In the coffin, Queen Victoria also asked for a cloak which Princess Alice had embroidered for her father. In 1897, Victoria had written instructions for her funeral, which was to be military as befitting a soldier's daughter and the head of the army,[1] and feature white dress instead of black. The queen's state funeral began Monday morning after King Charles III led a procession from nearby Westminster Hall, where her body had rested in state since Wednesday afternoon. Stefan is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to The Vintage News. Queen Victoria was the second-longest reigning British monarch in history, ruling the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901. This foresight, so typical of the queens pragmatic, no-nonsense personality, was a far cry from the confusion that greeted the death of Englands last great queen. The world said their final farewells to Queen Elizabeth II during a state funeral held in her honor Monday, Sept. 19. There was great consternation and bewilderment in the Lord Chamberlains office, as well as in the royal family, as to what was the correct mourning for the sovereign, the queens granddaughter Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein recalled. Stewart Richards is the author of Curtain Down at Her Majestys: The Death of Queen Victoria (The History Press, January 2019). Scotland Yard was informed. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Show more Show more. The coffin was guarded all night by trusty MarinesOutside the basin lay the Victoria and Albert, with the king and other royal mourners on boardbeyond them the long array of warships, forming a glittering lane, scintillating with myriads of lights, and extending, as far as the eye could reach, across the still, dark waters of the Solent. Many people tweeted about the paper incident. Queen Victoria wanted no embalming, no lying-in-state, and no mourning black. There were talks of a regency, while Osborne House already overflowing with guests was bombarded with anxious telegrams and telephone calls, and journalists gathered excitedly outside the gates. The Duke of Norfolk luckily had some guidance. Am I better? she asked Sir James, I should like to live a little longer, as I have still a few things to settle. As if her trusted doctor could make her live, Sir James kindly reassured her: Yes, Your Majesty has been very ill but you are now better. Meanwhile the Prince of Wales and his sisters (known as the petticoats) tried to prevent the kaiser reaching Osborne. God! Her eldest daughter Vicky, the Dowager Empress of Germany had been diagnosed with incurable breast cancer that had spread to her spine, and the empress was languishing in great pain in her castle in Kronberg. Around 33,000 soldiers entered London and had to be fed and billeted. They had little time to find out. Follow the procession and services with up-to-the-minute updates by our royal experts. At the end of her life, Victoria summoned her secretary (who was also her chief lady-in-waiting) and dictated 12 pages of specific instructions regarding her funeral and burial. What followed was chaos and confusion. On receipt of the telegram, the kaiser immediately cancelled the celebrations and left Berlin with the Duke of Connaught and set sail for England, throwing the squabbling family into turmoil and forcing them to make public news of the queens illness. The casting of a death mask was ordered by the kaiser, causing uproar among the royal family as it was known the queen had disliked the use of such masks. This is because of Queen Victoria. Chris Jackson // Getty Images. LONDON Big Ben gonged, one peal from the Great Bell for each . The funeral had cost 35,500 (4.5 million). A bishop dropped a piece of paper near the Queen's coffin. [11], The service in the afternoon of Saturday 2 February at St George's Chapel followed the liturgy of the Burial Service in the Book of Common Prayer and was the first royal funeral for which a printed order of service had been produced. RM WH8NMH - Queen Victoria's Funeral Procession London on its way to Windsor 2 February 1901 behind the coffin rose the new King Edward VII and his nephew, the Kaiser RM 2AF0ERN - QUEEN VICTORIA (1819-1901) Her coffin leaving St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on Saturday 2 February 1901 In a tradition dating back to Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901, the state gun carriage bearing the coffin was hauled to the abbey by Royal Navy sailors, followed in a solemn procession by King . It remained in the Throne Room. But there was more. It was placed onto the 123-year-old gun carriage, which took it . Victoria was the longest-ruling British monarch, reigning from 1837-1901. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Sir Frederick Ponsonby, the queens assistant private secretary, travelled to London to discover the Earl Marshals office in total chaos with nothing arranged. LONDON - After the funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II at 11am local time (6pm Singapore time), the ceremonial processions taking her coffin to London's Westminster . Princess Helena and Princess Beatrice, the queens daughters and constant companions, could not accept that their mother could actually die and tried to maintain business as usual. Published in the The Graphic, 16 October 1897. She was the first of the Queen's daughters to die and, following the death of Prince Albert, the grief only added to the queens many sorrows. Death and all that came with it hovered far more closely to the living than it does today. Sign up to British Heritage Travel's daily newsletter here! After a short train ride to Windsor, the funeral party began the procession on horseback and foot to St. Georges Chapel for the queens state funeral. The service in St Georges Chapel was also chaotic. Across the nation, people gathered in small groups to sing God Save the Queen and by eight oclock, shop windows were dressed in black mourning; Whiteleys department store