Members of the congregation began arriving in the abbey a few moments ago. here to mourning the death and on the life of a monarch who always seemed to represent the best of their nation, the best of themselves. the tradition of royal funerals at the abbey began with edward the confessor buried here in 1066 on the site of the abbey church he had built. the first queen elizabeth, who died in 1603, is buried in the vault of the abbey. here, too, the grave of richard ii, calling to mind the words that seem apt today of william shakespeare, from the play richard ii. let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings. but we remember too, that for her majesty, this was also a place ofjoy, the place where her own marriage took place and her coronation, and from where she uttered these essential words.
Would be historically used to seal documents and will have an imprint of the design for the monarch. and it s completely redundant in that we don t seal documents today with wax. but it s actually really, really important signing the declaration, proclamation. it s fortunate this monarchy because it shows the royal stamp of approval and also links it in with the history. great seal in england, at least, goes back to the reign of edward the confessor, preconquest. so i think it s really important that we have these references to tradition and of course king charles will need to approve designs for his own great seals now that he s mon arch. from now they re using from previous reign. this was the really important line, the first one that we re seeing here, this particular one that they re signing. the former prime ministers. there s so many of them it will