Sitting next to Her Majesty.

[burntturbot]

Quick clarification needed.

A 'friend' of a friend (!) has recently announced that on a visit to Windsor Chapel (either Sun 24th June 2018 or week before), they attended the Sunday Service and were sat NEXT TO The Queen.

Please, can anyone assure me that that DID NOT happen?

The 'friend' is a tourist from another Country, and just happened to be in Windsor visiting the sites. Surely this would be an enormous breach of security??
They could have had a knife in their pocket or anything?????

Whilst not a threat to anyone - this person is surely lying. ???

Can anyone clarify??

 

[Osipi]

One way to easily find out is to arm yourself with some information and ask your friend certain questions. Where exactly in the chapel was he seated?

What we know from the recent royal wedding of Harry and Meghan is that when the Queen attends services at St. George's Chapel, her preferred seat is on the right hand side of the quire (if you're facing the altar) and the first seat in the second row (as shown in this link). Its also a fact that when the Queen does attend services at St. George's chapel, she (along with any member of the royal family) use the Gilbertus door on the east side of the chapel. The public are not ever allowed to use this door. Only the royal family.

The Queen at the royal wedding:

https://www.google.com/search?clien.....0j0i24k1.0.emiNXnWbC24#imgrc=VuwPOG7wcFxGeM:

Information about the Gilbertus door

https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/image_of_the_month/the-gilebertus-door/

Another little tidbit of information comes from a post here back in 2008 where one of our posters (GillW) was able to attend a Sunday service at Craithe church in Scotland (near Balmoral) with the Queen in attendance and its told of the procedures put into place with the Queen attending the service. Mind you, its not St. George's Chapel but I would imagine that the procedure would be the same at any church the Queen attends.
The post in #33 in this link.

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f118/the-queens-churchgoing-habits-15484-2.html

Good luck!

 

[Lumutqueen]

So on Sunday 24th and the week prior 17th The Queen and DOE attended the Polo Matches at Windsor.

Unfortunately nobody can tell you for certain your friend is lying, as we weren't there. You could ask him what time he attended the service, here is a timetable of services (https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/18.06.24-18.07.07.pdf) that were held on 24th, it would have had to have been the morning service for him to see The Queen.

There's no breach of security, I do somehow doubt he was allowed to knowingly sit next to The Queen, perhaps close by. Services are open to the public and The Queen knows that, it happens often in churches in Scotland.


There is also no "Windsor Chapel", it is St Georges Chapel attached to Windsor which The Queen attends.

 

[vkrish]

I have had this doubt for a while. Why does the Queen sit in second row in St George's when at other chapels she takes the most prominent seat..

 

[Somebody]

I assume that is the seat she prefers. It could be thd place where she can see what's going on most easily as it is higher up. The seat in front of her is always kept empty.

 

[MARG]

Yes, I would have to agree, she gets the best seat in the Chapel "that works for her". As we all saw at Harry's wedding the seats in the quire face each other so she has chosen the first seat in the second row as 'hers'.

HM's reason was explained in depth at Harry's wedding. She is a tiny woman and I don't even know how tall she is as she is a little stooped with age she is shorter than she used to be. Moving her seat up to the second tier and leaving the seat in front of her empty, lends her a clear line of sight to the pulpit, altar and back down to the entrance from the nave.

 

[burntturbot]

Pretty sure she was lying!!!

Thanks for replies.

After reading them, I'm pretty sure that my friend's 'friend' was, in fact, lying.

Perhaps she was in the Chapel, which is, after all, a public space, but it seems ridiculous - given the layout of St George's - that the quire area is for anyone other than The Royal Family and invited guests. It appears to be, by unintentional design, its own VIP area.

Thanks again for info.