The royal crypt of the Chapel of St. George, the place where Prince Philip will lie

The mortal remains of the prince philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will be deposited in the royal pantheon under the Chapel of St. George, adjacent to Windsor Castle, where his funeral is celebrated this Saturday after his death on the 9th at the age of 99.

Although the coffin of the Prince Philip, consort of the Queen Elizabeth II for 73 years, he will initially lie in that crypt, it is arranged that when the British monarch dies, he will be transferred to the commemorative chapel of King George VI of the Gothic church so that the marriage is buried in the same place.

That tiny family memorial temple, located in Windsor also houses the mortal remains of the queen’s father, George VI, the queen mother and the little sister of Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret.

In an annex added to the north wing of the Church in 1969 there is a black slab embedded in the ground with the inscription: “George VI” and “Isabel”, in gold letters, accompanied by the dates of the years of their births and deaths.

Today, after the end of the service, the duke’s coffin will be lowered with electrical machinery to the royal crypt under the Chapel of Saint George, where it will be placed on a catafalque on a marble slab.

That royal pantheon in Windsor was created between 1804 and 1810 for George III, who died in 1820, and who today is one of the three monarchs buried there, along with George IV and William IV.

Other royals buried there are George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, and their daughter Princess Amelia, as well as George IV’s daughter, Princess Charlotte, and Queen Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent.

Princess Margaret, little sister of Elizabeth II, who died in 2002, was cremated and her ashes were initially placed in that same Pantheon before being transferred to the George VI memorial chapel along with the coffins of her parents, when the Queen Mother he passed away weeks later.

Margarita wanted to be cremated because, according to what a close friend, Lady Glenconner, explained at the time, the alternative of being buried (at Frogmore) seemed too “dark.”