After the pomp and pageantry of a grand state funeral, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest with her husband and parents in an intimate ceremony in Windsor away from media cameras.
Britain_Royals_Funeral_72483 The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland plays ahead of the arrival of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool
Britain_Royals_Funeral_55946 The Royal Standard flown on the Round Tower at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Leon Neal/Pool photo via AP)
Leon Neal/Pool photo via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_37877 Royal Grenadier guards march onto Windsor Castle grounds in anticipation of the arrival of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool
APTOPIX_Britain_Royals_Funeral_79146 King Charles III and members of the Royal family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, as it is carried out of Westminster Abbey after her State Funeral, in London, Monday Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (Danny Lawson/Pool Photo via AP)
Danny Lawson/Pool Photo via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_02327 The Coldstream Guards outside the Garter Tower at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Leon Neal/Pool photo via AP)
Leon Neal/Pool photo via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_61099 Guards line along the procession route at Windsor Castle, Windsor, England, Monday Sept. 19, 2022, ahead of the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (Henry Nicholls/Pool via AP)
Henry Nicholls/Pool via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_61785 The funeral procession for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II makes its way to Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Lee Smith/Pool Photo via AP)
Lee Smith/Pool Photo via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_04286 The Ceremonial Procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the Long Walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the Committal Service at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Aaron Chown/Pool photo via AP)
Aaron Chown/Pool photo via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_11578 Guards march as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arrives outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)
AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool
Britain_Royals_Funeral_47691 The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried in a hearse towards Windsor Castle during her funeral procession in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Alex Pantling/Pool photo via AP)
Alex Pantling/Pool photo via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_33269 The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried in a hearse towards Windsor Castle during her funeral procession in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Alex Pantling/Pool photo via AP)
Alex Pantling/Pool photo via AP
Britain_Royals_Funeral_07582 The coffin proceeds to St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, Windsor, England, Monday Sept. 19, 2022, ahead of the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (Ryan Pierse/Pool via AP)
Britain_Royals_Funeral_47062 Pall bearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II with the Imperial State Crown resting on top into St. George's Chapel, in Windsor, England, Monday Sept. 19, 2022, for the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen, who died aged 96 on Sept. 8, will be buried at Windsor alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year. (Jeff J Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP)
LONDON (AP) — After the pomp and pageantry of a grand state funeral, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest with her husband and parents in an intimate ceremony in Windsor away from media cameras.
King Charles III and senior royal family members gathered late Monday for the private interment ceremony at St. George’s Chapel, a gothic church on the grounds of Windsor Castle that has hosted royal weddings, christenings and burials since the 15th century.
Earlier Monday, 800 mourners, many of them the queen’s staff, joined royal family members in the chapel for a committal service — the last public ceremony capping 10 days of national mourning that saw huge military parades, miles-long queues in London to see the queen’s coffin lying in state, and Britain’s first state funeral since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill died in 1965.
In contrast, the interment late Monday was on a much more intimate scale. Royal officials said it was a “deeply personal family occasion,” and proceedings were not televised. They said the queen was interred together with Prince Philip’s remains at the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex within St. George’s.
When Philip, the queen’s husband of 73 years, died last year, his coffin had been placed in a different part of St. George’s Chapel, ready to be moved to the memorial chapel to join the queen when she died.
Elizabeth II’s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, were also interred there along with the ashes of Princess Margaret, the late monarch’s younger sister who died in 2002.
St. George’s is the resting place of 10 former British monarchs, including Henry VIII and the beheaded Charles I. It is also the home of the Order of the Garter, an ancient order of chivalry founded by King Edward III in 1348.
Last year the queen bid farewell to Philip at St. George’s in a “COVID-secure” funeral. The ceremony to mark the death of Philip was muted because of strict pandemic restrictions, and only 30 mourners were allowed inside the chapel at the time.
St. George’s and Windsor featured prominently throughout the queen’s life. The chapel was where she marked many a Christmas and Easter, and where she celebrated the weddings of three of her grandchildren: Prince Harry married Meghan Markle there in 2018, as did Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. Peter Philips, the queen’s oldest grandchild, married Autumn Kelly there in 2008.
The queen spent most of her weekends in Windsor, a quiet and more private retreat away from the bustle of Buckingham Palace in central London.
The castle — believed to be the largest occupied castle in the world — was also where young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were sent to live during World War II while their parents were busy with the war effort.
In recent years the queen made Windsor Castle her main residence, having moved there in early 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
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