Since Elizabeth II passed away, which happened on September 8 this year at Balmoral, many fans of the royal family have been wondering: why did no one see the late monarch during the farewell ceremony? At least 200 thousand people came to say goodbye to the Queen, who had to stand in line for at least 16 hours, but they never saw Elizabeth’s face. Conspiracy theorists have already begun to build crazy theories about what could have caused this. However, when reporters of The Telegraph turned to specialists for clarification, the answer turned out to be very simple.
Matthew Rose, who works at the funeral bureau of The Family Funeral Service, told what exactly predetermined the decision that puzzled many. As it turned out, the coffin lid was closed in order to slow down the decomposition process, preventing additional microorganisms from getting inside and protecting the body from humidity. Moreover, as it turned out, Elizabeth was buried in a double coffin. The inner one was made of simple wood, which was carefully lined from the inside with lead, which also slows down decomposition and makes the coffin waterproof. And the second, the outer one, was made, according to royal tradition, of noble British oak, grown in the royal estate of Sandringham. It is not surprising that it took as many as eight strong men to carry this massive structure.
As the expert explained, such special care for the safety of the body is due to the fact that Elizabeth was buried not like most people – in the ground, but on its surface – in a crypt. By the way, it turned out that the coffin for the Queen, in which she was taken first to Edinburgh, then to London, and finally to Windsor, was not made at all before the funeral. It was made 30 years ago when Elizabeth was full of energy. Since then, the coffin has been in storage at the company that made it, which has been working for the royal family for more than three hundred years. But since so much time has passed since its manufacture, the brass edging of the outer layer managed to lose its original appearance, and it had to be replaced.
Note that Prince Philip, who died in April 2021, was also buried in a coffin, which had also been prepared long before his death. And now, when the complicated funeral ritual of farewell and burial, which took 11 days, has been completed, Elizabeth has been reunited with her beloved late husband. Their bodies were laid to rest in the royal crypt in the Memorial Chapel of King George VI in Windsor.