A Royal Reunion: Queen Victoria is buried beside her beloved Albert

From the moment Queen Victoria fell ill in mid January 1901, the royal family and household found themselves in a constant rush of making arrangements and attending various services. Fortunately for them, the Queens departure from Osborne House on 1st February signified the beginning of the end, with just one ceremony left to take place following the Queen’s funeral… the burial, where she was to be reunited with her beloved Albert. However, like Victorias final procession to St George’s Chanel, the burial ceremony failed to go off without a hitch. Join me, Shannon McInulty, as I take a look at what happened!

Following Queen Victorias funeral on 2nd February her coffin spent the next two days lying-in-state in the Albert Memorial Chapel at St George’s, surrounded by guards. In the morning of the 3rd, a rehearsal took place for the final procession from St George’s Chapel to the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore. Then – according to Edmund H. Fellowes, a minor Canon at St George’s Chapel – a morning of prayer was held at the chapel, with the royal family in attendance. He wrote that at “about 2 minutes to 11 when we were all ready in the vestry the door suddenly opened and someone announced ‘the King’ and in walked the whole lot on their way up which is through the Vestry – about 15 of them and we saw them well. The King & Kaiser shook hands with the Dean and the Bishop of Winchester.” With royalties filling up the stalls around him, Fellowes described feeling nervous while singing the service, adding that “it was such a queer sensation standing up to pronounce the absolution to such a congregation on their knees”.

That same day at 3pm, a party including the King, Lord Esther, Lord Pembroke, the Bishop of Winchester and Sir Frederick Ponsonby traveled to the mausoleum to begin preparations for the queens coffin to be interred. For this, a platform was constructed and the lid of the tomb was removed, uncovering the coffin of Prince Albert, which had sat alone for nearly forty years. The Bishop of Winchester wrote that the princes coffin was of “very much more reasonable dimensions than the needlessly huge coffin containing the shell with the little Queen”, adding that it was “at least one third larger than his”. Unfortunately this size difference meant that it would have been difficult to fit the Queens coffin in the tomb, and, as a result, several inches of granite had to be cut from the inside.

At 6pm that evening, a final service was held in the dimly lit Memorial Chapel. Emma Albani had been requested to sing at the event. She later notes how “it was a terribly hard task, but the memory of the dear Queen and of all her goodness to me gave me courage, and I succeeded in this ordeal without breaking down”.

At 6am on 4th February, one final successful rehearsal of the procession took place, after which all was ready for the Queens final journey, which began swiftly at 3pm. Like at Osborne, Victorias coffin was carried out of the Albert Memorial Chapel by a dozen naval officers wearing blue suits, who then placed it on the gun carriage. It had originally been intended for the coffin to be carried by highlanders but there hadn’t been enough of them to bear the weight.

As the procession was about to begin, “an officer in khaki”, who was decorated in medals, approached Sir Frederick Ponsonby requesting to attend the burial service. The man was informed that it was to be a private service only attended by the Queens family. He was, however, given a ticket “for the private grounds”.

Travelling from the Sovreigns entrance, the gun carriage was “horsed by bays”, while the “artillery team proudly and quietly took their burden”. According to the Duke of Argyll, it then descended “towards the forest” as “all those connected with Windsor were allowed to line the roadway, the Life Guards, in their long crimson cloaks, keeping clear the route. At the foot of the slope, the Guards relieved these, and the train of cloaked figures turned into the Frogmore road, which was kept private, save for the soldiers still forming a living avenue.” The Duke adds that “the pipers blew their lament in front, muffled drums rolled out plaintive notes of subdued sorrow, and the bands relieved them at intervals; and so, with lamentation and solemn dignity, her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren following her, our dear Queen was brought to where she would be at rest beside her Prince.”

Of all the ceremonials, [this] was the simplest and most impressive. The procession from the Sovereign’s entrance, the Princess of Wales leading Prince Edward of York, the other children walking, and as very touching and beautiful.”

Reginald Brett, Viscount Esther
– Curtain Down at Her Majesty’s: The Death of Queen Victoria –

Upon reaching the Mausoleum, the Queens coffin was carried inside and members of her family clattered on the right hand side before “the iron gates were closed”. Victorias granddaughter, Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein later wrote that “all the regal pomp and state fell away”. This is backed up by the Bishop of Winchester, who described the arrangements as “admirable, and the Service itself was touching beyond words. The music was beautifully sung, and, for the rest, we simply followed the Prayer Book Service, with the addition of a Prayer of thanksgiving for the Queen’s life.”

During the service, Sir Frederick Ponsonby noticed something alarming. The man in khaki had somehow made his way into the mausoleum having left the crowd and “joined the German suite in the procession”. Without a second thought, Ponsonby “took him by the arm, led him to the door, and forcibly ejected him.”

At the end of the service, the pipes played “the Highland Lament, ‘Flowers of the Forest’” as the Life Guards lowered the Queens coffin into the granite tomb beside her beloved Albert, who’s coffin was covered in velvet, on which “lay the sword that he wore.” Lord Edward Pelham-Clinton was given the honour of throwing “the earth on the coffin, during the well-known passage in the burial Service: the very last ceremony that can be performed”.

After this, the royal family approached the tomb in single file. The first to approach it was the new King Edward VII, who kneeled beside his mother for one final time. Then, his wife, Queen Alexandra, joined with their grandson, Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII), who was too frightened to kneel. noticing this, the king took the child to kneel beside him. This practice was followed by the Kaiser and other members of the royal family and household who were in attendance. As everyone left the mausoleum, sleet began to fall, which soon turned thick settling snow, creating the perfect white funeral, just as Victoria had requested.

Once everyone has left, Viscount Esher remained to watch as the stone was once again placed on the tomb and permanently sealed. Later, an 1861 effigy of Victoria was found in the stores at Windsor and placed on the tomb beside that of Albert.

As for Ponsonbys “khaki friend”, he had been waiting outside the mausoleum, where he was to be reprimanded by Ponsonby, who declared the man’s behaviour as “disgraceful”. He also took the man’s name and regiment so that he could be punished. The officer then saluted Ponsonby before walking away. However, it didn’t stop there. As Ponsonby approached the Quadrangle, he noticed the “Royal Family and foreign Sovereigns and Princes talking together at the Sovereigns Entrance”, amongst the group was the straying officer, who had “apparently come up in a carriage with the German suite”. Frederick Ponsonby once again took the man by the arm and took him to a gate, where they were greeted by a policeman. Frederick writes that he “sent for one of the detectives and gave him instructions to take the officer to the station and send him off to London”. He then wrote to the Military Secretary to report the man. Eventually news came that the man had been sent home from South Africa after apparently suffering with sunstroke, which caused him to become “mentally deficient”.

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