in London had queues ten deep as customers lined up to purchase their black mourning outfits. Then Queen Alexandra came tearing out, looking this way and that way, before Clarendon persuaded her to go back into the chapel.. Victorians had something of an obsession with death and death rituals. Here, Stewart Richards considers Queen Victorias final moments, the chaotic preparations for her state funeral on 2 February 1901, and the secret items placed inside her coffin. And so, 138 bluejackets piled their arms [propped up their weapons], attached ropes to the carriage where the harnesses had been, and dragged the gun carriage to St Georges Chapel by hand, giving birth to a new royal tradition. The burial of Queen Victoria took place on 2 February 1901, exactly 120 years ago. He is a graduate in Literature. They intended to kill the kaiser and Leopold II, King of the Belgians, during the funeral procession. Find professional Queen Victoria Funeral videos and stock footage available for license in film, television, advertising and corporate uses. Victoria's reign had spanned the 19th century, starting in 1837 though she would be out-reigned by . They cut off her hair, dressed her in a white silk dressing gown with garter ribbon and star and placed her wedding veil over her face. Victoria kept her own bedroom draped in blackand decorated throughout with Albert's visage in photos and portraits. The wedding ring of the mother of her personal servant, John Brown, was placed on her finger; a photograph of Brown and a lock of his hair were laid beside her, along with Browns pocket handkerchief, all carefully hidden from view. A short while later, the small notice of announcement was pinned on the bulletin board where a large crowd of journalists were waiting. After the Garter Principal King of Arms had proclaimed the Queen's styles and titles, the anthem Blest are the departed by Louis Spohr was reportedly followed by the Dresden amen. This was also the age of Romanticism, an artistic, literary, and cultural tradition that focused on both the natural and unnatural world. Oct 05, 2018 #10. Queen Elizabeth's coffin was lowered into the Royal Vault at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on Monday evening. Be pleased with yourself had you lived in 19th century London and reached the advanced age of 45. And so it was her doctor who followed through with all her wishes. At Windsor, when the royal coffin was loaded atop the gun carriage for the procession and the artillery horses took the weight, granddaughter of Queen Victoria Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone said the day was very cold and "nothing in the world would make them start". From her greed is good heyday to her post-divorce denouement cavorting with a series of freaky Italian lovers, it was Ivana, all along, who gilded the Trump name. However, on the Isle of Wight, all was peaceful, the sun unusually cheerful and bright. The Accession council was hastily convened, where the Lord Mayor had to be forcibly ejected, and to the consternation of those present the king extemporised his accession speech. With no photos for reference, and few people alive who remembered the last sovereigns death, royal servants were at a loss. Her Majesty the Queen breathed her last at 6.30pm, surrounded by her children and grand-children.. Her death marked the end of an era where many of her subjects knew no other monarch. Even weirder is that she slept with it for years after his demise. The Lord's Prayer in Latin by Charles Gounod, and the anthem How blest are they by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky followed. All rights reserved. This was followed by the funeral sentences by Wesley and Purcell that had been sung at the funeral, Lord have mercy by Thomas Tallis and Gounoud's Lord's Prayer. A piece of Queen Victoria's Coffin at Auction. Victoria's body remained on board ship overnight before being conveyed by gun carriage to Gosport railway station the following day for the train journey to London. I had contemplated all sorts of things going wrong, the exhausted Ponsonby wrote, but such a mishap had never occurred to me., According to British Heritage Travel, none other than Prince Louis of Battenberg (the grandfather of Prince Philip) saved the day when he had the ingenious idea of having 138 naval guards drag the carriage to the chapel with ropes (now a royal tradition). Second, she expressed a desire to be buried as "a soldier's daughter". Getty Images offers exclusive rights-ready and premium royalty-free analog, HD, and 4K video of the highest quality. The queen had requested that she not be embalmed, so a coffin had to be ordered quickly. In what could be seen as an ancient throwback the Queen asked that she be buried wearing as much of her jewelry as could be fit on her body. Its understandable that Victoria later developed an attachment for that particular embroidered cloak. Official read another. Sailors pulling the gun carriage carrying the coffin of Queen Victoria, Windsor, Berkshire, 1901. History Extra tells us that Queen Victoria wanted a real funeral. As the last death of a sovereign had occurred in 1837, no one seemed to know what the procedure was, wrote Sir Frederick Ponsonby, the queens harried equerry in ordinary and assistant private secretary. [1] Her funeral was held on Saturday, 2 February, in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and after two days of lying-in-state, she was interred beside Prince Albert in the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore at Windsor Great Park.