What King Charles Did to Honor Queen Elizabeth Inside Chapel That Almost Went Unnoticed
As the royal family mourned the loss of its matriarch Queen Elizabeth II, millions around the world tuned in to watch her funeral on Sept. 19.
There were many emotional moments that day including something her oldest son, now-King Charles III, did for his late mother that many people didn’t even notice.
What Charles left open for his mother
Following her state funeral with 2,000 attendees at Westminster Abbey, many of Queen Elizabeth’s loved ones gathered at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor for the late monarch’s committal service.
Because the chapel was packed some observers overlooked that one seat in the front row was empty. The Mirror reported that the seat was intentionally kept empty by King Charles to honor a tradition started by his mother to have an unobstructed view while sitting in the church. The protocol dictated that no one could sit in front of the queen and block her view.
Where was Queen Elizabeth’s favorite seat in the chapel?
While no one could sit in front of the queen at St. George’s Chapel she didn’t find the actual seat in the front row particularly comfortable and chose not to sit there herself. Therefore, she always sat in the second row on the end closest to the altar so she could see everything just fine.
That explains why for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as well as the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, which were both held at the chapel, the seat directly in front of the queen was vacant.
Royal commentator Rebecca English confirmed her seating preference after Eugenie and Brooksbank got married when she tweeted: “The seat she [the queen] was sitting in today is her favorite seat in that chapel, apparently!”
Some royal fans may recall that the queen also sat in the second row for her husband Prince Philip’s funeral on April 17, 2021. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions at the time, only the members of the family who shared the same household could sit together. The queen was quarantined in her Windsor Castle estate then so she had to sit alone during Philip’s service.
The queen’s final resting place within St. George’s Chapel
Five days after the monarch’s funeral, the palace shared a photo of her final resting place in the King George VI Memorial Chapel.
She was interred with Philip whose remains were moved from the royal vault to join her. Queen Elizabeth II’s parents King George VI and the Queen Mother as well as her sister Princess Margaret are also interred at the chapel.
