Cameras cut away for the family to say their last goodbyes
As the Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault, each member of his family had the opportunity to grieve alone
THE eyes of the world were upon them. But in their darkest hour, the Queen and the Royal Family were granted a moment of privacy to bid their final farewells to the Duke of Edinburgh yesterday.
As his body was slowly lowered below the ground into the royal vault of St George’s Chapel, the cameras cut away, allowing each member of the Duke’s family the chance to grieve, briefly, alone for their husband, father and grandfather.
The Duke’s coffin, adorned with white flowers chosen personally by Her Majesty, and a handwritten card reading “in loving memory”, had stood directly before them for the majority of the service. The signature was tucked out of sight in the flowers, obscuring whether it read Elizabeth, or Lillibet, the Duke’s nickname for the Queen.
Placed on the wooden catafalque, covered with purple velvet, in the Quire of St George’s Chapel, it was the focal point of the poignant ceremony, adorned with personal mementos greatly familiar to the Queen, his wife of 73 years, who sat alone, separated from her family. Draped with his personal standard, it was topped with his naval cap and sword, which was given to him by King George VI when he married Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and is engraved with a message from his father-in-law.
The flowers, chosen by the Queen, included white lilies, small white roses, white freesia, white wax flower, white sweet peas and jasmine.
As the time came for the coffin to slowly disappear, the Royal family were granted that critical moment to themselves, lost in their own private thoughts. The cameras cut away from the Queen, hunched over, head bowed, to the piper, the buglers and trumpeters positioned in the Nave.
She remained sitting in her usual seat in the second row of the Quire, this time, for the first time, without her husband by her side.
The service, carefully designed by the Duke himself, was always going to be a moment for the nation to grieve alongside the family.
But this was recognition that behind the pomp and pageantry, at its heart, this was a family occasion.
The catafalque had not been used since the funeral service of King George VI, on February 15 1952. Its lift mechanism has been in place since the time of George III, for whom the royal vault was created between 1804 and 1810.
As well as George III, two other Kings are interred there, George IV and William IV. Other bodies in the vault include George III’s wife Queen Charlotte and their daughter Princess Amelia, George IV’s daughter Princess Charlotte and Queen Victoria’s father the Duke of Kent.
Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, was cremated and her ashes were initially placed in the Royal Vault, before being moved to the George VI memorial chapel with her parents’ coffins when the Queen Mother died just weeks later.
The most recent royal funerals to take place in the chapel, those of Alice, Princess of Gloucester in 2004 and Sir Angus Ogilvy, husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent, the same year, were followed with burials elsewhere.
Despite Edward IV’s rebuilding of St George’s Chapel and his burial there in 1483, Windsor was not fully established as the Royal mausoleum: only Henry VI, Henry VIII, Jane Seymour and Charles I were buried there after him.
Westminster retained the role into the 18th century until around 1800, when George III decided to build a similar vault at Windsor. James Wyatt, the architect, had the area below the chapel dug out and a new vaulted crypt built beneath it. Finished in 1810, it was planned so that a coffin could be taken via a lift and shaft from the Quire directly into the vault itself.
The first royal interred there was Princess Amelia, youngest daughter of George III, in 1810. Seven years later, the Prince Regent, later George IV, requested an entrance be made behind the altar, which is now the main entrance to the 25-metre (82ft) long vault, which is not accessible to the public.
Yesterday, as the Duke’s coffin was lowered slowly out of sight, a Lament was played by a Pipe Major of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, who was filmed as he walked slowly, poignantly, away from the mourners and from the chapel.
The Last Post was sounded by buglers of the Royal Marines from the west end of the Nave and after a brief period of silence, the Reveille was sounded by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry, also located in the west end of the Nave.
A lament was played by a Pipe Major, who was filmed as he walked slowly, poignantly away from the mourners
The State Trumpeters’ State Dress features a permanent black velvet mourning band requested by Queen Victoria in memory of her consort Prince Albert.
Their son, Prince Alfred, was Duke of Edinburgh and had a distinguished Naval career.
The buglers then sounded Action Stations, a Naval tradition, at the Duke’s “specific request”.
The process of lowering the coffin into the vault, via electric motor, took around four-and-half minutes.
But the public was afforded just a brief glimpse, no more than 90 seconds, before the Queen was allowed her moment alone.
When the camera eventually returned to the Quire, the coffin was gone.
We had a brief glimpse of the coffin being lowered before the Queen was allowed her moment alone
After the Archbishop of Canterbury pronounced the blessing, the fourstrong choir sang the National Anthem and the Royal family, led by Her Majesty, slowly made their way out of the chapel. Above them, a laurel wreath lay on the Duke’s Knight of the Garter stall, roped off on the afternoon of his death.
His personal standard, naval cap and sword will remain in the Royal Vault for the time being. The Queen will eventually decide whether she wants them to be put on display at Buckingham Palace or kept privately.
Although the Duke will be interred in the vault, it will not be his final resting place. When the Queen dies, his body will be transferred to the gothic church’s King George VI memorial chapel to lie forever alongside her.
Giving the blessing at the end of the ceremony, before the choir sang the National Anthem, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: “God grant to the living, grace. To the departed, rest. To the Church, the Queen and the Commonwealth and all people, unity, peace and concord. And to us and all God’s servants, life everlasting.
“And the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you all and remain with you, always. Amen.”