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ABC News
National

Here's what we know about the King George VI Memorial Chapel — Queen Elizabeth II's final resting place

Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest in a state funeral watched by millions of people around the world on Monday evening, Australian time.

After the funeral, a private burial service attended only by the royal family will be held at 4.30am AEST. 

Here's what we know about the Queen's final resting place. 

Where will the Queen be buried?

The Queen will be buried in Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel, alongside her husband Prince Philip and royal predecessors. 

The chapel — inside the walls of the castle — has been the burial place for almost every British monarch since King George III's death in 1820.  

Specifically, the Queen will be buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, a small enclave inside St George's. The Queen commissioned it as a burial place for her own father, King George VI, in 1962. 

The chapel is marked by wrought iron gates, inscribed with: "I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me light that I may tread safely into the unknown'" — a line from a poem quoted in one of the King's Christmas speeches. 

The Queen will be placed in the enclave during the private ceremony.

Where is the Queen Mother buried? 

The Queen Mother is also buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, alongside Queen Elizabeth II's father, following her death on March 30, 2002. 

She died at the age of 101, continuing an active public life until just a few months before her death and remaining consistently popular with the public. 

More than a million people filled the area outside Westminster Abbey and the route to the chapel on the day of her funeral. 

Like Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother's coffin lay in Westminster Hall for several days as around 200,000 people filed past to pay their respects. 

Where is Prince Philip buried?

Prince Philip is also buried in St George's Chapel in Windsor

Currently the Duke of Edinburgh is in the Royal Vault, beneath the chapel, but he will be exhumed and moved to lie beside his wife. 

The vault is a burial chamber on the chapel's grounds, commissioned by King George III and completed in 1810. 

Traditionally in royal funerals the coffin is lowered through an opening in the chapel's floor into the vault. 

There are currently 24 royal family members buried there, the first being King George III's daughter Princess Amelia in 1810, and the last before Prince Philip being Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel in 1930

Where is Princess Margaret buried? 

The ashes of the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, were placed in her parents' tomb in the King George VI Memorial Chapel when the Queen Mother was interred in 2002.

The Princess died seven weeks before her mother.

She was the first member of the royal family to be cremated since Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll in 1939. 

Like Prince Philip, her remains were placed in the Royal Vault for several months before they were moved.

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