Ernest Crofts specialized in paintings of the English Civil War, combining theatrical effect with historical accuracy. Here, rather than a major battle scene, he depicts the funeral procession of King Charles I after his execution in 1649. Crofts visited Windsor, ‘so as to be correct as I possibly could’, and also studied a seventeenth-century view of the castle. Noblemen in mourning had carried the coffin to Windsor Chapel, where the Bishop of London was waiting to perform the service. However, the castle governor, Lord Whitchcot (seen here on the far right with a group of attendants), denied the king a burial according to the Book of Common Prayer and he was interred without ceremony. Demonstrating his technical skill, Crofts has contrasted the bleak snow with the rich glowing interior of the chapel.