Today, our group had the opportunity to visit Westminster Abbey. I have been so looking forward to this day because ever since I was a little girl, I have been intrigued by the royal family. One of my core memories from my childhood actually revolves around a major royal event that took place at Westminster Abbey. It was the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate. Growing up, I was obsessed with princesses just as the average little girl often is. I would constantly play dress up in my Cinderella dress and play tea party with all my stuffed animals. It was like I was born to be British and somewhere there was a mix up.
Anyways, one day my mother let me stay home from school for none other than the Royal Wedding. I woke up to the smell of scones and hot tea wafting in the air. We sat in the living room floor that morning sipping earl grey out of tea cups and eating scones with clodded cream off of old china that once belonged to my grandmother. As we ate and sipped, we watched Kate step out of the carriage in the front of Westminster Abbey. I remember thinking how beautiful she looked and how I wished that was me as she walked down the aisle of the church. I turned to my mom, “Maybe I can still marry Prince Harry one day?” She only laughed and said, “Maybe, just maybe.” Well unfortunately my name is not Megan Markle.
The next day, my mother wrote an excuse note to the school stating that the reason for my previous absence was for a viewing of the Royal Wedding. Believe it or not, they accepted that as a legitimate excuse. Every time I hear or read of Westminster Abbey, I look back and think of that special day that I spent with my mom. Now, I am finally getting to see the place in person.
Westminster Abbey was formed by Benedictine monks during “the middle of the tenth century, establishing a tradition of daily worship which continues to this day.” Specifically, the first Westminster Abbey was established in 960. Westminster Abbey has been the coronation church for the British Monarch since 1066. In fact, 40 coronations have taken place at Westminster Abbey with the most recent on 6 May 2023 for King Charles. We entered a room with pictures of pat coronations and the picture of Queen Elizabeth moved me. In the photograph she wears her crown and accessories of being a new queen as she sits in the throne. She looks so frightened and serious and rightfully so for she has just become a leader of a country at only the age of twenty four.
Seventeen royal weddings have taken place at Westminster Abbey with the most recent on 29 April 2011. This was the royal wedding of Prince William of Wales now Duke of Cambridge, who is the eldest son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. He married Miss Catherine Middleton now Duchess of Cambridge.
The one thing that one will notice more than anything are the burial markers and monuments for famous people such as renowned artists, scientists, writers, and political activists. One of the people buried in the chapel is Sir Isaac Newton. Considered one of the most influential scientists of all time, Sir Isaac Newton was a physicist and mathematician known for his work on the laws of motion, gravitation, classical mechanics, calculus, planetary motion, optics and more. Among other accolades, he was made President of the Royal Society and was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and died in his sleep in 1727.
While my favorite writer of all time, Jane Austen, is not buried at Westminster, she does have a monument. Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. My favorite novel of hers is Pride and Prejudice. Austen’s plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favorable social standing and economic security.
Lastly and most importantly, is the one and only floor burial that no one is allowed to walk on. It is the only floor burial site that is in the middle of the chapel’s aisle and is roped off in the way that it is. It immediately attracts the eye mores than any other monument or burial marker. The border of the marker is covered in beautiful red fake flowers. In August 1920 the Reverend David Railton, who had served as an army chaplain in France during the First World War, wrote to the Dean of Westminster with a simple but unprecedented suggestionRecalling a rough wooden cross in a French garden on which had been written ‘An Unknown British Soldier’, and reflecting on the anguish of bereaved families who would never know the final resting place of loved ones killed in action, he asked the Dean, Dr Herbert Ryle, to consider burying the body of one such ‘unknown comrade’ in Westminster Abbey.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier reads:
BENEATH THIS STONE RESTS THE BODY
OF A BRITISH WARRIOR
UNKNOWN BY NAME OR RANK
BROUGHT FROM FRANCE TO LIE AMONG
THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS OF THE LAND
AND BURIED HERE ON ARMISTICE DAY
11 NOV: 1920, IN THE PRESENCE OF
HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V
HIS MINISTERS OF STATE
THE CHIEFS OF HIS FORCES
AND A VAST CONCOURSE OF THE NATION
THUS ARE COMMEMORATED THE MANY
MULTITUDES WHO DURING THE GREAT
WAR OF 1914-1918 GAVE THE MOST THAT
MAN CAN GIVE LIFE ITSELF
FOR GOD
FOR KING AND COUNTRY
FOR LOVED ONES HOME AND EMPIRE
FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND
THE FREEDOM OF THE WORLD
THEY BURIED HIM AMONG THE KINGS BECAUSE HE
HAD DONE GOOD TOWARD GOD AND TOWARD
HIS HOUSE.
Overall, visiting Westminster Abbey was a great experience and opportunity to learn about all the people that had earned their burial place or monument there. It was interesting to learn about the royal traditions performed there such as coronations and weddings. I mostly enjoyed looking at the beautiful gold architecture and stained glass windows that hung above me. I also loved the black and white checkered floor and the candles that lit the room. The whole environment felt very serene and holy. I have always had a core memory of my childhood connected to Westminster Abbey and now I have a moment from my adulthood connected to the place.
Theatre in London U of A 