Chapter 55 The funeral begins

On November 29, 1900, Queen Victoria's funeral, which had been prepared for a long time, finally began with great ceremony.

As a highly prestigious former British monarch, Queen Victoria had extremely detailed arrangements for her funeral, and Edward allowed all of these arrangements.

One of the more personal features is that Queen Victoria specifically requested that all people attending the funeral must have white elements, and even the horses at the funeral must be covered with white cloth.

This of course also includes the protagonist of this funeral, Queen Victoria. The Queen wore a pure white wedding dress with a white veil covering her head, symbolizing the Queen's fidelity to love and marriage.

In order to comply with Queen Victoria's will, William II, Edward, Arthur, Princess Beatrice and the Queen's confidant James Reid, as well as three loyal servants, were placed at the Queen's head and sides of the body. Carry it gently and put it into the coffin.

This is not an easy job, because Queen Victoria has passed away for a month. Even if the body is well protected, Arthur and others must be extremely careful when carrying it to avoid unnecessary damage to the Queen's body. destroy.

The floor of Queen Victoria's oversized sarcophagus was covered with thick charcoal and then covered with Prince Albert's nightgown.

Even though Prince Albert has passed away for more than 40 years, Queen Victoria still keeps her husband's nightgown, which shows how deep the love between the prince and the queen is.

Queen Victoria also had special instructions for placing the funerary objects next to it. Unlike other monarchs who like to put a lot of jewelry and gold coins, Queen Victoria was buried with only his favorite shawl and handkerchief, rings, books and small things such as photos, jewelry boxes and bracelets.

After enjoying a luxurious life for most of her life, what Queen Victoria wanted after her death was not extreme luxury, but as much warmth and memories as possible. Although the value of each burial object may not be too high, it has special meaning to Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria experienced the tragic loss of her father in childhood, her husband in middle age, and her son in old age.

Combined with the British hegemony in the Victorian era, various deeds pushed this great queen to legendary status.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Queen Victoria's funeral officially began in London.

Long before the state funeral of Queen Victoria began, royal families and high-level officials from European and international countries had arrived at Westminster Abbey, also known as Westminster Abbey.

Before the funeral, Westminster Abbey rang the bell 81 times to commemorate Queen Victoria's 81-year-old legendary life.

Due to Queen Victoria's request for a military funeral, the Queen's coffin was carried on a gun carriage before the funeral began, and hundreds of Royal Navy soldiers pulled the gun carriage.

Originally, according to Queen Victoria's will, the artillery carriage should be pulled by eight white army horses.

But at Arthur's suggestion, hundreds of Royal Navy soldiers were used to pull the gun carriages.

The reason why Edward VII and British officials agreed was that doing so would enhance the ritual feel of the entire funeral. At least the grandeur and human touch would be stronger than that of a carriage.

Initiated by Queen Victoria, the funeral method of placing the coffin on a cannon cart and being pulled by soldiers has since become a high-level royal tradition.

In the original history, another Queen Elizabeth, who reigned longer, also copied the burial method of Queen Victoria.

As the gun carriage containing the coffin was slowly escorted by naval soldiers to Westminster Abbey, countless British people along the way sent their high respect and infinite blessings to the great queen.

Although the entire funeral route was only a few kilometers long, the artillery car traveled for more than two hours in order to allow Queen Victoria to be watched by more people.

Senior royal members such as Edward VII and Arthur walked behind Queen Victoria's coffin and followed the cannon parade, also sending Queen Victoria off on her last journey.

At this time, both Edward VII and Arthur were dressed in military uniforms, and their bodies were covered with medals and honors from their countries.

But Arthur was in a very heavy mood at this time. After losing Queen Victoria, perhaps the only person Arthur could rely on was himself.

Although Princess Louise and her two sisters also cared about Arthur very much, they could only give Arthur spiritual comfort at best, but in fact they could not help Arthur at all.

At 11 o'clock at noon, Queen Victoria's coffin officially arrived at Westminster Abbey, and the state funeral ceremony officially began.

Nearly a thousand guests attended the ceremony, including senior leaders from various countries and royal families.

First, the Archbishop of Canterbury praised the Queen's achievements, praising her for following the example of Christ and spending her life serving the country and the people.

Because Queen Victoria's achievements are indeed impressive, there are indeed many words to praise Queen Victoria, including the rise of the British Empire to be the most powerful in the world, the spread of British territory around the world, the establishment of the Indian Empire, and other honors.

British Prime Minister Robert also read a passage from the Gospel of John in the Bible at the funeral.

Afterwards, the audience observed a three-minute silence for Queen Victoria, which was also observed across the British Empire.

This moment has long been determined. Starting from 11:55 noon on November 29, the silence will last until 58:00, and any colony or region will observe it at the same time.

At the end of the ceremony, the British national anthem "God Save the Queen" was played in the church, and the state funeral ceremony was concluded.

After this, Queen Victoria's coffin will be moved to Wellington Arch in the southeast corner of Hyde Park, London, and from there to Windsor Castle for burial.

Queen Victoria's coffin procession was quite large, with more than 2,000 soldiers and hundreds of people from civil society groups.

Because Queen Victoria's prestige in Britain is indeed not low, soldiers and police were on both sides of the line to maintain order.

Big Ben chimes every minute, and in the slow tolling of the bells, Queen Victoria's coffin slowly accompanies the procession through the streets of the capital, passing through groups of rows of mourners, stretching for more than One mile, heading towards Windsor Castle.

After arriving at Wellington Arch, Queen Victoria's coffin was transferred to the new State Hearse and then directly to Windsor Castle.

At this time, the largest number of British people came to see him off. Because after the coffin arrives at Windsor Castle, ordinary people are not eligible to enter.

Therefore, the stretch between Wellington Arch and Windsor Castle is also the last time that all British people can see the remains of Queen Victoria.

As the hearse passed through the street, frantic and mourning crowds threw flowers and applauded the carriage.

People couldn't bear to leave the queen, but they had to accept the queen's departure. Therefore, people can only express their high respect to Queen Victoria crazily. The bunches of flowers thrown to the hearse also represent Queen Victoria's status in the hearts of the British people.

You know, because Queen Victoria's funeral is approaching, the price of flowers across London has increased.

Under such circumstances, people bought bunches of flowers just to throw them at the procession when the Queen's coffin passed by, which is enough to show Queen Victoria's status and popular support in the UK.

Let’s just say a few words. It’s really hard to find out the details of the funeral, because it’s so old and many of them are no longer available. Therefore, some of the information in this chapter refers to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.

In addition, I saw some book friends talking about the name of Windsor Castle before. In fact, the British royal family is now named after Windsor Castle. In other words, there was Windsor Castle first and then the Windsor family. Finally, I beg for support!