The Quen's final resting place has now been opened for visitors following the late monarch's solemn state funeral and private interment last week. The Queen has been buried alongside her husband Prince Philip,m the Duke of Edinburgh, and alongside the remains of her mother, father and sister in St George's Chapel.
A new ledger stone has been placed on the grave, carrying the names of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Queen's parents.
The fresh stone now contains, in list form, “George VI 1895-1952” and “Elizabeth 1900-2002” followed by a metal Garter Star, and then “Elizabeth II 1926-2022” and “Philip 1921-2021”. All four royals were members of the Order of the Garter, which has St George’s Chapel as its spiritual home.
The stone is made of hand-carved Belgian black marble with brass letter inlays, to match the previous ledger stone.
The Queen’s burial site opens to visitors at 10am on Thursday as Windsor Castle reopens to the public. People can pay their respects at St George’s Chapel from September 29, just over a week after the late monarch’s funeral.
When Philip died 17 months ago, his coffin was interred in the Royal Vault of St George’s, ready to be moved to the memorial chapel – a pale stone annexe added on to the north side of the building behind the North Quire Aisle in 1969 – when the Queen died. The Queen’s sister 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 weeks later.
The King George VI Memorial Chapel, which sits within the walls of St George’s Chapel, was commissioned by the Queen in 1962 as a burial place for her father King George VI – designed by George Pace and finished in 1969. The chapel will reopen to visitors next week on all days the castle is open to the public, excluding Sundays when it is only open for worshippers.
Entry to the castle is £28.50 for adults on Saturdays and £26.50 on other days, according to the website.
The royal family is continuing its period of mourning for the Queen, to be observed until seven days after the funeral. St George's Chapel is not open to visitors on Sundays, when it is only open for worship.
