He was succeeded by his only living son, George V. The funeral was the largest gathering of European royalty ever to take place, and the last before many royal families were deposed in the First World War and its aftermath.

"[2] Between moments of faintness, his son the Prince of Wales (shortly to be King George V) told him that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won at Kempton Park that afternoon.

A short service was held at the arrival of the coffin, with the combined choirs of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal singing the hymn "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" at the request of Queen Mary, although it was noted that their voices were drowned by the accompanying military band.

[8] It was expected that theatres and the like would close, but King George issued a notice "to the effect that he wished things to go on as usual except on the actual day of the funeral, in view of the loss that would be inflicted on many persons ill able to bear it".

[9] So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration.

In scarlet and blue and green and purple, three by three the sovereigns rode through the palace gates, with plumed helmets, gold braid, crimson sashes, and jeweled orders flashing in the sun.

[5] The mourners used the Royal Train, which together with the funeral car built for Queen Victoria, was hauled by the GWR 4000 Class locomotive King Edward.

[5] Alexandra also requested two hymns that were sung by the congregation, My God, my Father, while I stray and Now the labourer's task is o'er; this was an innovation at royal state funerals.

[14] The funeral directors to the Royal Household appointed to assist during this occasion were the family business of William Banting of St James's Street, London.

[16] On the instructions of Queen Alexandra in 1919, a monument in the South Aisle was designed and executed by Bertram Mackennal, featuring tomb effigies of the King and Queen in white marble mounted on a black and green marble sarcophagus, where both bodies were interred on 22 April 1927,[16] their caskets having been placed in front of the altar in the Albert Memorial Chapel after Alexandra's death in November 1925.