Queen Elizabeth II's Final Resting Place - The Memorial Chapel of King George VI

foreign a lot of people have been asking me questions about the final burial place of her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip it is in a space called The George VI Memorial Chapel so I thought I'd do a video on this interesting architectural space where it is within St George's Chapel Windsor and its innovative design the chapel is both a bold work of 1960s modernist architecture but it's also a structure that is I think very in keeping with the rest of the medieval fabric of Saint George's Chapel first things first we know that the queen is buried underneath this Chapel in a closed burial Vault now just to clear things up as there has been some confusion over the terminology I used in my video on the George III Royal vault at Windsor in England a burial vault is not a structure that is above ground nor is it a concrete surround for a casket as it is in some parts of the world but it is a chamber that is constructed from brick or stone it is called a burial vault as it has a vaulted roof of brick or of stone and they're almost always Subterranean in Britain the vast majority of English Parish churches have brick Burial Vaults of this type constructed under their flaws as from the 15th century right through to the 19th century burial in such a vault was the usual method of burying the wealthy who more often than not chose to be read inside Church buildings are not out in the cold and wet of the churchyard as a practice burying in such faults has more or less died out except in the case of some of the royal family and some aristocratic family also my use of the term coffin has confused some International viewers in England we don't really differentiate between coffins and caskets and we use the term coffin to describe any solid receptacle for the complete body of a dead person before we get on with the main part of the video I want to thank all of my new subscribers for all of your kind support and your many comments I'm really glad you found your way here and that you enjoy the content if you like my videos you will also love my magazine the antichrie which has lots of articles on the more obscure aspects of British history purchasing and subscribing to it and either print or digital form really helps support my work on this channel so back to business and to the George the sixth Memorial Chapel when King George the sixth died in 1952 at the early age of 57 he was initially buried within the Royal Vault of George III see my other video for details of that his grandfather King Edward VII and his father King George V had also initially been buried in that Royal Vault but they were eventually moved up into the chapel proper of Saint George with King Edward being buried in a newly constructed tomb next to the high altar of the chapel later to be joined there by his consort Queen Alexandria in 1939 George V was buried in a tomb in the Nave of the chapel under one of the western arches later to be joined in 1953 by his consult Mary of tech both Kings and their queens were buried under tombs with Effigies figures of them on the top the intention in time was to provide something very similar for King George VI but it took until 1962 for plans to begin to be drawn up at that point it was decided not to provide a tomb with Effigies that seemed somewhat inappropriate and old-fashioned in the post-war context and something much more contemporary was proposed for the man who led Britain through the second world war and for the first time since the 16th century it was decided to add a new structure to Saint George's Chapel to House's tomb initially it was proposed that a small rectangular Chapel was added onto the north wall of the Nave to a design by the well-known architect John Seeley and Paul Paget but this idea and their plans were quickly rejected after that initial failing a new younger architect was brought to work with celium Padgett I quite experienced Man Called George Pace who had an architectural practice in York where he mostly restored and furnished medieval churches and designed new ones Pace was a modernist architect who designed rather Innovative buildings in his own very characteristic style but also had a great understanding and sympathy for medieval architecture so he was a really rather inspired choice for this job there was a desire at that time to create a new space that was bold but was also unobtrusive and the decision was made to cite the new structure not attached to the naive but on the north side of the north choir Isle of the chapel near the high Altar and close to the tomb of king Edward IV the chapel would then mirror a 16th century structure the Chantry Chapel of Bishop Oliver King on the south choir Isle thus maintaining some Symmetry and balance to Saint George's Chapel as a whole Pace went through five different design stages before coming to a final plan producing well over a thousand drawings one of Pace's early designs was for a square Mortuary Chapel with an altar set in a rectangular projection at right angles to it his his rough draft drawing another rather than having two spaces was irregularly shaped and had a hidden light well and extra space to the side the in this plan the whole structure was to be vaulted with the stone Vault this was probably a little bit too lavish for George VI a king of simple tastes the final design had elements of both of these ideas as bills the Memorial Chapel plan consists of two discrete areas a lower area which George Pace calls the mortuary Chapel is directly off the north aisle and it's the space above the burial vault the roof of this was kept intentionally low so not to block the windows of the aisle but also to give the impression that one is entering a tomb this space sits between two of the external buttresses supporting the walls of Saint George's chapel and three of the internal walls of the mortuary Chapel are formed from these buttresses and the adjoining external Walling and set into the floor of the mortuary Chapel is a black Ledger Stone of Belgian marble simply engraved with the names in Gold letters of those buried there and this Stone was a bit of a nod to tradition these black stones called Ledger Stones