Queen Elizabeth II was reunited with members of her late family – including her beloved husband of 73 years Prince Philip – after she was laid to rest in King George VI’s Memorial Chapel following her state funeral.
Her Majesty has been interred in the chapel alongside her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, as well as Prince Philip, who was moved from the Royal Vault to be alongside her.
Her late sister, Princess Margaret, also rests in the chapel.
Traditionally, the Royal Family are buried in a lead-lined coffin in one of the royal sites when they die – but the Queen’s sibling broke tradition by choosing to be cremated instead.
But why did Princess Margaret opt to defy royal convention?
Why was Princess Margaret cremated?
Although no official reason was ever given as to why Princess Margaret was cremated, it’s widely believed that Queen’s younger sister was cremated so that she could be buried with her father.
There was ‘no room’ for a traditional burial to take place in the chapel, with the only other option available to her was in a royal burial ground at Frogmore, in Windsor Great Park.
After the Princess died, friend and former lady-in-waiting Lady Glenconner told the Scotsman that the Princess did not want to be buried in Frogmore as she found it ‘too gloomy’.
At the time, the Daily Mail reported that the decision ‘was the Princess’s own wish’.
The late royal was ultimately cremated at Slough crematorium, in a service which was not attended by the Queen or any members of the Royal Family – although they were in attendance for her funeral service at St George’s Chapel.
Her ashes were then returned without ceremony to Windsor.
Princess Margaret became the first royal to be cremated in over 60 years following her death.
Prior to her death, the last member of the Royal Family to be cremated was Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria – who was cremated after her death in 1939 at the age of 91.
Princess Margaret – who was four years younger than Queen Elizabeth II – died in 2002 following years of deteriorating health, suffering at least three strokes between 1998 and 2001, a bout of pneumonia in 1993, and having to undergo a lung operation in 1985.
In 2002, a fourth and final stroke killed Margaret at the age of 71 at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London.
She died just seven weeks before Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother passed away aged 101.
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