Queen Elizabeth II has been laid to rest in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, following the State Funeral at Westminster Abbey.
“We have come together to commit into the hands of God the soul of his servant Queen Elizabeth,” began the Dean of Windsor at this final public ceremony, highlighting once again the late monarch’s deep Christian faith.
“Here, in St George’s Chapel, where she so often worshipped, we are bound to call to mind someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian Faith bore so much fruit,” he said.
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II into St. George’s Chapel on September 19th, 2022 in Windsor, England. The committal service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, took place following the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. A private burial in The King George VI Memorial Chapel followed. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
“Fruit, in a life of unstinting service to the Nation, the Commonwealth, and the wider world, but also, and especially to be remembered in this place, in kindness, concern and reassuring care for her family and friends and neighbours,” the Dean continued.
“In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope.
“As, with grateful hearts, we reflect on these and all the many other ways in which her long life has been a blessing to us, we pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal,” he concluded.
King Charles III watches as the Lord Chamberlain prepares to break his Wand of Office at the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle, Windsor, England, Monday Sept. 19th, 2022. (Ben Birchall/Pool via AP)
King Charles II, left, watches as The Lord Chamberlain Baron Parker breaks his Wand of Office, marking the end of his service to the sovereign, during a committal service for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19th, 2022. (Joe Giddens/Pool Photo via AP)
The Queen’s long goodbye to the British people and Commonwealth began with a procession through much of Scotland from her Highland estate of Balmoral to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, followed by a thanksgiving service and lying in state in the High Kirk of the Church of Scotland, St Giles’ Cathedral
A lengthier lying in state in Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster, attended by hundreds of thousands, followed by the State Funeral at Westminster Abbey in the British capital of London.
Now, finally, the Queen’s earthly journey has concluded with her interment in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle — the longest-inhabited royal residence in the world — after a long procession from London.
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II into St George’s Chapel for a committal service at Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England, Monday, Sept. 19th, 2022. (Joe Giddens/Pool Photo via AP)
The Imperial State Crown, orb, and sceptre are carried to the Dean of Windsor to be placed on the high altar during the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II, at St. George’s Chapel, in Windsor, England, Monday Sept. 19th, 2022. (Victoria Jones /Pool Photo via AP)
The Dean of Windsor, The Rt Revd David Conner, places the Imperial State Crown, and orb, and sceptre on the altar during the committal service for Queen Elizabeth II, at St. George’s Chapel, in Windsor, England, Monday Sept. 19th, 2022. (Victoria Jones /Pool Photo via AP)
The Christian faith of the late monarch, who selected all but one of the hymns at the committal service, has been an unusually strong theme in the days since her passing, in a nation which has to a great extent lost its faith since her coronation in 1953.
But as the Queen was lowered into the royal vault, where she will rest alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, the chapel echoed once again with an unmistakably Christian message: “Thus it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this transitory life unto His Divine Mercy the late Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.”