On This Day…2

The state funeral of Queen Victoria took place 117 years ago today on 2^nd of February 1901 in Windsor. it had been 64 years since the last burial of a monarch and this was particularly momentous as Victoria had been the longest- reigning monarch in British history.

The Queen died on 22^nd January at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, surrounded by her family. Her eldest son, the new Edward VII, her third son Arthur and her eldest grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm helped lift her body into the coffin which was then transported to Portsmouth on the royal yacht (typically named Alberta). From Portsmouth she then travelled by train to London.

Victoria had left very specific instructions on how she wanted her funeral. She desired to be buried as a ‘soldier’s daughter’ (her father after all had been appointed Field-Marshal of the forces in 1805) A military funeral was delivered and the Queen’s coffin was paraded through the streets by gun carriage, pulled by 8 white horses. Vast crowds lined the streets, clamoring to pay their respects to the long reigning Queen.

After the service in St George’s Chapel, her coffin lay-in-state in the Albert Memorial Chapel for two days under guard. The Queen’s final resting place was the Frogmore Mausoleum, beside her beloved Albert.