Throughout the Tudor Period, there was great bloodshed and turbulence across England, and
one Queen who tried her best to unite her population was Elizabeth I.
However her reign was still a time where people were going to the gallows and the executioner’s
block for their crimes, but she is remembered for being a Queen that defeated the Spanish
Armada and also executed her cousin Mary Queen of Scots.
However Elizabeth I never married, and never had any children or heirs that would carry
on the Tudor royal family, and with this she became the last Tudor Monarch.
Her death in 1603 spelled the end for the Tudor dynasty, and the throne passed to James
I, the Scottish monarch.
But Elizabeth’s death greatly upset the population, and in her final years she was
not the monarch that she once was.
She had grown depressed and upset, and also would seemingly lose her zest for life.
However what was the story of her funeral, and also her incredible burial inside the
heart of the most grand church and abbey in England?
On the 24th March 1603 inside of Richmond Palace, Elizabeth I died.
Over the months previously her health and wellbeing had declined, suffering from bouts
of severe depression caused by the death of some of her closest friends and advisors.
She was 69 years old, and had suffered throughout her life from smallpox and other diseases,
but also she heavily used lead makeup which caused her to possibly get blood poisoning.
At 6pm on the night of her death, the Archbishop of Canterbury was summoned and he prayed by
her bedside.
It was said that, ‘Her Majesty lay upon her back, with one hand in the bed and the
other without.
The Archbishop kneeled down beside her and examined her first of her faith: and she so
punctually answered all his questions by lifting her eyes and holding up her hand, as it was
a comfort to all the beholders.
Then the good man told her plainly what she was and what she come to: though she had been
long a great Queen her upon Earth, yet shortly she was to yield an account of her stewardship
to the King of Kings.
After this, he began to pray, and all that were by did answer him.’
The issue that surrounded her death was who the successor would be, and Elizabeth’s
father Henry VIII had at one point barred the Stuarts from ever taking the throne.
But Elizabeth would turn towards James VI of Scotland, the son of the executed Mary
Queen of Scots, and agreements were made for James to unite the throne of England and Scotland
and rule both countries.
Following her death, her remains were embalmed against her wishes, and organs were removed
and she was placed inside a lead lined wooden coffin and it then lay in state for some days
in the Chapel of Richmond Palace.
The coffin was draped in black and six of her ladies in waiting stood guard over it,
and then it was time to move it towards Westminster where they funeral procession would take place.
It was moved by barge where it travelled downriver to Whitehall, and the barge was lit by torches.
Some accounts state that on this journey, her remains may have exploded, as there was
a huge crack which was heard that allegedly splintered the wood of the coffin.
A life sized effigy was placed of the Queen onto of her coffin and it was dressed in her
royal robes, and it was placed on top of the coffin as a symbol of the Queen’s power.
On the 28th April 1603, the funeral procession from Whitehall to Westminster Abbey occurred,
and it’;s believed up to 3000 people took part in the funeral procession, including
around 300 poor women.
Almost a quarter of a million people watched the Queen’s last journey on the streets
of London, which was a huge amount at that time.
It was written that, ‘, ‘The City of Westminster was surcharged with a multitude
of all sorts of people in their streets, house, leads and gutters that came to see the obsequiesand
when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing,
groaning and weeping as the like has not been seen or known in the memory of man.’
One image of the funeral procession shows a large number of people dressed in black,
and they are carrying flags showing the royal standard, as the coffin is drawn by horses
draped also in black material.
Four grey horses draw the chariot, and the hearse was draped in purple velvet.
Members of the royal household followed, and at the back of the funeral procession was
Sir Walter Raleigh, and gentleman pensioners.
Her coffin was taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was carried into the church for the
funeral ceremony to take place.
It’s believed that either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Dean of Westminster,
Dean Andrews led the funeral service.
But King James I did not attend, and the chief mourner was the most senior noblewoman in
England, the Marchioness of Northampton.
Following the huge funeral service, the Queen’s coffin was then taken into the Lady Chapel,
the huge extension and chapel built by her grandfather King Henry VII, who was laid too
rest there alongside his wife Elizabeth of York.
