The Life of King Henry the Eight • Paragraph 957
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The train to Windsor contained a funeral car upholstered in purple and white silk with a catafalque on which the casket was placed and around it were grouped the near members of the Royal Family and eight Sovereigns of Foreign States. From Windsor station to the Castle the procession formed in the previous order except that the Royal mourners walked while sailors drew the gun-carriage to the famous home of Britain's monarchs and to the entrance of the historic St. George's Chapel. Here, where King Edward was christened and married and shared in so many stately functions, the final religious ceremonies were performed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. While the coffin rested on a purple catafalque before the altar, which was almost buried in floral emblems, and minute guns boomed and bells tolled, the briefest service of the Church of England--at Queen Alexandra's request--was proceeded with and the body slowly, reverently, lowered into the vault. A prayer was then uttered for the new King and the Benediction pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury.