Windsor Castle's weddings, baptisms and burials

The funeral service for the Duke of Edinburgh will be held in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The chapel features magnificently carved oak choir stalls for the knights of the Order of the Garter, the highest order of knighthood in Britain, to which Prince Philip belonged. Above the pews hang the banners of its members, along with the coats of arms of over 700 former members.

The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was the last major event at Windsor Castle. The couple chose St. George's Chapel for the ceremony in May 2018 because it is far from the hustle and bustle of London; the venue was reportedly also safer and easier to manage from a security point of view.

The tradition of weddings, christenings and funeral ceremonies in Windsor Castle's chapel dates back to the medieval times. St. George's Chapel was also used for more intimate family ceremonies, such as the 1842 christening of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840 — a love story that has been filmed many times. Victoria had a mausoleum built for her husband, who died at an early age, on Frogmore Estate near Windsor Castle, where she was also buried after her death in 1901.

One of the most elaborate memorial sculptures in St. George's Chapel is Matthew Cotes Wyatt's cenotaph to the memory of Princess Charlotte. She was the only daughter of George IV and died in 1817 after delivering a stillborn boy. George had no other children, so the succession to the throne went to his brother, William IV, and later to his niece Victoria, who ruled the kingdom from 1837 to 1901.

The above drawing shows the funeral procession of Sophia of Gloucester arriving at St. George's Chapel in December 1844. Sophia was a great-granddaughter of King George II. Although the princess had several marriage proposals, she never married. She lived in Winkfield, near Windsor, and was the first royal family member to attend public appointments.

Another day of mourning: On February 15, 1952, a carriage bearing the coffin of King George VI drew up at Windsor Castle. The king, a great-grandson of Queen Victoria's, was the father of Princess Margaret and the current queen, Elizabeth II. The procession was the first funeral of a British monarch to be broadcast on television.

The British royal family has weathered many scandals. In 1936, after 10 months on the throne, Edward VIII abdicated so he could marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. His death in 1972 was mourned in St. George's Chapel, but he was buried on the Frogmore Estate.

The widow of King George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II, known across the UK as "Queen Mum," died aged 101 in March 2002. Her coffin was transferred from Westminster Abbey to St. George's Chapel in Windsor, where she rests in the family vault alongside her husband, King George VI.