simply engraved in this manner are used to cover the graves of Edward IV King Henry VI and King Henry VII Jane Seymour and Charles the first within George's Chapel in addition to the black Legend Stone there is also a bronze portrait round rule of King George VI by Sir William Reed dick a copy of an original Sandringham in Sandringham Parish church and there is now a similar round all to the Queen Mother on the wall Above The Ledger Stone incidentally the black Ledger Stone laid down this week when the queen was buried is not a new one the names of her late majesty and Prince Philip have been added to the original slab lay down in 1969 for George the sixth insert between the two sets of names is a bronze garter Star both of these sovereigns and their consorts were members of the order of the Garter and St George's Chapel is the orders Chapel then off the mortuary Chapel at a right angle Rises the taller what pace calls the liturgical Chapel that contains an auto Stone flanked by candlesticks of bronze which were also designed by Pace this is lit with tall Windows containing abstract stained glass windows they were designed by the painter John Piper and made by the stained glass artist Patrick rantians only the bottom of these windows can be seen by the visitor viewing the chapel from the aisle also hidden from views the ceiling above the altar which is painted in black white and gold with a fanciful pattern that is inspired by the medieval fan vaulting that's in George's Chapel is famous for from the outside it is only this taller five-sided liturgical Chapel that you can see looking somewhat like a stylized medieval Tower built of clipsham limestone from Rutland and with half a century of weathering it Blends in with the medieval structure beautifully now there was some Modern innovation in the Chapel's design and construction the floor of the chapel has underfloor heating installed and the lead roof is similarly electrically heated to prevent to the buildup of frost and snow now we know that Prince Philip was really interested in new Innovations and I really wonder if he is responsible for their inclusion lastly I should say something about the design of the entrance to the George VI Memorial Chapel it is through a low Arch In The Isle wall and the steps down into the chapel the new Arch Blends beautifully with the late 15th century architecture of the Isle the entrance is enclosed by wrought iron railings again designed by Pace his wrought iron work is really rather inventive the lower level of railings rather than having spikes has little mace heads as terminations and then there are these taller upright posts that terminate with finials that are almost feathery in character are they stylize crowns these railings support an inscription commemorating the king and the famous inscription I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown from the poem the Gate of the Year by Minnie Louise Haskins words quoted by George the sixth in his Royal Christmas message of 1939 the first Royal message of the war words of great faith that are so much associated with him this striking and beautiful Memorial Chapel was complete by March of 1969 and 17 years after his death King George VI was reinterred there now we know that the Burial Vaults below the mortuary Chapel now contains the coffins of George VI of his wife Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Elizabeth II and Philip Duke of Edinburgh the cremated remains of Princess Margaret Countess of Snowden the daughter of George VI and Queen Elizabeth are also buried in there there has been some suggestion that there is also room for two more coffins for another Sovereign in his consort for King Charles III and queen Camilla when we have no idea if that is correct or not only time will tell we have no idea what this burial Vault looks like inside or how the coffins are arranged there has been absolute discretion and all of that some press reports are suggested that the Queen's coffin was lowered 18 feet into the George the sixth burial Vault I doubt that it is that Steep and I suspect the Press are getting confused with the George the third royal Vault whose floor is indeed 18 or so foot from the floor of the main Chapel we also don't know precisely where the access to the burial vault is though I assume that the large black Ledger Stone covers the mouth of the Vault that would not be unusual for volts in English church buildings the queen was initially interred in the larger world of alter George III during her funeral and my suspicion is that this was arranged for the sake of dignity to broadcast to the world the transfer of her coffin to her final resting place which is we have seen is accessed from a very confined and low space would not have been particularly dignified and it would have exposed to view the coffins of the late King George VI and the Queen Mother the left of the royal catafalc that takes confidence down to the jaw to third Vault presumably comes up as well as going down so the coffins of the queen and Prince Philip would no doubt have been raised from the Vault by that means so there you have it her late Majesty is buried in the chapel that she built for her Father which is a fine and very striking work of late 20th century design we four as the Queen Mother referred to her husband and daughters now fittingly rest there together along with Prince Philip who quietly and in his own manner spent his life in service to them thanks very much for watching if you like what you see on this channel Please Subscribe and share you can help support the channel at PayPal and at the website buy me a coffee details are below in the description box and links are on 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Channel: Allan Barton - The Antiquary

Views: 649,816

Keywords: George VI, Memorial Chapel, Windsor Castle, Queen Funeral, Queen Buried, Queen Elizabeth II coffin, Queen Elizabeth funeral, Royal vault, George Vi memorial chapel, queen burial, royal funerals, ledger slab, ledger stone, George Pace, chantry chapel, St Georges chapel Windsor, Prince Philip, Queen Mother, royal tombs, royal graves, royal burials

Id: VcSMJJmEtnA

Length: 13min 36sec (816 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 26 2022