133. Dead Kings Road Trip, part three
In the final instalment of her travelogue around the last resting places of England’s monarchs, LISA GLEDHILL reveals a regal collection of oddities.
While most of our English kings and queens cluster together in Westminster Abbey, the family chapel at Windsor Castle, the Anglo Saxon capital of Winchester or the holy shrines of Glastonbury, a few independently minded souls have chosen to be buried in regal isolation. Perhaps they were hoping to start a new trend, or maybe they didn’t want to share the limelight. Either way, you’ll need to set aside a few days if you want to follow me in visiting all of these outliers.
Surprisingly, Henry IV is the only king who chose to be buried in England’s most magnificent cathedral at Canterbury. Did he want to avoid any post-mortem awkwardness that might have occurred if he’d been interred near his deposed predecessor, Richard II, at Westminster? He lies in a particularly elaborate and skillfully carved double effigy tomb commissioned by his Queen, Joan of Navarre. When his lead coffin was opened in 1832 he was found to be well preserved – at least he was before the air got at him and before the investigators started poking their fingers into his eyes. He had an unblemished face, which contradicts the 15th century stories about him being