[6]. This was an ode to her beloved Scottish castle, Balmoral where she spent so much time. A crowd of carriages set off at gallop. This tradition dates back to Queen Victoria's funeral in February 1901. He was so unsuitable a person, as it appeared to me, that we declined to leave him (as he wished) in the room to take the necessary measurements, and as a matter of fact the measurements were taken by the emperor, [Sir James] Reid, and myself, under the direction of the man, who stood by and told us exactly what he wanted. Get 6 issues for 19.99 and receive a 10 gift card* PLUS free access to HistoryExtra.com, Save 70% on the shop price when you subscribe today - Get 13 issues for just $49.99 + FREE access to HistoryExtra.com, The final days and death of Queen Victoria. At Waterloo station they handed over responsibility to the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars who placed the . The penultimate funeral ritual for the . Queen Elizabeth's casket will also be closed during her funeral. Her children were in denial, her government was unprepared, and the public knew nothing at all. The Queen's coffin was lowered into the royal vault as her final service ended at St George's Chapel. I am sending for my mourning trappings observed Marie Mallet, maid of honour to the queen, we never escape jet for long. Victoria's own view of the future was bleak: Another year begun, I am feeling so weak and unwell, that I enter upon it sadly.. The first bone of contention was who should take control of the funeral. The official service was followed by a moving ceremony for the family on 4 February, in the mausoleum the queen had built for her husband at Frogmore, adjoining Windsor Castle. A period of national mourning commenced and his elder daughter and successor, Queen Elizabeth II was proclaimed the new monarch by the Accession Council. Queen Victoria was buried in a sea of sentimental souvenirs and amid a variety of flowers. The lady-in-waiting hand delivered the instructions to the Queen's personal physician, Sir James Reid. But two pieces of jewelry stand out in importance: Queen Victorias wedding ring, and a second ring placed on the same finger that was given to her by her supposed lover, John Brown. Events took a dramatic turn for the worse from 17 January as the queen suffered a series of strokes and the entire royal family was suddenly summoned to the Isle of Wight. Special Service To be held on the occasion of the Funeral of Her Late Majesty Queen Victoria, Saturday, February 2nd, 1901, At Two oclock. The kaiser sat motionless at her left side for more than two hours, propping her up with his one good arm, while Sir James Reid sat on her right holding her hand. When an ordinary, humble person dies, everything is arranged quite easily and with reverence and care. Churchill's coffin was placed on board the Havengore at Tower Pier after the state funeral. Queen Victoria was also buried with both her and her husband's wedding rings. The document described what should be done once her body turned cold. She shut herself away, wore black, and allegedly slept with this plaster cast of her lover's hand. This uncanny practice supposedly went on for years. Only one place, in the far corner of the balcony, was unengaged, and that could be had for 15 guineas. She wanted it done with respect but simply. Curiously, for a woman obsessed with death and mourningwho had worn black for decades in honor of her beloved husband Prince Alberts early deathVictoria requested a white funeral, with no public lying in state and no hearse to carry her coffin. A dressing gown that had belonged to her husband Albert who had died 40 years earlier, was placed by her side, along with a plaster cast of his hand, while a lock of John Brown's hair, along with a picture of him, was placed in her left hand concealed from the view of the family by a carefully positioned bunch of flowers. Theatre performances were interrupted as audiences poured out into the streets. Only one request by the Queen was not carried out that a life-size sculpture of her should be moved to the mausoleum at the Frogmore Estate, which housed a matching sculpture of Albert, as well as his remains. In a fit of pique the Pope, "unwilling to be represented at the funeral of a Protestant Queen, refused to send a representative or to allow an official mass to be said for the queen, while businesses demanded that the year of mourning be reduced, fearful of its effect on trade. Taken in the Garden Cottage at Balmoral, 1894 or 1895. Apr 27, 2009 #2. Thanks to the good doctor, Queen Victoria still carried a lock of John Browns hair and a photo of him to her grave. Sign up to British Heritage Travel's daily newsletter here! It is hard at 81! she wrote. Get FREE access to HistoryExtra.com. When the end came, Osborne House was surrounded by police to prevent the news leaking out before the new king Edward VII had concluded the formalities. Lastly, the Queen requested that a small bouquet of Scottish heather be included in her coffin. Her choice came partly fromwanting to stress her interest in economyand partly a desire to symbolize her purity. The coffin had to be transported from Osborne House to the port of Cowes, then across the Solent on the royal yacht Alberta. Samantha Cohen, the Queen's former assistant private secretary, told PEOPLE that watching the Queen's coffin lower into the Royal Vault of the ancient church made the monarch's death feel. The Boer War (18991902, fought between Great Britain and two Afrikaner republics) weighed heavily on her mind, and the lifting of the sieges against Mafeking and Ladysmith in early 1900 had done little to relieve her anxiety. The queen, conscious but unable to see, lamented repeatedly: Sir James, I'm very ill. Each time Reid replied: Your Majesty will soon be better. A young nurse knelt on the back of the bed, supporting the queens head. Some of the most sensitive items were hidden under a cushion in the coffin, making them invisible to her familys prying eyes. The Prince of Wales was reluctant to cancel his weekend jaunts to the country; the Duke of Connaught [the seventh child of Victoria and Albert] was on his way to Berlin to celebrate 200 years of the Prussian monarchy; while other members of the royal family enjoyed a performance of Little Nell in Londons West End. This tradition dates back to Queen Victoria's funeral in February 1901.
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