In February 1669, the diarist Samuel Pepys visited Westminster Abbey and was shown something extraordinary. A keeper led him to a wooden coffin that had been left sitting above ground for centuries, its lid broken open. Inside lay the body of Catherine of Valois, a medieval queen of England, her face still visible and parts of her remains preserved. Pepys wrote that he kissed the queen’s mouth, noting with dark humor that it was the first time he had kissed a queen, and that it happened on his birthday.

Catherine had been born in 1401, the daughter of King Charles VI of France. She grew up during the bitter Hundred Years’ War between England and France. In 1420, she married King Henry V of England as part of a peace agreement between the two kingdoms. She was still very young when she became queen, but the marriage carried enormous political weight, intended to unite the English and French royal families.

The union did not last. Henry V died suddenly in 1422, probably from illness, leaving Catherine a widow at just twenty-one. Their only child, the infant Henry VI, became king under regents. Catherine lived quietly at court for several years, but she later secretly married a Welsh nobleman named Owen Tudor.

That relationship would have enormous historical consequences, because their descendants eventually founded the Tudor dynasty. Catherine died on January 3, 1437, at only thirty-five, likely from illness shortly after childbirth. As the widow of Henry V and mother of the reigning king, she was given an honorable burial in Westminster Abbey, near the shrine of Edward the Confessor. About forty years later, construction work transformed her resting place.

During the late fifteenth century, the abbey was undergoing major building projects, including the expansion of Henry V’s tomb into an elaborate funeral chapel. The work required rearranging nearby graves. Catherine’s tomb was dismantled and moved. Instead of being carefully reburied, her coffin was simply placed above ground near the new chapel.

Over time, the wooden coffin deteriorated. The lid eventually opened, exposing the remains inside. Because Catherine had been wrapped in a shroud and placed in a sealed coffin, parts of her body had dried and become partially mummified. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the strange sight of Catherine of Valois’s body had become well known to visitors.

The abbey was not only a religious building but also a place where people came to see royal relics and historical curiosities. Keepers occasionally showed interesting tombs and remains to visitors. Catherine’s remains became one of these unusual attractions. Attitudes toward historical remains were very different then.

People were often fascinated by the physical remains of famous historical figures, and old tombs were sometimes opened during construction or historical investigations. For decades, her coffin remained where it had been left, near Henry V’s chapel. The original tomb had been dismantled, so there was no structure to restore. Visitors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reported seeing bones and pieces of cloth.

By the eighteenth century, attitudes toward royal burials began to change. People increasingly believed that the remains of historical figures should be treated with dignity rather than curiosity. In 1778, abbey authorities finally decided to give Catherine a proper burial. Her remains were collected, placed in a new coffin, and reburied beneath the abbey floor near Henry V’s chapel.

The strange situation that had lasted nearly four hundred years finally ended. Catherine de Valois played an important role in the story of English royalty. Through her secret marriage to Owen Tudor, she became the grandmother of Henry VII, the king who founded the Tudor dynasty. That made her the ancestor of some of England’s most famous monarchs, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

Today, visitors to Westminster Abbey will never see anything like the grim curiosity that once existed there. Catherine rests quietly beneath the abbey floor, properly buried and protected, but her story remains one of the strangest episodes in the history of royal burials. Elizabeth Woodville was born in 1437, the eldest daughter of Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Known for her beauty, she married her first husband, John Grey, at around fifteen and bore him two sons.

John was killed fighting for the Lancastrian cause at the Second Battle of St. Albans during the Wars of the Roses. Widowed and stripped of her husband’s lands by the crown, Elizabeth went to meet King Edward IV, who was hunting in the area. Edward, known for his fondness for women, was captivated by her beauty.

They met secretly and eventually married. Elizabeth was crowned queen on May 26, 1465. The marriage shocked the court, especially the powerful Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker. Warwick eventually betrayed Edward IV, but Elizabeth’s family gained vast lands and wealth.

She bore ten children, though three died in infancy. Edward was briefly overthrown, and Elizabeth lived in exile, seeking sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, where she gave birth to the future Edward V. After Edward reclaimed the throne, things stabilized, but his sudden death left Elizabeth widowed for the second time and vulnerable. Her brother-in-law, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, seized her sons, declared the marriage invalid, and took the throne as Richard III.

