The Chantry of Prince Arthur in Worcester Cathedral is a most beautiful work of its period. It commemorates probably the most splendid occasion ever witnessed at Worcester - and one of the most tragic, the burial of Arthur, Prince of Wales, who died at Ludlow in 1502, at the age of 16. The death of Arthur changed the course of English history, for had his younger brother, later Henry VIII, not become king, England might not have broken with the Church of Rome.
The splendid ceremonial was well recorded, Sir Richard Croft and Sir William Ovedall, Steward and Controller of the Prince's household, rode before to Worcester, and ordered the gate to be closed at the town's end (Castle Street) and then proceeded to the gate, 'where were the Bailiff's and honest men of the City, on foot', and all the clergy both regular and secular, of the town. At Lich Gate, four Bishops in rich copes, censed the Corpse; it was then taken out of the 'Charre', and conveyed under canopy, with banners, into the churchyard, where it was received by Abbots or Priors, all richly robed, of Worcester, Gloucester, Evesham, Chester, Shrewsberry, Hailes, Tewkesbury and Bordesley.
In the church, 'at Dirige were nine lessons, after the custom of the church'. That night there was a goodly watch of lords, knights, esquires, gentlemen ushers, officer of arms,yeoman and many others. On the following day three masses were sung, the third being a requiem. The corpse was the, censed and laid in the grave. 'The orisons were said by the Bishop of Lincoln, sore weeping'. He set the cross over the chest and cast holy water and earth thereon. The Prince's Officer of Arms, sore weeping, took off his coat of arms, and cast it along over the chest right lamentably. Then Sir William Ovedall, Controller of his Household, sore weeping and crying, took the staff of his office by both ends, and over his own head brake it, and cast it into the grave. In likewise did Sir Robert Croft, Steward of his household, and cast his staff broken into the grave. In likewise did the gentlemen ushers their rods. It was a piteous sight to all who beheld it.
'All things thus finished, there was ordained a great dinner, and in the morning a proclamation was made openly in the City, that if any man could show any victuals unpaid, that had been taken by any of that noble Prince's servants, they should come and show it to the late Steward, Controller, and Cofferer, and they should be contented. Thus God have mercy on the good Prince Arthur's soul'. The King was not present at the funeral, nor was the Bishop of Worcester, Sylvester Gigles, who was an Italian non-resident.
The Chantry was erected by Henry VII in 1504, and is built of Painswick stone. There is a tradition that the plain table-top tomb was to have a bronze effigy of the Prince by the Italian sculptor, Torrigiano, who did the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey, but with the political manoeuvring in which the young Henry was married to his brother's widow, Katherine, it was considered expedient to quietly forget Prince Arthur and the effigy was never completed.