of the last major European royal collections to remain intact.
Containing thousands of works of art and antiquities, the collection is not owned by the King as a private individual, but is held in trust by the sovereign for his successors and the nation.
ABC