The boys disappeared within the Tower of London, a tragedy remembered as the Princes in the Tower. Elizabeth returned to sanctuary, stripped of her lands and titles. She allied with Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, working to place Henry on the throne. Henry VII married Elizabeth’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, uniting the houses.

Elizabeth Woodville regained her status as queen dowager but spent her final years in Bermondsey Abbey, where she was treated well. She died on June 8, 1492, likely of plague. Her funeral was held just four days later, and her body was placed quickly in a coffin, probably without embalming to avoid handling infected remains. She was buried hastily in the same vault as Edward IV in St.

George’s Chapel, Windsor. The vault was opened in 1789 during restoration work. What the workers found was shocking. Edward IV’s coffin appeared intact, but Elizabeth’s coffin was broken and shattered.

Her skull and bones lay scattered in the vault, mixed with bricks and rubble. The coffin itself was cheap pine, poorly made, and had been smashed. Someone had entered the vault and deliberately disturbed the remains of the White Queen. Her bones were later gathered and placed in a different container.

She rests there today beside her husband, but her grave bears no mention of her name. Anne Neville was born on June 11, 1456, the younger daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the powerful Kingmaker. She grew up in wealth during the Wars of the Roses. In 1469, Warwick turned against Edward IV and allied with his former enemy, Margaret of Anjou.

To cement the alliance, Anne, just fourteen, was married to Margaret’s son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. The marriage was short. Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet in April 1471, and Anne’s young husband died at the Battle of Tewkesbury a month later. A teenage widow, Anne was captured by the Yorkists.

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Edward IV’s younger brother, sought to marry her, which would give him claim to the Neville inheritance. They married in 1472. They settled in northern England, where Richard governed as a capable and just lord. They lived quietly at Middleham Castle, and around 1473 Anne gave birth to their only child, Edward of Middleham.

When Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard took the throne as Richard III. Anne was crowned queen consort in Westminster Abbey on July 6, 1483, the first queen crowned alongside her husband since the Norman Conquest. Her reign was shadowed by tragedy. Rumors spread about the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower, staining her husband’s reputation.

Then, in April 1484, her only son died at about ten years old. The loss devastated both parents. Anne’s health declined rapidly. She died on March 16, 1485, at twenty-eight, likely from tuberculosis.

Rumors claimed Richard had poisoned her to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York. Richard publicly denied this, expressing profound grief. Her funeral was held in Westminster Abbey, where a substantial sum was paid for a ceremony fitting a queen. She was buried on the south side of the sanctuary, near the shrine of Edward the Confessor.

For nearly five hundred years, her burial place went unmarked and was lost. In 1866, workers found a heavy lead coffin in the approximate location of her grave. Whether it contains Anne Neville or Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife, buried nearby, remains debated. Because her grave was lost, it was never disturbed.

During the Victorian era, many royal tombs were opened and inspected. Anne Neville’s was not. Her body may remain in the condition it was on the day she died. In 1960, a memorial plaque was placed on the wall of the south ambulatory near the approximate burial site.

The exact location of her grave remains one of Westminster Abbey’s secrets. Emma of Normandy was one of the most powerful women in early medieval England. Born around 985, the daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy, she was sent to England in 1002 to marry King Æthelred II, a political union meant to secure Norman support against Viking raids. She bore several children, including Edward, who would become Edward the Confessor.

When King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark invaded in 1013, Emma fled with her sons to Normandy. After Æthelred’s death in 1016, England fell to the Danish king Cnut. In a striking political move, Emma married him. This second marriage made her more powerful than before.

She became a true political partner, appearing in royal decrees and advising the king. She bore Cnut a son, Harthacnut. After Cnut’s death in 1035, a brutal succession struggle erupted. Emma supported Harthacnut against her stepson Harold Harefoot, who seized the English throne.

Her son Alfred, from her first marriage, was captured and brutally blinded while trying to return to England, dying shortly afterward. Emma lived in exile in Flanders for several years. Harold’s death in 1040 brought Harthacnut to the throne, and he restored his mother to England. He died two years later, and Emma’s eldest surviving son, Edward, became king.

Expecting to dominate court as queen mother, Emma found herself cut off financially and stripped of much of her property by her resentful son. She withdrew from power and lived quietly until her death on March 6, 1052, at about sixty-eight. She was buried beside Cnut and Harthacnut in Winchester’s Old Minster. After the Norman Conquest, her remains were moved to the new cathedral, placed in caskets.

