The Greatest Discovery From Opened Tudor Coffins

They were the dynasty that ruled over England for just over a century but they changed the nation forever. Even 500 years on many of the decisions that Tudor kings and queens made can be felt in Britain today. But a number of the Tudor monarchs are buried inside of Westminster Abbey. One isn't and that is King Henry VIII. Over the centuries the coffins of these once powerful rulers have been shockingly opened and what was found was disturbing but also incredible. From the beard hair upon the chin of Henry VIII who had been dead 300 years to the strange burial of an enemy king buried beside a Tudor. These are the greatest discoveries that were made when the Tudor coffins were opened. Henry VIII was born in 1491, the second son of Henry VII. He was handsome, educated and athletic. He became king in 1509 at the age of 17 following the death of his father. The early years of his reign were marked by optimism and vitality and he was seen as the embodiment of Renaissance kingship. Tall, charismatic and full of promise. Yet decades of personal turmoil, political conflict and physical injury took their toll. By his late 40s Henry's health had begun to collapse. A jousting accident in January of 1536, during which his horse fell upon him, left him unconscious for two hours and caused a severe leg wound. That injury never healed properly. Chronic ulcers developed on his leg, festering and discharging pus for the rest of his life. Contemporary sources including the imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote that the stench from Henry's sores were unbearable. This leg wound, combined with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and gluttonous appetite, contributed to his rapid physical decline. Once a trim sportsman, Henry grew massively obese and by the 1540s he reportedly measured over 50 inches around the waist and required a mechanical hoist to lift him onto his horse or into bed. The Venetian ambassador noted that the king was scarcely able to walk and was as full of sores as a foul leper. Henry's declining health only intensified his paranoia and cruelty. His mood swings became legendary. Courtiers and even family members lived in fear of his temper. He executed two of his wives, Anne Boleyn in 1536 and Catherine Howard in 1542, and countless nobles and former allies including his trusted minister Thomas Cromwell. By the 1540s the king's mind appeared clouded by bitterness and suspicion. He lashed out at both Protestants and Catholics, unsure whom to trust. His once keen intellect dulled under the strain of pain and illness. Chronic headaches, obesity and leg ulcers may have been symptoms of type 2 diabetes or Cushing's syndrome. Some historians even suggest he suffered from McLeod syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that can cause mental deterioration. Despite this Henry continued to rule absolutely. His courtiers indulged his whims, afraid to contradict him. He clung to a vision of power and divine right, convinced that he remained God's chosen ruler, but in private his world was shrinking. His last wife Catherine Parr nursed him devotedly, reading scripture and tending to his wounds, and by late 1546 however the king's condition had become critical. He was morbidly obese, suffering from severe pain, chronic infection and possibly kidney failure. His once thunderous voice was weak, his appetite, once legendary, diminished. The royal physicians tried to comfort him but they could do little. Medicine in Tudor England was primitive, and Henry's distrust of doctors, whom he often dismissed or punished for failure, made matters worse. By January of 1547, the king was confined to his bed at Whitehall Palace. He could no longer walk and his ulcerated leg had turned gangrenous. Those close to him feared that he was dying, but few dared to say it aloud. Under Tudor custom, it was treasonous to predict the king's death while he was still alive. Sir Anthony Denny, chief gentleman of the king's privy chamber, and one of the few men Henry still trusted, was eventually brave enough to break the news, and on the evening of the 27th of January, Denny told him that, in man's judgment, you are not like to live long. Henry responded with calm resignation. According to contemporary reports, he asked whether he should receive the sacrament. When Denny said yes, Henry replied that he placed his faith in God through the merits of Christ's passion. Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, was summoned to his bedside in the early hours of the 28th of January. By the time Cranmer arrived, Henry was unable to speak. The archbishop asked him to give a sign that he trusted in Christ's mercy, and Henry squeezed his hand. Moments later, the king of England, once Europe's most feared monarch, was dead. The time was around 2am, and he was 55 years old. Henry's death was kept secret for several days. The Tudor court was a dangerous place at the best of times, and the sudden death of a monarch could spark chaos. The privy council needed time to organise the succession. Henry's only legitimate son, Edward, was just nine years old, and factions within the court were already vying for control. Henry had named a council of regency in his will, but Edward's uncle, Edward Seymour, wasted no time consolidating power. He would soon become Lord Protector and rule as Duke of Somerset. To ensure a smooth transition, Henry's death was not publicly announced until the 31st of January, three whole days after it occurred. During this period, courtiers continued to deliver meals to the king's chambers, to keep up the illusion