Following the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, watched and followed by millions of people around the world, the monarch was finally laid to rest in a private ceremony in the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle on the evening of 19 September. She was buried with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, her father, King George VI, her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and her sister, Princess Margaret.

Following the service, the royal family released a final photograph of the Queen on Twitter, a previously unseen image that shows her striding across the heath near Balmoral in 1971, with the Shakespeare quote: “May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.”

More than 2,000 guests – including royals, world leaders, former prime ministers and foreign dignitaries – congregated in Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s funeral, which saw her children walk behind her coffin as it was conveyed into the church where she was married and crowned. The newly released photograph, thought to have been taken by Her Majesty’s cousin, Lord Lichfield, finds her in a place that was particularly dear to her heart. Prince Philip proposed to her at Balmoral, and they spent part of their honeymoon on the estate. After his death in 2021, the Queen released a poignant, private photograph of them together at the top of the Coyles of Muick, taken by her daughter-in-law, the Countess of Wessex.