Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Windsor Castle (Part II): He's Not A Damned Alien; He's A Dead Body!


Back for part two of my trip to Windsor Castle…

After watching the Changing of the Guard ceremony, the group made a brief stop in the Middle Ward to admire the Round Tower, before heading down to the Lower Ward. At such time, we made our way into St George’s Chapel. 

The Lower Ward. St George's Chapel is on the right.


NB: This image is not mine!


ST GEORGE'S CHAPEL 

This beautiful place of worship was started by Edward IV in 1475, but not completed until the reign of Henry VIII. Within its walls are buried 10 monarchs—one day that number will be 11, as this is where Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will be buried when she passes away. (She will likely be the last of the monarchs buried in the chapel, as space has become an issue.)

Now, being both a history geek and a fan of burial spots, you’ll forgive me (I hope) for droning on this entry. But I want to highlight some of the important figures buried here, as they have all changed the course of history in one way, shape, or form.

The first person I want to talk about was actually not a monarch. Princess Charlotte Augusta was the only (legitimate) child of the man who would become King George IV. She was also the only eligible heir to the Throne amongst George and his brothers. The public adored her, especially since her grandfather (King George III) was quite mad, and her father and uncles were despised for their hard-partying and lavish, irresponsible spending habits! Charlotte was seen as a breath of fresh air, and there was great hope for her reign. Sadly, at the age of 21, she died due to complications from childbirth. The baby was stillborn. 

This threw the Royal Family into a state of panic! George IV was in poor health and, due to the long life of their father, he and his brothers were all getting old—and, suddenly, there was no heir to the Throne in the next generation. The king and his brothers engaged in a frenzied push to produce a new one, and eventually one of George’s younger brothers had a daughter…England’s future Queen, Victoria. One of the most famous rulers in history almost wasn’t.

It has been said that the public mourning for Charlotte was akin to that which was seen when Diana, Princess of Wales, died. Charlotte's memorial in St George’s (#4 on the map above) reflects that love, and depicts her ascent into Heaven with angels at her side (one of whom holds her baby). 

Sadly, because you aren’t supposed to take photos in St George’s (meaning I had to be underhanded about it—literally), I wasn’t able to get a clear photo.




What it looks like in-full. [NB: This image is not mine!]

 Almost directly across from Princess Charlotte’s memorial (#5 on the map) is an above-ground vault containing the remains of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary

These two fascinate me, and they were the main ones whose tomb I wanted to see this time around (when I was here before, I hardly knew anything about them). I’ll have more to say about them later—when I discuss George’s younger brother, ‘Eddy’ (Prince Albert Victor), I will addresses one of the things I find specifically fascinating about this royal couple—but for now I just want to make mention of other things.

Regarding George V, we have him to thank for the Royal Family’s current surname. Past names—like Tudor, Stuart, and Plantagenet—are well known in popular history. But the name given to Queen Victoria’s descendants (by way of her husband, Prince Albert) was less enduring: House Saxe-Cobourg and Gotha

During World War, I the family name became a propaganda tool, when figures such as H.G. Wells criticized the Royal Family for its Germanic name. Wells even went so far as to call the Royal Court ‘alien [i.e., German] and uninspiring’. In response, George (allegedly) declared, ‘I may be uninspiring, but I’ll be damned if I’m an alien!’ 

To waylay such criticisms, the decision was made to change the Family’s surname to something undeniably British: Windsor. (During Queen Elizabeth II's reign, the name has changed again, becoming Mountbatten-Windsor, to reflect her husband's family.) 


King GeorgeV and Queen Mary. [NB: This image is not mine!]

 Queen Mary is a bit more interesting in my opinion. Terribly shy and reserved, she was nonetheless a pillar of strength and resolve when need-be. Anecdotally, this can be seen in her quest to return Family heirlooms that were sold off by George IV and his brothers to support their out of control spending habits. 

It has been said that when May (as her family called her) would find an object once belonging to the Royal Family, she would…suggest quite directly that it should be returned. It didn’t matter to her who was in possession of the object at the time—what mattered to her was that it was an important piece of history that should never have left the Family’s possession in the first place. After making her not-so-subtle demand, the Queen would then sit down, and not get up again until the object was being packed-up for its return (making polite small-talk the entire time, no matter how uncomfortable those around her were). Thus, people would hide these valued possessions if they knew she was coming. 

Something else worth noting about Queen Mary is that we have her to thank for the current model of Royal duties. Never one to be inactive, the queen paid daily visits to various galleries and museums throughout most of her life. However, during the First and Second World Wars, this constant need to be ‘doing’ transitioned into daily visits to hospitals and areas that had been devastated by attacks. In addition, she and her Ladies-in-Waiting were constantly organizing clothes- and food-drives to help those who were in need. Undoubtedly, the current Queen (Elizabeth II) was greatly influenced by her grandmother’s seemingly inexhaustible commitment to service, and has modeled her own actions after Mary’s.

