On April 28, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England's burial took place. It took place more than a month after her death on March 24 of that year, which wasn't uncommon. A monarch would have to lie in state and a lavish funeral would need to be arranged for them.
Elizabeth's body was placed in her coffin and she was carried to Whitehall downriver the night after her death. The barge was lit with torches, so everyone in the vicinity knew that it was taking place. On the day of her funeral, her coffin was taken to Westminster Abby on a horse-drawn hearse and it was covered in black velvet.
People took to the streets to see the funeral procession, grieving for their lost queen. John Stow, chronicler at the time, shared that he'd never seen such weeping and groaning before, showing just how loved Elizabeth was to many of her people.
Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came out to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man.
She was interred in a tomb with her half-sister, Mary I of England. While it may seem odd now, it was common to inter monarchs together. The idea for Mary and Elizabeth was that they would sleep together as sisters, as they did actually get along in the earlier years and even later for the most part. Mary, Queen of Scots, who Elizabeth had executed decades earlier, was moved to Westminster Abbey in 1612 and is now in a tomb opposite the two half-sisters.
As an interesting fact, we now state that Elizabeth died in 1603 since we now follow the Gregorian calendar. At the time, Elizabeth refused to switch and she followed the Julius calendar, which saw the new year start on March 25. She actually died on the last day of 1602 her time!
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