Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Henry VII's Chapel
From the Chapel of St Paul you can climb the stairs and enter the Lady Chapel, better
known as
Henry VII's Chapel
, the most dazzling architectural set piece in the abbey.
Begun by Henry VII in 1503 and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it represents the final
gasp of the English Perpendicular style, with its beautiful, light, intricately carved
vaulting, fan-shaped gilded pendants and statues of nearly one hundred saints, high
above the choir stalls. The stalls themselves are decorated with the banners and
emblems of the Knights of the Order of the Bath, established by George I.
George II
,
the last king to be buried in the abbey, lies in the burial vault under your feet, along
with Queen Caroline - their co
ns were fitted with removable sides so that their
remains could mingle.
Beneath the altar is the grave of Edward VI, the single, sickly son of Henry VIII,
while behind lies the chapel's centrepiece, the black marble
sarcophagus of Henry VII
and his spouse - their lifelike gilded e
gies, modelled from death masks, are obscured
by an ornate Renaissance grille by Pietro Torrigiano, who fled from Italy after breaking
Michelangelo's nose in a fight. James I is also interred within Henry's tomb, while the
first of the apse chapels, to the north, hosts a grand monument by Hubert le Sueur to
James's lover, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, the first non-royal to be buried in
this part of the abbey, who was killed by one of his own disgruntled soldiers.
1
The side chapels
he easternmost
RAF Chapel
sports a stained-glass window depicting airmen and
angels in the Battle of Britain and a small piece of bomb damage from World War II.
In the floor, a plaque marks the spot where Oliver Cromwell rested, briefly, until the
Restoration, whereupon his mummified body was disinterred, dragged through the
streets, hanged at Tyburn and beheaded. And the last of the apse chapels contains
another overblown Le Sueur monument, in which four caryatids, holding up a vast
bronze canopy, weep for Ludovic Stuart, another of James I's “favourites”.
North aisle: Elizabeth I and the Innocents
Before descending the steps back into the ambulatory, pop into the chapel's north aisle,
which is virtually cut off from the chancel. Here James I erected a huge ten-poster
tomb to his predecessor,
Elizabeth I
. Unless you read the plaque on the floor, you'd
never know that Elizabeth's Catholic half-sister, “Bloody Mary”, is also buried here, in
an unusual act of posthumous reconciliation. The far end of the north aisle, where
James I's two infant daughters lie, is known as
Innocents' Corner
: Princess Sophia, who
died aged three days, lies in an alabaster cradle, her face peeping over the covers, just
about visible in the mirror on the wall; Princess Mary, who died the following year
aged 2, is clearly visible, casually leaning on a cushion. Set into the wall between the
two is the Wren-designed urn containing (what are thought to be) the bones of the
Princes in the Tower
, Edward V and his younger brother, Richard (see p.183).
South aisle: Mary Queen of Scots
The south aisle of Henry VII's Chapel contains a trio of stellar tombs, including
James I's mother,
Mary
,
Queen of Scots
, whom Elizabeth I had beheaded. James had
Mary's remains brought from Peterborough Cathedral in 1612, and paid significantly
more for her extravagant eight-postered tomb, bristling with Scottish thistles and
complete with a terrifyingly aggressive Scottish lion, than he had done for Elizabeth's;
the 27 hangers-on (including the Cavalier Prince Rupert and the “Winter Queen”,
Elizabeth of Bohemia) who are buried with her are listed on the nearby wooden
screen. The last of the tombs here is that of
Lady Margaret Beaufort
, Henry VII's
mother, her face and hands depicted wrinkles and all by Torrigiano. Below the altar,
commemorated by simple modern plaques, lie yet more royals:
William and Mary
,
Queen Anne
and
Charles II
.