It’s believed that Henry VII when he built this intended this to be the final resting
place for the Tudor monarchs, but his son Henry VIII and Elizabeth’s father would
be interred elsewhere at Windsor Castle.
But there was a number of Tudor monarchs already buried in Westminster at the time.
Elizabeth’s rival and half sister Mary I was buried there in an unremarkable grave,
but also her half brother Edward VI was buried in a vault closeby to Henry VII.
But interestingly, Elizabeth I was initially buried inside the same vault as Henry VII
and Elizabeth of York.
She was interred at the heart of the lady chapel, and she was placed next to the founders
of the Tudor dynasty, showing how important and loved she really was.
She was in the heart of Westminster abbey, but this would not be her final resting place.
Inside the vault under the monument of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York was space for 3
burials however was a snug and close fit for three coffins to fit inside there.
At some point the wood from the coffins of Henry VII and Elizabeth were removed to allow
more space to fit one more coffin.
But this was not the place where Elizabeth I was left to rest, and instead four years
later her body was removed from the vault and was placed elsewhere.
It was taken out by orders of James I, and was then buried directly on top of where her
half sister Mary I was buried inside of Westminster Abbey.
This was a strange thing to do, showing that there was huge differences between the half
sisters, and that Mary had been buried in a side chapel away from the main centre of
the lady chapel, showing that she was less significant.
But what was shocking was that she was placed directly on top of Mary, showing that Elizabeth
was superior to Mary, even in burial and in death.
It was James I who ordered the exhumation of her coffin, and interestingly he removed
Elizabeth to make sure that he could be buried inside the heart of the Lady Chapel with Henry
VII and Elizabeth of York himself.
This was considered shocking as he in effect kicked out Elizabeth a Tudor Queen, to make
sure himself, a Stuart King could be buried with the founders of the Tudor dynasty.
He did have links to Henry VII, however he would to appease others order a huge tomb
and memorial to be made of Elizabeth, which cost a huge £1485.
This monument was designed by Maximilian Colt, and he showed Elizabeth as an old woman, and
he could have used her death mask as inspiration.
The effigy onto was painted before, but today it’s simple in its white marble natural
colour.
However in the 1800s, Queen Victoria gave permission for Arthur Stanley the Dean of
Westminster to investigate the tombs and the royal burials inside of the abbey.
He was curious, and he was ultimately looking for the coffin of James I which he found with
Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.
But he did break into Elizabeth I and Mary I’s vault to see what was inside, and he
peered into the vault.
According to Stanley, Elizabeth’s coffin had a carved Tudor rose on top and the initials
ER with the year 1603 when she died on it also.
It was covered in red silk velvet which was attached to the wood.
James I would also have the last laugh, as he would also move his mother Mary Queen of
Scots into the Abbey, and she was interred directly opposite Elizabeth in a monument
that was slightly larger showing her importance over Elizabeth.
This was a final posthumous dig at the woman who ordered his mother’s execution, but
on the monument is a simple mention of Queen Mary I, and it reads, ‘consorts in realm
and tomb, here we sleep, Elizabeth and Mary, sisters in hope of resurrections’ Inside
of the vault there is very little monition of Mary, and the effigy only depicts Elizabeth
I on top.
However what is shocking is that although intended to be laid to rest initially inside
the heart of the Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey, Elizabeth I was taken out of this royal
vault where she belonged by a man who wanted to be interred inside there himself.
Elizabeth’s coffin was taken from the vault of the founders of the Tudor dynasty, and
she was then reinterred a short distance away with no pomp or ceremony, and was practically
shoved ontop of her half sisters coffin, a woman who imprisoned Elizabeth in the Tower
of London, and a woman who had nothing in common with Elizabeth.
Her funeral procession was huge and lavish, and was what we would consider a state funeral,
and it was nothing less than what the remarkable Elizabeth I deserved.
She was a Queen who had ruled for decades, and who had overseen a huge amount of change
in society at the time.
She also was the woman who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada, and today she lays to
rest in a huge tomb inside Westminster Abbey.
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