At the extreme east end, in the place of the Lady Chapel built by Abbot Humez, is the famous chapel called the "Wonder of the World," which was founded and endowed by the first Tudor King, and intended as a place of sepulture for himself and his family. The foundation-stone was laid in the presence of Henry VII. himself and of the great builder, Abbot Islip. The style is Perpendicular, much later than the main portion of the Abbey, and the whole of the exterior and interior is elaborately carved and decorated with stone panelling, the badge of the Royal founder, the Tudor rose, recurring all over the walls. Inside the great feature is the "fan tracery" of the stone roof, which resembles that of King's College Chapel, Cambridge. The windows were once filled with coloured glass, only a fragment of which remains; and the niches with statues of saints and Kings, many of which were destroyed in early Puritan times, in the reign of Edward VI. In 1725 this chapel was appointed as the place for the installation of the Knights of the Bath, an Order revived by George I., and, although the Knights are now installed at Windsor, the Dean of Westminster remains the official chaplain of the Order.
In the centre of the chapel is the tomb of the founder, Henry VII., and his wife, Elizabeth of York, and on the grille and the gates are the family badges. The tomb of Henry's mother, Margaret, Countess of Richmond, is in the south aisle; and the effigies of herself, her son and his wife, are fine specimens of the skill of the famous Italian sculptor Torrigiano. Henry's grand-daughters, the Queens Elizabeth and Mary Tudor, lie in the opposite aisle, sisters parted in life but united in death. Many other descendants of the founder lie side by side within the vaults, while the tombs of two of them, Margaret Stuart, Countess of Lennox, and Mary, Queen of Scots, are close to their common ancestress, Lady Margaret, in the south aisle. All the Stuart Sovereigns with the exception of James II. are here, but their only memorials are the wax figures of Charles II., William and Mary, and Anne, in the Islip chantry chapel.
In a small chapel to the east of Henry VII.'s tomb once lay the bodies of the great Protector, Oliver Cromwell, and many of his mighty men, but their bones were dug up after the Restoration, and not allowed to rest in the Royal church. The Hanoverian Sovereigns are represented only by George II. and his Queen, Caroline the Illustrious, who rest here, their dust mingled according to the King's desire. Close by lie members of their numerous family and the mother, brothers and sisters of the next King, their grandson, George III. Amongst his relations is that brave General, the Duke of Cumberland, whose memory is maligned in the sobriquet "Billy the Butcher."