New headstone in chapel honours four of the family

THE names of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, written simply as “Philip”, have been inscribed on a new headstone, as the late monarch joins her mother and father in the Windsor chapel where she was buried on Monday.

She was laid to rest alongside the Duke of Edinburgh in a private evening service attended by the King and her closest family after a state funeral at Westminster Abbey and committal service at Windsor Castle.

Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the inscription on the ledger stone in the King George VI Memorial Chapel bears the names of the Queen, her parents and husband, along with the years of their birth and death.

The stone replaces the black slab set into the floor that bore the names George VI and Elizabeth in gold lettering. It lists: “George VI 1895-1952” and “Elizabeth 1900-2002” followed by a metal Garter Star, and then “Elizabeth II 1926-2022” and “Philip 1921-2021”. All four were members of the Order of the Garter, which counts St George’s Chapel as it spiritual home.

When the Duke of Edinburgh died, 17 months ago, his coffin was interred in the Royal Vault at St George’s, ready to be moved to the memorial chapel – an annexe added on to the north side of the building behind the North Quire Aisle in 1969 – when the Queen died.

The Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, was cremated in 2002 and her ashes placed in the Royal Vault, before being moved to the memorial chapel when the Queen Mother died weeks later.