Thread by @courtjeweller

You'll have heard during today's funeral that Prince Philip's coffin was being placed in the Royal Vault beneath the quire of St. George's Chapel. There are technically two of them, and I've seen some sources confusing the two.

The older and smaller of the two vaults is beneath a dark marble slab in the floor of the quire. It's the final resting place of four royals: King Henry VIII and his third queen consort, Jane Seymour; King Charles I; and one of the infant children of Queen Anne.

The second, much larger vault was built beneath the quire in the nineteenth century. Three British kings (George III, George IV, and William IV) rest in that vault, which currently holds 25 royals (including Prince Philip).

This photograph of the royal vault was taken ca. 1910, after the death of King Edward VII. After the death of Queen Alexandra in 1925, his body was moved with that of his wife to a grand sarcophagus in the south aisle of the chapel's quire.

One more photograph of the inside of the royal vault, from the time of the death of Edward VII. The bodies of other royals line the walls of the vault.

Many royal coffins have been placed in the vault temporarily before being moved to another resting place. The body of the Duke's mother, Princess Alice, rested in the royal vault from her death in 1969 until the transfer to her final resting place in Jerusalem in 1988.

It is expected that eventually Prince Philip's body will also be moved. After the Queen's death, both of them will be buried beside her parents and sister in the small King George VI Memorial Chapel at St. George's.

The website of St. George's Chapel is an excellent resource on the subject. They list all royal burials since 1805 here (stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georg…) and royal burials by location here (stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georg…).