Eleven-day tour of Britain: how the queen’s body is preserved for so long

Eleven Day Tour of Great Britain
How the queen’s body is preserved for so long

By Axel Witte
14/09/2022, 2:15 pm

Queen Elizabeth II has been dead for six days. But before she finds her final resting place, she still has a few mandatory appointments to complete. So that they do not become a burden to their people, the corpse must be prepared accordingly. How do you do that.

The Queen – a dutiful life. Even after her death, the monarch’s remains will not rest until her body is buried in the family plot of St George’s Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle on Monday 19 September.

Until that time, the coffin with the body of Queen Elizabeth II was and will be driven around and laid down for a total of eleven days. Your test subjects and spectators should be able to say goodbye in this way. Fortunately, you can almost say that the former empire has declined considerably in size over the past 100 years, otherwise an end to the hardships would not be in sight.

But even those eleven days between death, transportation, public display, and burial are no small feat, especially when you consider that the putrefaction of the human body begins about one to two days after death. Which brings us to the question of how we can prevent bystanders from being stunned by the smell of decomposition as they pay their respects.

embalming probably

Both RTL and the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND) have interviewed experts who provide information about possible methods of preserving the corpse. The press spokesman of the Undertaker Association of Lower Saxony, Markus Gebauer, explains to the RND: “To inhibit the natural decomposition process, the body fluids are exchanged with formaldehyde and other chemicals”. For this, arteries and vessels are opened. Then what is meant by the term embalming, even if nothing is applied to the body from the outside. This embalming can take two to six hours, depending on the condition of the body. In this way, the deceased can be kept in a presentable state for two to three months. The following applies: the faster the body fluids are exchanged, the better the condition of the corpse can be preserved.

And on RTL, the certified thanato practitioner Philipp Berger of the German Embalmers Association explains: “We take care of the preservation of the deceased. Here the autolysis is temporarily interrupted, i.e. the decomposition of the body, so that the burial or farewell in the open casket may take place at a later date”.

He also informs that the embalming can be repeated at regular intervals. For example, if a deceased person has to be offered to people for months or years. “The best example of this is Mr. Lenin in Moscow. He gets injections every 12 months. Depending on the procedure, embalming can be enough for a year,” Berger says. The embalmed body of the Russian revolutionary leader, who died in January 1924, is in Moscow in a mausoleum constructed.

Don’t expect an explanation from the palace

But the process isn’t just used for celebrities on display. For example, embalming is required if someone dies in Germany and needs to be transferred to their home country. If there is in any case a long time between the death and the farewell or the funeral, the expert will let Berger know.

Whether the body of the late Queen Elizabeth II was subjected to such treatment is a mystery, and no explanation from the palace is expected. Just like the question of whether the coffin might be empty. The Lower Saxony undertakers’ association, however, considers embalming very likely. The newspaper “Bild” would also have liked to hear that the The corpse is preserved, among other things, with special cooling plates until the moment of burial.

In addition, the queen’s coffin may have been and will be transported in a refrigerated hearse. “Many hearses have separate cooling, which can be switched on especially for long-distance transport,” explains Gebauer.