Resting place. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returned to their wedding venue – St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle — to give their final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II.
The Sussexes traveled to the locale on Monday, September 19, after her state funeral procession at Westminster Abbey. The late monarch was honored at the 750-year-old cathedral by members of the royal family, including King Charles III and his siblings — Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward — and the queen’s grandchildren: Prince William, Harry, 38 and Peter Phillips. During the service, Harry sat in between Meghan and niece Princess Charlotte in the same row as the Prince and Princess of Wales.
After the service, the royal family participated in a procession from the church to Wellington Arch, where the coffin was loaded into a hearse and taken to Windsor Castle. Later on Monday, the queen will officially be buried on the grounds at the King George VI Memorial Chapel alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died at age 99 in April 2021. The Duke of Edinburgh was previously interred in the Royal Vault at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel, but his body was moved to its final resting place ahead of the queen’s funeral so that he could be buried beside his wife of 73 years.
The long-reigning sovereign — who served 70 years on the British throne — died on September 8 at her Balmoral Castle in Scotland at age 96.
Five years before her passing, the queen was in attendance at her 38-year-old grandson’s May 2018 wedding to the California native, 41, along with Harry’s best man and brother, William, 40, Princess Kate, King Charles III, 73, Queen Consort Camilla, and the late Prince Phillip.
William and Kate’s children, Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, served as a pageboy and a bridesmaid, respectively, while their newborn baby brother, Prince Louis, 4, did not attend the nuptials.
While Harry and Meghan remained on good terms with the late queen, their decision to step down as senior royals for Her Majesty in March 2020 and relocate to the United States caused a ripple of tension throughout the family.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved members of the family. I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life,” the queen said in January 2020. “I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family. It is my whole family’s hope that today’s agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex went on to participate in a bombshell interview with CBS in March 2021 that revealed some troublesome information about The Firm. The former Suits actress, however, only had kind things to say about her grandmother-in-law.
“It’s hard for people to distinguish the two because it’s a family business, right? So, there’s the family, and then there’s the people that are running the institution,” she said during the March 2021 interview. “The queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me.”
The Bench author and Invictus Games founder and their children, Archie, 3, and 15-month-old Lilibet, were also able to spend time with the queen during the summer before she died in September. The proud parents brought the little ones to London for Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee and the queen celebrated Lilibet’s first birthday with the Sussexes.
The pair, who traveled overseas in early September for various engagements, stayed in the U.K. upon hearing the news of the sovereign’s declining health. Harry traveled to Balmoral Castle to be with his grandmother while Meghan remained in London.
After news broke that the queen had died after more than 70 years on the throne, Harry and Meghan’s Archewell foundation’s website temporarily paused access, only displaying a tribute to the monarch: “In Loving Memory of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. 1926 to 2022.”
Out of respect for the late ruler, Meghan also put her upcoming Variety cover on hold. The “Archetypes” podcaster, who was recently named one of the magazine’s Power of Women nominees, will continue to mourn the loss of the queen with the rest of the royal family and her cover will be postponed until further notice, the outlet confirmed on Wednesday, September 14.
