Picture of Queen’s ledger stone released ahead of chapel opening to public

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The first picture of the new ledger stone installed at the Queen’s final resting place in Windsor has been released by Buckingham Palace.

The Queen’s name has been inscribed alongside her mother’s, father’s and husband’s on the stone in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where the monarch was buried.

The black stone slab, which is new, has been set into the floor after replacing the old stone that had the names George VI and Elizabeth inscribed in gold lettering.

The fresh stone now contains, in list form, “George VI 1895-1952” and “Elizabeth 1900-2002” followed by a metal Garter Star, and then “Elizabeth II 1926-2022” and “Philip 1921-2021”.

All four royals were members of the Order of the Garter, which has St George’s Chapel as its spiritual home.

The stone is made of hand-carved Belgian black marble with brass letter inlays, to match the previous ledger stone.

The picture shows the stone also surrounded by floral tributes and wreaths.

It comes ahead of the Queen’s burial site opening to visitors next week as Windsor Castle reopens to the public.

People can pay their respects at St George’s Chapel from September 29, just over a week after the late monarch’s funeral.

The Queen was laid to rest together with the Duke of Edinburgh on Monday evening in a private service attended by the King and the royal family, which followed her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and committal service in Windsor.

When Philip died 17 months ago, his coffin was interred in the Royal Vault of St George’s, ready to be moved to the memorial chapel – a pale stone annexe added on to the north side of the building behind the North Quire Aisle in 1969 – when the Queen died.

The Queen’s sister Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, was cremated and her ashes were initially placed in the Royal Vault, before being moved to the George VI memorial chapel with her parents’ coffins when the Queen Mother died weeks later.

The King George VI Memorial Chapel, which sits within the walls of St George’s Chapel, was commissioned by the Queen in 1962 as a burial place for her father King George VI – designed by George Pace and finished in 1969.

The chapel will reopen to visitors next week on all days the castle is open to the public, excluding Sundays when it is only open for worshippers.

Entry to the castle is £28.50 for adults on Saturdays and £26.50 on other days, according to the website.

The royal family is continuing its period of mourning for the Queen, to be observed until seven days after the funeral.