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Westminster Abbey, the historic church associated more deeply than any other with the pageantry of English history, dates back nearly a thousand years to the time of King Edward the Confessor, the last of England's great pre-Norman monarchs. Edward's palace was located in the City of Westminster (which is now part of Greater London). Edward determined to re-endow and enlarge a Benedictine monastery located on Thorney Island nearby. The church he envisaged was consecrated December 28, 1065. However, the King was already stricken with his mortal illness, and could not attend. He died a few days later, and was buried on the site. Since then, it has been the burial place of royalty and of great figures of the kingdom. Within a year, Westminster Abbey saw the Coronation of the man who had conquered Edward's kingdom, the Norman William the Conqueror, who was crowned there on Christmas Day, 1066. Since then, every coronation has taken place there. The original Norman-design monastery was rep...