Her Majesty died peacefully at her beloved Balmoral Castle on 8 September 2022, meaning she spent her final days in Scotland.
This historical outcome is fitting not only due to the location of Her Majesty’s death but also her relationship with the Scots that spans both her heritage and personal life.
Queen Elizabeth II’s mother, who died aged 101 in 2002, was of Scottish ancestry as she was a member of the Bowes-Lyon family. The Royal Family website says: “The Bowes-Lyon family is descended from the Royal House of Scotland.”
Furthermore, according to National Records of Scotland, The Queen’s parents shared Robert II King of Scots as a common ancestor: “Through her father King George VI she was directly descended from James VI of Scotland. “Through her Mother’s family, the Bowes-Lyons, Earls of Strathmore, she could trace her ancestry back through generations of Scottish nobility to Sir John Lyon, Thane of Glamis, who married Robert II’s daughter in the fourteenth century.”
Historian Robert Stedall also explained that Queen Elizabeth II is a ‘direct descendant’ of Queen Margaret of Scotland who was the grandmother of Mary Queen of Scots.
A sanctuary for The Queen, Balmoral Castle, can also be found in Scotland, in Aberdeenshire.
Here, Her Majesty rode her horses, had picnics, and pushed her children around on wagons on the castle grounds, allowing her to set aside the formality of Buckingham Palace.
Her fondness was also to Scots themselves, when addressing Scotland’s parliament in 2021, the Queen said: “I have spoken before of my deep and abiding affection for this wonderful country.
“It is the people that make a place and there are few places where this is truer than Scotland.”
Source: The Scotsman
Sunday, 11th September, 2022
“After more than 70 yrs as Queen of Scots, Elizabeth II is taken into the palace (Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh) and will be placed in the throne room, peacefully at rest over night, before the ceremonies begin tomorrow and shes taken to the High Kirk of St. Giles where a service of thanksgiving for her life of service to Scotland will take place in the presence of His Majesty The King. The Queen is home.” Video Footage
Monday, 12th September, 2022
The Queen’s coffin has reached St Giles’ Cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection. The coffin will remain in Edinburgh for 24 hours before it is taken to London. Video Footage
King Charles III and his siblings have stood in silent vigil around their Mother, Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. With lowered heads, they stood at four sides of the oak coffin alongside four members of the Royal Company of Archers, who stood guard armed with arrows and quivers.
The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II will remain at the cathedral until Tuesday evening UK time so members of the public can pay their respects. It will then be flown to London where the coffin will lie in state at the Palace of Westminster from Wednesday afternoon until the morning of the funeral on September 19, 2022, at Westminster Abbey.
The Queen’s coffin is expected to proceed on a gun carriage pulled by sailors using ropes instead of horses. The coffin will then travel to its final resting place, St George’s Chapel, Windsor.