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A guest who attended Queen Elizabeth's committal service at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle is reflecting on the most emotional moment of the funeral ritual.
Samantha Cohen, the Queen's former assistant private secretary, told PEOPLE that watching the Queen's coffin lower into the Royal Vault of the ancient church made the monarch's death feel real. The Queen "peacefully" died at age 96 on September 8 and was laid to rest in Windsor Monday.
"You could hear a pin drop at that moment," Cohen said of the coffin's descent. "It's hard to fathom that she's gone. It doesn't seem real."
She added that the Queen's family "looked tired" at the funeral event.
There, her children King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla, Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the Queen's eight grandchildren, their spouses, and great-grandchildren Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, mourned the monarch.
"It was a shock, and now it's real. And the real mourning starts," Cohen says. "The reality of life without the Queen starts now."
The committal at the chapel had a more intimate feel than the Queen's state funeral, with 800 attendees versus the 2,000 who gathered at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral earlier in the day.
While diplomats, dignitaries and other royal families filled Westminster Abbey for the Monday morning service, the congregation at the committal service was comprised of past and present members of the Queen's Household, including from private estates. Together with her family, these were some of the people who knew Queen Elizabeth best.
"It was very intimate as all the Queen's personal staff and her households were there," Cohen explains. "It signaled the transition to the King as we ended with 'God Save the King.' "
The "very moving" service swelled with "camaraderie," she adds, likening it to "a big reunion for all those who'd worked for her for years but had left."
"She was bringing together those who'd worked for her for years like her private secretaries and other staff. She included everyone who'd worked with her," the former assistant secretary says, noting the welcoming feeling down to the seating. "It was very inclusive and wasn't hierarchical with her personal staff sitting right on the front."
"It wasn't about rank. It was about personal relationships — that's what was so beautiful about the Queen," Cohen continues. "She accepted people from all walks of life and the service reflected that. The uniting force was everybody's love for the Queen. She made it special because she made sure that everybody felt important and included."
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The former palace staffer says it was "lovely" to see the Queen's extended family, though it was heartbreaking to be together without the royal matriarch.
"It was very odd not to see her. It felt really strange to be in Windsor without her, as you'd see her everywhere," Cohen says. "It was her home, where she would drive around, or be riding her horse. It feels odd to be there without her."
Queen Elizabeth's funerary events concluded Monday with a private burial at the King George VI Memorial Chapel at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, according to the latest communications on Buckingham Palace's website.
The Queen was buried beside Prince Philip — her beloved husband of 73 years, who died in April 2021 at age 99 — and near her sister, Princess Margaret, and parents, King George VI and the Queen Mother.
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September 20, 2022 at 04:13AM
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Funeral Guest Says 'You Could Hear a Pin Drop' as Queen's Coffin Was Lowered into Royal Vault - PEOPLE
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