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• Emperor of Japan visits Westminster Abbey

  Tuesday, 25th June 2024

  Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan visited Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 25th June as part of their State Visit to the United Kingdom.

  The Emperor last visited the Abbey in September 2022 when he attended the State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II .

  Special Service

• Prayers for Martin Neary

  Monday, 29th September 2025

  The Abbey notes with sadness the death of Martin Neary, who was Organist and Master of Choristers from 1988 to 1998. 

  In 1997, he directed the music for the Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, for which he was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO).

• King and Queen of Spain visit Westminster Abbey

  Wednesday, 12th July 2017

  The King and Queen of Spain were accompanied by Prince Henry of Wales when they visited Westminster Abbey on Thursday 13th July as part of Their Majesties’ State Visit to the Her Majesty The Queen.

  Edward had twelve stone memorial crosses erected at the places where her funeral procession had rested on its way from Lincoln to the Abbey, the last at Charing...

  Royal Visit HRH Prince Henry of Wales Prince Harry

• Dr Wesley Carr, former Dean of Westminster, dies

  Monday, 17th July 2017

  Dr Wesley Carr, who was Dean of Westminster from 1997 to 2006, has died peacefully aged 76.

  ...years later he moved to Westminster Abbey where, in 1997, he conducted the funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales, and in 2002 of Queen Elizabeth The Queen...

• Royal Family marks Unknown Warrior centenary

  Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall attended a service to mark the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey on 11th November 2020.

  ...Wales read John 15: 12–17 Ruby Turner, accompanied by Jools Holland (piano), sang Abide With Me, one of the hymns which was sung at the Warrior’s funeral in

• Edward III and Philippa of Hainault

  Edward was crowned in 1327. Monuments to him and his wife Philippa of Hainault are in the chapel of St Edward the Confessor, Westminster Abbey.

  Burial and funeral effigy The king died of a stroke at Sheen Palace on 21st June 1377.

• Sir Robert Moray

  Scientist and Mathematician

  Sir Robert Moray, mathematician, chemist and a founder and first President of the Royal Society, was buried in the centre part of the south transept.

  The King ordered his burial in the Abbey and paid the expenses of his funeral.

• R.P. Howgrave Graham

  Historian

  The ashes of Robert Pickersgill Howgrave Graham, F.S.A., M.I.E.E., Assistant Keeper of the Muniments of Westminster Abbey from 1948-1959, are buried in the Islip chapel.

  wartime water damage to the wooden funeral effigy collection in the Abbey Museum he painstakingly restored them, including the earliest effigy, Edward III,...

• Sir Charles Villiers Stanford

  Musician and Composer

  Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, eminent musician, was buried in the north choir aisle, near the graves of Henry Purcell, John Blow and William Sterndale Bennett.

  funeral service was held on 3rd April 1924. Adrian Boult, who succeeded Sir Charles as professor at the Royal College of Music, conducted the College orchestra...

• William Shield

  Musician and Composer

  William Shield, musician and composer, is buried in the south cloister, in the same grave as his friend and fellow musician Johann Peter Salomon.

  Among the many mourners at the funeral were Thomas Broadwood (his executor) and Vincent Novello.

• New Collaboration to Reveal Secrets of Effigies

  Wednesday, 3rd May 2017

  The wax-work heads of naval hero Horatio Nelson and Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder, which are over two hundred years old, have been scanned using the world’s most advanced radiology technology in a new collaboration between Westminster Abbey, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London.

  ...composition of the heads, which are part of the Abbey’s collection of historic wax funeral effigies currently undergoing conservation before they go back on

• James O‘Donnell honoured in New Year list

  Monday, 2nd January 2023

  Former Organist and Master of the Choristers James O’Donnell has been made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in The King’s first New Year’s Honours list.

  ...national occasions, including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on 29 April 2011, and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on 9 April

• William Pitt and family

  Statesman

  William Pitt the Elder and his son are buried in the north transept of Westminster Abbey. His wax effigy is on display in the triforium.

  His was a magnificent public funeral.

• Charles Dickens

  Writer and Novelist

  A small stone with a simple inscription marks the grave of Charles Dickens, famous English novelist, in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

  ...Westminster, after being approached by John Forster and the poet's son, readily agreed and the funeral was strictly private, following Dickens' own

• Sir Clowdisley Shovell

  Sailor

  In the south choir aisle of Westminster Abbey is a large marble monument to the famous Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovell, by the sculptor Grinling Gibbons.

  The funeral was paid for by Queen Anne.

• Ann Oldfield

  Actor

  Ann Oldfield, celebrated actress of her day, was buried in the nave’s south aisle. It was unusual for actors to be buried within the church.

  Her coffin lay in Jerusalem Chamber prior to the magnificent funeral on 27th October.

• Colin Williams

  Philanthropist

  Colin Williams (1942-2015) was an Abbey Honorary Steward (from 1992-2012) and a generous donor to the appeal for the restoration of Henry VII's chapel.

  ...members of the Abbey staff and stewards his body rested overnight in St Faith's chapel in the Abbey and the funeral was later at St Mary's Conington, Cambridge.

• Charles St Clare Bedford

  Charles St Clare Bedford, Chapter Clerk at Westminster Abbey 1854-1900 and Coroner for the City of Westminster 1845-1888, is buried in the north cloister.

  She died in 1902 and had her funeral in St Margaret's Westminster.

• John Parsons

  Musician and Composer

  John Parsons, organist and composer, is buried in the cloisters. He was the Abbey's Master of Choristers from 1613-1623, and Organist from 1621.

  His setting of the burial service was sung at Charles II's funeral.

• James Ley, 3rd Earl of Marlborough

  Sailor

  James Ley, 3rd Earl of Marlborough is buried in the north ambulatory of Westminster Abbey but he has no monument or marker.

  Abbey Precentor's book states that the fees for his funeral were waived "as he died poor and his friends [were] not able or not willing to pay the money, they...