Queen Victoria: Difference between revisions

In 1897, Victoria had written instructions for [[Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria|her funeral]], which was to be military as befitting a soldier's daughter and the head of the army,<ref name="odnb" /> and white instead of black.<ref>Hibbert, p. 497; Longford, p. 563</ref> On 25 January, Edward VII and Wilhelm II, together with Prince Arthur, helped lift her body into the coffin.<ref>St Aubyn, p. 598</ref> She was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil.<ref>Longford, p. 563</ref> An array of mementos commemorating her extended family, friends and servants were laid in the coffin with her, at her request, by her physician and dressers. One of Albert's dressing gowns was placed by her side, with a plaster cast of his hand, while a lock of John Brown's hair, along with a picture of him, was placed in her left hand concealed from the view of the family by a carefully positioned bunch of flowers.<ref name="odnb" /><ref>Hibbert, p. 498</ref> Items of [[Victorian jewellery|jewellery]] placed on Victoria included the wedding ring of Brown's mother, which Brown gave Victoria in 1883.<ref name="odnb">{{Cite ODNB |id=36652 |title=Victoria (1819–1901) |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36652 |orig-date=2004 |date=October 2009 |edition=online |author-link1=Colin Matthew |last1=Matthew |first1=H. C. G. |last2=Reynolds |first2=K. D. |mode=cs2}}</ref> Her funeral was held on Saturday 2 February, in [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]], and after two days of lying-in-state, she was interred beside Prince Albert in the [[Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore]], at [[Windsor Great Park]].<ref>Longford, p. 565; St Aubyn, p. 600</ref>