(Cover image – Unknown Artist – The National Portrait Gallery)
On the 16th of February 1547, Henry VIII was buried in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Henry died aged 55 in his Presence Chamber at Whitehall Palace and his funeral took place twenty days after his death. During this time, Henry’s body was slowly moved from Whitehall Palace to Windor, including a four-mile procession with hundreds of mourners on horseback and on foot {1}. Not unlike Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022, Henry’s final journey would have been quite the spectacle, as his body was transported in a many-wheeled wagon called a chariot {2}.
This chariot was covered in black velvet and hung with heraldic banners, drawn by eight horses which were ridden by children. Upon Henry’s coffin was his funeral effigy, which was a model of the King carved from wood and wax, which was apparently dressed in fine robes and wore the Imperial Crown on its head! {2}
Once Henry’s body reached Windsor, it had been arranged that he would be buried in St George’s Chapel. The chapel itself was built in the 14th century in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style and has been the site of many royal funerals and interments {3}. Some people who have been buried at the chapel include King Edward IV, King Henry VI, and Elizabeth Woodville.
Unfortunately, the tomb that Henry had planned to be buried in was only partly constructed and never completed (instead, the sarcophagus and its base were removed at a later date and used for Lord Nelson's tomb in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral!) {4}.
On the day of the funeral, Henry’s recently widowed wife Catherine Parr watched the Mass from the queen's closet on the upper level, dressed in blue velvet robes and a purple bodice {1}. Having been king for 37 years, all those in attendance must have felt some apprehension for the future, wondering what England may look like now that their king was dead.
Henry was buried with his favourite wife {5}, Jane Seymour, in a vault in St George’s Chapel.
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