Burying the last Tudor Queen: Elizabeth I is laid to rest

The Queen’s Casket surrounded by her ancestors’ heraldic banners (artist unknown – public domain via Wikimedia Commons and the National Maritime Museum)

In the early hours of 24th March 1603, one of England’s, perhaps even the world’s, most infamous dynasties, the Tudors, came to an end. After suffering bouts of depression and ‘indisposition’ of her health, Queen Elizabeth I died at Richmond Palace at the age of sixty-nine. After a reign spanning almost forty-five years, her funeral was assured to be a momentous occasion that mirrored her triumphant entry into London following the death of her sister, Queen Mary I.

On this day in history, the 28th April 1603, Elizabeth was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. Before this, Elizabeth’s body lay in state at Richmond for several days. This was typical protocol following the deaths of royals, which allowed councillors, courtiers, and nobles to pay their respects to the deceased, as well as to allow disembowelment to occur. However, Elizabeth had made clear of her wishes that she did not wish to be disembowelled: why she sought to disregard royal protocol is a mystery, but her wishes were ignored. Robert Cecil, one of her chief councillors at the time of her death, ordered surgeons to continue the typical procedure whilst King James VI of Scotland was proclaimed King James I of England. After lying in state for several days at Richmond, Elizabeth’s body was transferred downstream down the River Thames via transport of barge to Whitehall palace. In order to protect the queen’s coffin, numerous ladies were ordered to watch over her, which was described by eyewitness Elizabeth Southwell, one of Elizabeth’s maids of honour. Southwell later described the coffin as being ‘draped in velvet.’

However, Southwell also discussed in her account of Elizabeth’s death that not everything went according to plan. According to Southwell, there was a loud ‘crack’ from her coffin, and that her ‘body and head’ broke open. From what we can understand now, this was likely a result of the pressures of gas within the confined space of the coffin as the corpse rotted, similarly to the tale of Henry VIII’s exploding body after his death in 1547.

Elizabeth’s body was eventually carried on its funeral procession through London a month after her initial death. Through a grand procession that mirrored the one seen proceeding her coronation in 1559, Elizabeth’s body was carried from Whitehall to Westminster Abbey, with the numbers of those participating in the occasion numbering into the hundreds or thousands, from the nobility, clergy, army, to the everyday man and woman. A contemporary chronicler, John Stow, described the events of Elizabeth’s procession, describing how ‘Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets […] that came out to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man.’ Historians have estimated nearly two-hundred thousand onlookers would have waited to witness a final glance of their queen.

The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I on 28th April 1603

One cannot assert for certain who led the funeral service at Westminster Abbey. Some suggest it was the Archbishop of Canterbury and Elizabeth’s close advisor, John Whitgift, whereas others argue it was led by the Dean of Westminster, Dean Andrews. As the senior-most noblewoman in the country, Helena Snakenbourg, the Marquess of Northampton, acted as Chief Mourner. The events surrounding the procession and the funeral were immortalised by John Nicol’s, who wrote an account entitled ‘The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth.’ In his testimony, Nicols described the ‘lively’ effigy that represented the queen’s body, which was dressed in her parliament robes, crown, and sceptre. This would have rested on top of Elizabeth’s coffin to be her immortalised image and how she sought to be commemorated. During the funeral and years following it, Elizabeth’s effigy would not have been the plain marble that we see today. On the contrary, it would have been illuminated in colour. During the years 1618-20, her effigy is described as wearing an ‘ermine-lined crimson robe,’ a blue orb and ‘flesh colouring on her face.’ To protect the coffin and effigy, Elizabeth was carried underneath a canopy, with noblemen on each side of her carrying banners. According to other eyewitnesses, these banners were ‘emblazoned’ with imagery pertaining to the House of York, but peculiarly excluded those of Lancaster.

During the late Victorian period, additional valuable insight was gathered surrounding Elizabeth’s coffin when one Arthur Stanley was given permission to survey the royal tombs within Westminster Abbey by Queen Victoria. Upon reaching Elizabeth’s coffin in the royal crypt, there was a carved Tudor rose, alongside the initials E.R. and her death date, 1603. The entire coffin, according to Stanley, was covered in red silk, which ‘remained attached to the wood.’

Elizabeth’s coffin was not initially situated in the space that it is today. Rather, she was buried in the vault of her grandparents, King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth of York, but was later moved in 1607 by King James I. This was in preparation for the movement of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, from her burial place in Peterborough Cathedral. After spending supposedly £11,000 on her funeral as the new king, James commissioned Nicholas Hilliard and John de Critz £1485 to create a monument for Elizabeth. She was eventually moved to rest atop her Catholic sister, Queen Mary I, who she now shares a burial place with, costing James an additional forty-six shillings and four pence. The tomb, which can still be seen today, is inscribed with the words: ‘Consorts both in throne and grave, here we rest two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in hope of our resurrection.’

Elizabeth I's tomb effigy at Westminster Abbey © 2025 Dean and Chapter of Westminster