51°28′26.4″N 0°35′54.9″W / 51.474000°N 0.598583°W / 51.474000; -0.598583

Queen Victoria's Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore and the Royal Burial Ground (front)

The Royal Burial Ground is a cemetery used by the British royal family. Consecrated on 23 October 1928 by the Bishop of Oxford, it is adjacent to the Royal Mausoleum, which was built in 1862 to house the tomb of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The burial ground lies on the Frogmore estate within the Home Park at Windsor, in the English county of Berkshire.[1]

Overview

The burial ground was established because the Royal Vault under St George's Chapel was becoming full; by 1928, there had been 23 interments since 1810.[2] King George V allowed the burial ground to be made with the intention that in the future, only British sovereigns and those in the direct line of succession would be buried in the Royal Vault.[2]

Many members of the Royal Family, generally except for sovereigns and their consorts, have been interred in the Royal Burial Ground, among them Queen Victoria's children (Princess Helena, 1846–1923; Prince Arthur, 1850–1942; Princess Louise, 1848–1939) and one sovereign: Edward VIII, 1894–1972. In the adjacent Frogmore Gardens stands the Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum built in 1861 for Queen Victoria's mother.

Burials

Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore

Buried in 1928: previously interred at St George's Chapel

Schleswig-Holstein plot at Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore

Some members of the British Royal family were reburied at this cemetery in 1928, having previously been interred in the Royal Vault at St George's Chapel.

Burials 1929–1949

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll's grave (centre) at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore

Burials 1950–1979

Burials 1980–present

Formerly buried at the Royal Burial Ground

Statue

The statue overlooking the ground is a copy of the Danish Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's Christ, originally conceived 1821. The Frogmore copy was cast in 1903 at the bronze foundry Lauritz Rasmussen in Copenhagen. It was commissioned by the Danish-born Queen Alexandra in memory of her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria.

Public access

The Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum

Frogmore House and its gardens are usually open to the public on about six days each year, usually around Easter and the August Bank Holiday.

The Royal Burial Ground may be viewed from around its perimeter on the days on which the gardens are open to the public. The Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum may also be viewed externally, but is never open to the public.

The Royal Mausoleum, the resting place of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, is structurally unsound and has been closed to the public since 2007. It was reported in August 2011 that repairs might not be completed for a further ten years.[5] The Royal Mausoleum used to open on the Wednesday nearest Queen Victoria's birthday, 24 May, and occasionally on other days when the grounds were open. Restoration of the mausoleum began in June 2018, with the aims to create a dry moat around it and to replace the roof to protect it from the long-standing problem of water infiltration.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Royal Burials at St George's Chapel, Windsor". St George's Chapel.
  2. 1 2 "Royal Burials". The Times. 25 October 1928. p. 16.
  3. ↑ Harl, Johann (3 June 2002). "Royal Rumours". New Statesman. p. 19.
  4. ↑ Mendick, Robert; Sawer, Patrick (27 April 2013). "Yugoslavia's exiled Queen returns home at long last". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Royal mausoleum faces 10-year closure". The Evening Standard. 3 August 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  6. ↑ rose.slavin (16 August 2018). "The Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore". The Royal Family. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
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