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.
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| The Lower Ward. St George's Chapel is on the right. |
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| 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.
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| 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.)
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| 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.)
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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.
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| King Edward and Queen Alexandra. [NB: This image is not mine!] |
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| 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).
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| Engagement Photo of Prince Albert Victor and May. [NB: This image is not mine!] |
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| 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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