Architecturally, I want to note one thing about King George and Queen Mary’s tomb. The King died in 1936, and the effigy of him was sculpted around the same time. But Mary was aware that the women in her line tended to live long lives, and she wanted her own effigy to be both accurate and of an age corresponding to her husband’s. Thus, she ordered the sculpting of her cenotaph at the same time as George’s, so their representations in death would look as they had in life at the time of his passing. 




(For the record, Queen Mary died in 1953, almost twenty years later. May lived to see her eldest son’s elevation to Kinghood and subsequent abdication, her second son’s elevation to Kinghood and subsequent coronation, and her granddaughter’s elevation to Queenhood. She died 10 weeks before Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, but left instructions that the ceremony should proceed as-planned. It did.)


One of my favorite photos: Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Mary, and the Queen Mother at the funeral service for King George VI. [NB: This image is not mine!]

Down the way from King George and Queen Mary, and off to the side (#6 on the map) is a small chapel. It is here that Queen Elizabeth II will be buried one day, alongside her parents—King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother)—and younger sister

Similar to Queen Victoria, George VI is a monarch that almost wasn’t. His older brother, who was proclaimed King Edward VIII upon their father’s death, abdicated before his coronation so that he could marry an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson. His brother's choice of love over duty (thankfully) thrust the shy, stammering ‘Berty’ (as the family called him) into the unexpected role of King. I really don’t have much to say about him, as it’s his wife that I find far more interesting.





The Queen Mother, as she became known upon her daughter’s ascension to the Throne—her proper title would have been ‘Elizabeth, Queen Dowager,’ but it was thought that title was too close to her daughter’s and would cause confusion—lived to be over 100 years old. Like her mother-in-law, Queen Mary, the Queen Mum was constantly on-the-go, and she was a force to be reckoned with. 

The Queen Mother was famous, among other reasons, for refusing to leave her husband’s side during World War II, even though it meant living under the constant threat of attack—she even trained with and carried a gun during this time, so that she could defend herself and her family in the event of an invasion. It is said that Hitler referred to her as the most dangerous woman in Europe. Whether or not that’s true, it’s an interesting anecdote. 


King George and Queen Elizabeth survey damage to Buckingham Palace following a bombing that barely missed them. [NB: This image is not mine!]

Another story about the Queen Mum that delights me to no end goes as follows: following a gala one evening, she was talking to the playwright Noel Coward. She noticed Coward occasionally making eyes at some nearby soldiers posted along a staircase, and whispered, ‘I wouldn’t if I were you, Noel; they count them before the put them out.’ 

(If you find yourself questioning the plausibility of such a public acknowledgement of Coward’s sexuality, I add the following: it is rumored that he carried on a long affair with the Queen Mum’s brother-in-law, the Duke of Kent, which certain members of the family knew about.) 

Yet another witty comment attributed to the Queen Mum in this vein was her rebuttal to a Minister that suggested the Royal Family not employ gay men: ‘We’d have to go self-service.’ 

All-in-all, a fascinating and hilarious woman.

Sadly, for the rest of these I wasn’t able to get photos—there were just too many officials around, and I didn’t want to get kicked out. Nonetheless, numbers 13 and 14 on the map above mark the spots where more ‘big names’ are buried: King Henry VIII and his wife Jane Seymour, and Kings Charles I (don’t worry—they sewed his head back on), Georges III and IV, and William IV. King Edward IV is buried at #8 and Henry VI is at #22.  

Queen Victoria’s successors (and the current Queen’s great-grandparents), King Edward VII and his wife Queen Alexandra, are at #23. I am especially said that I didn’t get an image of their tomb, as Queen Alexandra is another interesting figure. 
 

King Edward and Queen Alexandra. [NB: This image is not mine!]
NB: This image is not mine!

The last notable burial (in the Albert Memorial Chapel, not seen on the map) I want to discuss is Prince Albert Victor of Clarence and Avondale. The eldest child of King Edward and Queen Alexandra, he should have succeeded his father as England’s king. Instead, he preceded his father (and grandmother) in death, leading to George V’s eventual ascension. 

What I find intriguing about the prince is that, prior to his death, he was engaged to Mary of Teck—the woman who would marry his brother, George, less than a year later. In part, this union was made at the urging of their families. Adding to the awkwardness (and as mentioned already), King George and Queen Mary were both terribly shy. However, they bonded over their mutual love for the deceased prince—though this wasn’t the only factor—and, over time, they grew to love and cherish each other in the same way. (Their affection for one another was always expressed through letters, as their shared shyness prevented them from communicating their love directly). 


Engagement Photo of Prince Albert Victor and May. [NB: This image is not mine!]

Engagement Photo of Prince George and May, less than a year later. [NB: This image is not mine!]

All in all, it’s a terribly fascinating story and—as with Princess Charlotte—one cannot help but wonder how different things might have been had either of these heirs apparent not died.

One final note about St George’s Chapel: this is where the annual Ceremony of the Garter takes place, which is attended by The Queen and her Garter Knights. But more on that in a later entry…

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