How Frogmore Burial Ground became a private place of mourning for the Windsors

The Duchess of Kent will be laid to rest at Frogmore Burial Ground in Windsor after a funeral at Westminster Cathedral. Her grave will lie among those of many members of the Royal Family. For Frogmore has been a place of mourning for the royals for many years now.

Frogmore is best known as the last resting place of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They are actually buried inside the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore. The building was started in 1862, following Albert’s death in December 1861. The Prince Consort’s coffin briefly rested in the Royal Vault at St. George’s Chapel before being moved to the Royal Mausoleum which was completed in 1871.

Queen Victoria died in January 1901 and was buried next to her beloved Albert in the Royal Mausoleum on February 4 1901. Their tomb effigies show them as a young queen and consort. The mausoleum also contains a memorial to their daughter, Alice, who died in 1878 as well as a monument to Victoria’s father who died in 1820 when his daughter was just nine months old.

Windsor had long been a burial place for royalty but by the 1920s, it was clear that the Royal Vault in St. George’s Chapel was becoming too full. King George V decided to allow the consecration of a new burial ground at Frogmore. From 1928 onwards, it has become the final resting place of many members of the Royal Family with interment in St. George’s Chapel usually reserved now for monarchs and their consorts.

In late 1928, when the burial ground was ready, the coffins of several members of the Royal Family were taken from the Royal Vault at St. George’s to Frogmore. Among those re-interred was Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Helena, and her husband, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Adolphus, brother of Queen Mary, was also moved from the Royal Vault to Frogmore.

On March 30 1929, the funeral took place of Margaret, The Marchioness of Cambridge, a sister in law of Queen Mary. Following the service at St. George’s Chapel, the Marchioness was buried at Frogmore, the first direct interment there.

In the 1940s, Frogmore saw the burials of two of Queen Victoria’s children. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll was laid to rest there in March 1940, several months after she had been cremated. Her brother, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was buried at Frogmore in March 1942.

In 1972, Frogmore Burial Ground became the grave of a one time king when the Duke of Windsor, briefly Edward VIII, was laid to rest there.

His younger brother, George, Duke of Kent was already interred at Frogmore. The duke had been killed in a plane crash in 1942 and rested in the Royal Vault ever since. However, in 1968, his wife, Marina, died and the two were buried side by side at Frogmore.

A third brother found his final rest at Frogmore, too. Henry, Duke of Gloucester died in 1974 and was buried there, close to his elder son, Prince William, who had died in a plane accident in 1972.

In 1986, the eyes of the world were on Frogmore again following the death of the Duchess of Windsor. Wallis was laid to rest next to the husband who had given up a throne for her.

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and widow of Henry, was buried there in 2002 and the last close relation of the Windsors to be laid to rest at Frogmore was Sir Angus Ogilivy who died in 2005.

On September 16 2025, the Duchess of Kent will be buried there in a private service following her funeral at Westminster Cathedral.