After the funeral of Prince Philip on Saturday in St George’s Chapel, on the grounds of Windsor Castle, his coffin will be reduced to an opening in the stone floor, but the so-called royal vault will not be his final resting place.
Instead, Philip will be disinterested and shocked when Queen Elizabeth, his 73-year-old wife, dies, the Telegraph reported on Thursday.
Elizabeth will be buried elsewhere in the same stately Gothic church, in a vault of the memorial chapel of King George VI, named after her father, who was buried there in 1952, the British newspaper reported.
This vault also houses the remains of Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, and her mother, who died a few months later, also in 2002.
Only after Elizabeth’s death will Philip, forced by centuries of protocol to follow two steps behind the queen in any public procession, be unearthed and buried beside her.
Philip died Friday at the age of 99.