Pipers as well. The pipe-major uses foot tapping and stepping forward to mark changes in the tune.
Well, you do have a thousand years of practice at it. 
For those who watched it, what was your favourite musical piece?
I’ve had the Navy Hymn running through my head all day.
And the Vaughan Williams piece in the beginning. As soon as I heard it, I said to myself, “that’s Vaughan Williams”. Not as easy to carry in one’s head as the Navy Hymn, but I will track it down for my iPhone.
The vault beneath the George VI Memorial Chapel in St George’s Chapel was built with space for six coffins. The Queen’s parents are already buried there and we now know that the Queen and Prince Philip will join them there in due course. Princess Margaret’s ashes are also buried there. So that leaves two spaces, which will presumably be used for Charles and Camilla.
They then run out of space in the existing vaults beneath St George’s. One option would then be to built a new vault, although anything involving major alterations to the building would doubtless be extremely tricky. The easier option would be to construct tombs above ground in the nave, which was what was done for the Queen’s grandparents, George V and Queen Mary.
Other members of the family are buried at Frogmore. They won’t run out of space there any time soon.
Interesting article about Henry VIII and other royals resting in the vault beneath St. George’s chapel:
The only Vaughan Williams piece I see mentioned is Rhosymedre, and I haven’t found the place in the funeral where it was played.
I wonder if you’re thinking of I Vow to Thee my Country by Gustav Holst, played at the start of the band music?
It starts at about 1:59:45 on this video. (It looks like it can’t be embedded. Click on ‘Watch this video on YouTube’.)
There is actually some uncertainty about the exact location of that vault. That’s because there are discrepancies in the measurements taken when it was last opened in the nineteenth century.
Various bits of the large tomb intended for Wolsey and then repurposed for Henry VIII do survive. I rather assumed after the V&A acquired some of the sculptures from it in 2015 that at some point they would do an exhibition reconstructing it. Come to think of it, that’s just the sort of easy-to-organise crowdpleaser the V&A might need in the near future.
As for musical earworms, for me it’s been ‘Nimrod’ - obvious and very familiar but always perfect for such occasions.
Nimrod - Prince Philip’s Funeral
I Vow to Thee, My Country - Prince Philip’s Funeral
I found I Vow to Thee very moving, played as they drive the Land Rover out into position and prepare to receive to coffin.
It was played in the run-up to the actual service. Complete list of music is given in this BBC article:
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me while watching the funeral but it struck me this morning: why isn’t there an exception in the British household-distancing rule for funerals (etc., but especially funerals) for vaccinated people?
I live in a state (Illinois) with enforced and (generally) obeyed limits for social distancing, but people with proof of being fully vaccinated don’t count against capacity limits.
The Queen has been vaccinated. If the rules in the UK had been similarly updated – for everyone, not a special dispensation – since vaccines became available, someone could have sat with her.
Because enforcing an exemption like that would be next to impossible. It’s almost certain that some people would take liberties and how would the police check?
I was wondering if they would have something from the Orthodox Church at the funeral. Sure enough they had the konakion for the dead.
Usually the konakion and the memory eternal are the 2 parts of the service that are the most emotional.
It’s possible that the Queen actually chose to sit alone. Really, who would be sitting with her? Her kids? They were better off with their spouses. And the Queen needed to show that she was still strong and in control.
And the only Vaughan Williams I recall hearing was Rhosymedre.
why isn’t there an exception in the British household-distancing rule for funerals (etc., but especially funerals) for vaccinated people?
Ask the government, but my understanding is that vaccination reduces rather than eliminates risk. Until enough of the population has had both doses, there’s still a risk, and it’s far too early to introduce more than really limited special exemptions.
There’s a huge debate going on about the possibility of vaccination certificates being used for access to assorted businesses and services. It’s a sore subject. The simple practicalities of a reliable means of checking, event by event, make it difficult, as noted above.
Sadly, I’ve had to organise the funeral for a close family member during the current lockdown, so I have an initimate knowledge of the very detailed rules for funerals. As it happened, none of those attending had at that point been vaccinated, so that specific issue didn’t arise. But the rules made no distinction.
That’s in line with the general policy in the UK. The British government has so far been very careful not to imply that those who have been vaccinated can behave differently. The same social distancing rules still apply to everyone. And almost everyone has accepted this. The symbolism of the Royal Family following the rules to the letter was very powerful and all the more so because, for British viewers, it didn’t really have to be explained.
I was curious to see the custom Land Rover used as the hearse, since the news stories in the days prior mentioned that he’d been involved in designing it. I thought perhaps it would be something that could be used again, perhaps when the queen passes, but probably not.
The vast majority of nobility/aristocracy/people with titles are not royal - to be royal, you need to be part of the royal family, and usually carry a royal title (Royal Highness/Majesty). Diana was the daughter of an Earl, but she was officially a commoner until she married Charles. For example, most Dukes - the highest grade of the nobility - are not royal, and are addressed as ‘Your Grace’. A few Dukes are royal, because they are members of the royal family, and are addressed as ‘Your Royal Highness’.
‘Minor Royalty’ is a loose term applied to people who aren’t in the direct line of succession, or very closely related to the monarch (eg child/sibling). So Princess Eugenie - daughter of Andrew - would be a minor royal, for example.
The plan had been that it would be used for the journey from central London (from the Wellington Arch) to Windsor. The Queen’s funeral will presumably involve a similar journey by hearse. It would be a clever touch if they re-use the Land Rover for that. Why just use a standard hearse when you have one to hand with lots of added symbolism?
I wondered if it has a detachable roof of some sort. A 20-mile drive in the pouring rain would play havoc with the flowers etc.
It was certainly the Duke’s prerogative to design and request that the modified Land Rover be used as a hearse, but I personally would have preferred to see either a horse-drawn artillery caisson or a modern black hearse. More dignified.
I like the Navy Hymn very much, and always have. Here’s more on it: Eternal Father, Strong to Save - Wikipedia
As you’ll see, FDR, JFK, Earl Mountbatten, Nixon, Gerald Ford, John McCain and George H.W. Bush all had it performed at their funerals, too (all but FDR served in the Navy, and FDR was a former assistant SECNAV and, of course, CINC). And you may know that Robert Heinlein wrote an additional modern verse, which appeared in his short story “Ordeal in Space” (1948):
Almighty ruler of the All
Whose power extends to great and small,
Who guides the stars with steadfast law,
Whose least creation fills with awe,
O grant thy mercy and thy grace
To those who venture into Space.