Effigies of Kings at Westminster Abbey
One of my favourite museums in London is the one I consider the most truly macabre. It’s not the London Dungeon or a torture chamber in the Tower - it’s the museum at Westminster Abbey with its funeral effigies of English Kings.
There seems to have been a tradition of displaying the monarch’s body openly in public. It was one way of making sure the king had died ‘honestly’ - not been made away with - though apparently, the murderers of Edward II managed to avoid being traced by the use of a red hot poker and a piece of antler. (I won’t go into that in detail - but if it was that secret, how come everyone nowadays knows all about it, eh?)
Of course, if time elapsed between death and burial, displaying the body became impractical, and so a wooden effigy was displayed instead. The first one that still exists in England is that of Edward III. It aims for dignity, showing the king’s fine long hair and beard - but also shows the drooping mouth, sign of the stroke he suffered three days before his death. It’s a surprisingly realistic face.
Even more realistic is the effigy of Henry VII. The striking head is clearly modelled from a death mask. It’s utterly realistic - you can imagine you are face to face with him. An encounter of such startling intimacy is something you rarely get with even the best painted portraits.
Among all the kings and queens you’ll also find Horatio, Lord Nelson. This has to be the summit of his social climbing (Nelson was a great man, but an indefatigable arriviste)! The effigy wasn’t made for his tomb - he was buried in St Paul’s, not Westminster - but for exhibition to the public, in the same way that Madame Tussaud’s displays David Beckham or Johnny Depp to us today.
If you’re headed to Westminster, don’t miss the effigies - your chance to come face to face with the Kings of England.
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