In the sixteenth century, her bones were placed in painted wooden mortuary chests. During the English Civil War in 1642, Cromwell’s soldiers ransacked Winchester Cathedral, destroying everything that symbolized monarchy. They smashed the chests and scattered the bones of the kings and queens, including Emma’s, across the cathedral floor, even throwing some bones through the windows. Later, new chests were made and the recovered bones gathered up, but they were hopelessly mixed together.

Some of Emma’s remains are certainly in those chests, but they cannot be separated from others. A reconstructed skeleton is displayed today, but parts are missing, including her skull fragments and leg bones. Philippa of Hainault was born between 1310 and 1315 in what is now Belgium. Her marriage to Edward III in January 1328 was arranged by his mother, Isabella, to secure military support from the Low Countries.

Despite the political motives, the marriage became a real partnership marked by mutual respect and affection. Philippa became immediately popular with the English people. Chroniclers described her as kind, charitable, and pious. She supported religious institutions, artists, and scholars, and gave her name to Queen’s College, Oxford.

Her most lasting legacy was as mother to the English royal family. Over two decades, she bore thirteen children, including five sons who survived to adulthood. Edward the Black Prince, John of Gaunt, Edmund of Langley, and Thomas of Woodstock shaped the future of England. Her fertility and political tact secured the Plantagenet succession and created dynasties with far-reaching consequences.

In 1346, while Edward fought in France, the Scots invaded northern England. Philippa oversaw the victory celebrations after the English defeated them at the Battle of Neville’s Cross. The most famous story of her life came during the siege of Calais in 1347. After the city surrendered, Edward demanded the execution of six leading citizens.

The six men presented themselves in rough clothes with ropes around their necks. Moved by their plight, Philippa knelt before Edward and begged for their lives. He relented and pardoned them. The story became a defining legend of her reign, a symbol of queenly intercession.

Philippa maintained a vibrant, cultured court and served as a diplomatic link between England and the Low Countries. When the Black Death struck England in 1348, she helped organize relief and spiritual support for affected communities. Many in her household died, including some of her children. Her health declined in the 1350s.

She died on August 15, 1369, at Windsor Castle, probably from edema. Edward was devastated. She was buried with full honors in Westminster Abbey, where her alabaster effigy remains. The tomb has never been opened, meaning the royal couple’s remains may still be in their embalmed condition, preserved as well as the day they were buried.

Empress Matilda was born in February 1101 to King Henry I of England. At just seven, she was betrothed to Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, and sent to Germany at ten to learn her future role. They married on January 7, 1114. She served as regent while her husband was away.

He died in 1125, leaving her a childless widow at twenty-three. Years earlier, her brother had died in the White Ship disaster, making Matilda her father’s sole legitimate heir to the English throne. She returned to England, and her father named her his heir. In June 1128, she married Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, eleven years her junior.

The marriage was unhappy, and the couple separated for a time before reuniting. They had three sons, the eldest named Henry. When Henry I died in December 1135, Matilda expected to succeed him. Instead, her cousin Stephen of Blois seized the throne, breaking an oath he had sworn to defend her rights.

A violent civil war erupted, known as the Anarchy. Neither side could gain a decisive advantage. In April 1141, Matilda’s forces captured King Stephen, and he was imprisoned and deposed. Matilda controlled the country but refused the title of queen, naming herself Lady of the English.

She held power only for a few months. Stephen was released, and Matilda was besieged in Oxford. She escaped across the snowy countryside wearing a white cloak. In 1147, she was forced to return to France.

Her son Henry eventually forced Stephen to recognize him as heir. Matilda retired to Rouen, where she settled disputes among her sons. She died on September 10, 1167. Her body was embalmed, wrapped in bull’s hide, and buried in a coffin at Bec Abbey.

Her heart and entrails were removed and placed separately. In 1282, during church rebuilding, her grave was disturbed. Later, soldiers loyal to Henry V destroyed her tomb. Her bones were discovered during repairs in 1684, with few remnants left, some pieces taken by relic hunters and soldiers.

The remains were buried in a lead-covered box. During the French Revolution, the church was destroyed, but the box was found and reburied in 1846 in Rouen Cathedral. By then, little of her remained.

Her title survives in history, remembered for her desperate campaign to become England’s first queen, though she ruled only briefly.