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The north choir aisle was designed as the burial place of Edward IV, whose
chantry chapel still survives above the vault. To the west of the aisle
is the chantry chapel of Edward IV's great ally and friend Lord Hastings
and also the George VI Memorial Chapel, a striking 20th century addition
to the building.
Edward IV's Chantry
Edward IV rebuilt the chapel of St George with the intention that it serve
as his burial church. His chosen resting place was within the north choir
aisle and he directed that a chantry chapel be contrived in the vault
immediately above it. Although the architectural setting for the chantry
remains and its position is apparent internally from the dropped level
of the aisle vault, work to the king's monument was never completed. The
best guide we have to its intended appearance is to be found in Edward
IV's will of 1475. According to this it was to contain two effigies, one
representing the king as an emaciated corpse. A group of almsmen were
also to pray for the soul of the king and were to be provided with seats
in the chantry. A superb set of ornamental iron gates intended for the
chantry survive in the choir.
The doorway from the aisle to the upper chapel of the chantry is also
decorated with three very fine iron fittings, probably the work of the
master smith John Tresilian between 1478-83. From top to bottom these
are a spy grill, a door handle (the ring is lost) and a lock. Of these,
the door handle is particularly intricate, its swirl of tracery ornamented
with the Order of the Garter.
The Hastings Chantry
William Lord Hastings was one of the outstanding figures of late 15th-century English politics. A close
ally and friend of Edward IV he obtained preferment to the office of Lord Treasurer and was a notable
patron of architecture, his surviving properties including the imposing ruins of the castles at
Ashby de la Zouche and Kirby Muxloe in Leicestershire. His burial so close to the king is testament
to the royal favour which he enjoyed.
After the death of Edward IV and the accession of the boy king Edward V Hastings was accused of treason and summarily executed in dramatic circumstances without trial on June 13th 1483 by the then Lord Protector of
the Realm, Richard Duke of Gloucester. Shortly afterwards the Duke of Gloucester assumed the crown and a few months later the young king Edward V, then resident in the Tower of London, disappeared along with his brother.
Despite his political disgrace, Richard III allowed Hastings to be buried at Windsor.
This chantry chapel seems to have been constructed during Lord Hastings' lifetime but it would appear
from building accounts that the final touches of its decoration were being made in the 1490s. The
chapel is one in a pair of chantry chapels set on either side of the choir. It is designed as an
ornate cage of stone. Inside the chapel is a splendid series of 15th-century panels depicting the
martyrdom of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
George VI Memorial Chapel
The Memorial Chapel of George VI was designed by George Pace and it projects
beyond the the north choir aisle. It takes the form of a concrete octagon
and is lit with windows designed by John Piper. The king's tomb is set
in the centre of the chapel beneath a black marble slab. Beside the king,
reunited with her husband after fifty years, is Queen Elizabeth, the Queen
Mother. A memorial plaque for Princess Margaret is placed alongside the
tomb. Outside the chapel is a memorial tablet inscribed with the lines
of the poem God Knows by M.L. Haskins, which the King quoted in his Christmas
Day broadcast of 1939:
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
Give me a light that I may tread safey into the unknown
And he replied:
Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God,
That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.
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