The Royal Mausoleum – Frogmore, Home Park, Windsor, Berkshire, England

The Royal Mausoleum – Frogmore, Home Park, Windsor, Berkshire, England

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The Royal Mausoleum is the mausoleum for Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, Prince Consort.

It is located on the Frogmore estate, within the Home Park at Windsor in Berkshire, England.

Albert, who died in 1861, was re~interred in the mausoleum in 1871 – 10 years after his death.

Victoria was interred on 5th February 1901, following her death on 22nd January 1901.

Queen Victoria and her husband, had always intended to construct a special final resting place for them both.

They didn’t want to be buried in one of the traditional resting places of British royalty.

Plans were drawn up by Ludwig Gruner and A. J. Humbert, who had previously designed the Duchess of Kent’s Mausoleum.

Excavation work started on the site of the mausoleum on 27th January 1862, the final plans having been approved by Victoria.

The foundation stone was laid by Victoria herself, on 15 March 1862.
Victoria was accompanied by many of her cildren, and members of the Royal Household staff.

The total cost of the construction and decoration of the mausoleum was £200,000 (equivalent to £19,144,421 in 2021)

It was entirely funded by Victoria and Edward ~ the Prince of Wales, from their private funds.

Although Victoria and Albert’s are the only tombs in the chapel, the mausoleum also contains monuments to Princess Alice – Victoria’s second daughter, who died of diphtheria.

In the centre of the chapel is a monument to Edward, Duke of Kent, Victoria’s father, who died in 1820 and is buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

The Royal Mausoleum is sumptuously decorated inside with inlays of coloured marbles from the UK, Italy, Greece, France, Portugal, Africa and North America.

At the entrance stand two bronze statues of angels bearing a sword and a trumpet, dating from 1878.

After Victoria’s death, her son, the new King Edward VII, put in new stained glass windows, interior repainting of the dome, and the large bronze lamps at the entrance.

The amazing centrepiece of the mausoleum, is the sarcophagus containing the remains of Victoria and Albert.
The sarcophagus is believed to be the largest block of granite in existence.

The couple are each depicted in marble sculpted by the famous Italian sculptor, Carlo Marochetti.

The building has been closed to the public since 2007, when it was found to be structurally unsound.

Due to the marshy nature of the land, the foundations were generally waterlogged, and the lower elements of the building were disintegrating.

In February 2018, the Royal Household announced it was undertaking repair work, expected to be finished by 2023.

This was begun in June 2018, with the aims of creating a dry moat around the building and replacing its roof, protecting it from the long-standing problem of water infiltration.