that he was still alive. Henry's body was embalmed and placed in a lead-lined coffin, but even this process could not prevent the rapid decay of his enormous corpse. The king's remains were first taken to Scion Abbey for a night before the funeral, before the funeral procession then continued to Windsor. According to later accounts, a gruesome incident occurred while the coffin rested at Scion. It's said the coffin leaked fluid through the lead, and dogs were found licking the blood that had seeped onto the floor. Chroniclers, such as Gilbert Burnett, later saw this as divine retribution for Henry's dissolution of the monasteries and his brutal treatment of the church. On the 16th of February 1547, the king was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in a vault beneath the choir. The coffin was placed next to that of Jane Seymour, his third wife and, by his own admission, his true wife, who had died giving birth to his long-desired son, Edward. Henry had intended a grand tomb for himself, with gilded effigies and angels, but it was never completed. His mortal remains still lie in the same vault as Jane, marked only by a simple black marble slab placed there in the 19th century. Now, the burial vault inside of St George's Chapel was never meant to be a permanent resting place for the six-wifed king. Henry commissioned and planned for a huge monument to be created in his memory, and it would feature on top a huge amount of stone and an effigy, presumably of he and Jane Seymour. His body, following the completion of this, would then be taken, presumably to Westminster Abbey, to be buried in a vault under the tomb, but his children never finished the construction of his tomb, and over the years Henry's coffin was just left inside of the Now, when the vault was first opened, it was to bury the executed corpse of King Charles I, a century after Henry's death. Charles was the king who caused the English Civil War, and he was, at the time of his death, considered by most a tyrant, but he had many supporters, so Parliament, the king's enemy, decided to inter Charles quietly inside of Henry VIII's vault. Now, when the vault was opened, work needed to be done to allow Charles's coffin to be placed inside. Henry VIII's coffin, which was large, had shown signs of damage and cracking. There were reports that an explosion of gases from within the coffin had caused damage to his body. However, it was noted that Henry's coffin was damaged. It was alleged that even his face could be seen, and those who entered the vault would claim they could see the king's beard on his face within the coffin. The vault itself contained today three coffins, one of Henry, another belonging to Jane Seymour, his third wife, and then King Charles I. The trestle that Henry's coffin sat on was damaged when the coffin was moved to the side for Charles, but it's also important to note that another burial was carried out when an infant child of Queen Anne was interred. The burial vault is very small and hardly contains enough room for the three remains. It was opened another time by a foot soldier who worked inside of Windsor, and this man allegedly stole a bone of Henry VIII by drilling a hole into the coffin, and he then wanted to craft a knife handle using the bone of the infamous Tudor king. But this was discovered, and the bone was then returned, and by the last time the vault was then opened, Henry's remains had decayed to a complete skeleton, as the damage to the coffin had led to his embalmed remains to become just bones. So, under the choir inside of St George's Chapel, thousands of people each week walk past a small black marble slab that tells that two of England's most infamous and notorious kings are laid to rest beneath their feet inside the burial vault. The bodies of Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, Charles I and a small child rest, and it's not believed that the bodies have been disturbed in over a century. Fitzroy was born around mid-June 1519. His mother was one of Henry VIII's mistresses, Bessie or Elizabeth Blount, and she was actually a lady-in-waiting to Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and Fitzroy was actually conceived whilst Catherine was awaiting the birth of one of her children. So that shows you what kind of a man Henry VIII was. He was happy to sleep with his wife's close friends whilst his wife was giving birth. Anyway, Bessie Blount never returned to the royal court after Fitzroy's birth, and Henry VIII was enamoured with the fact he had a son. The baby boy's arrival caused no huge panic at court, but the king proudly showed him off. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was the godfather and may have christened the child. Another man who had a keen role in Fitzroy's life was Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk, a power-hungry man who was always seeking advancement. Howard was a skilled military commander, but he would later have a significant impact on the young boy's life. The fact the child was named Henry was after his father, the king, and Fitzroy meant son of the king. He stands out in history as the only illegitimate child of Henry VIII that he actually acknowledged. Fitzroy was given a royal upbringing inside of the royal nursery, and he was raised alongside other children, such as the king's legitimate children, Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward. He was given a significantly decent upbringing and education too, and was referred to as Lord Henry. But the king had great plans for him. You see, Henry VIII lacked his male heir, and the only surviving child of his first marriage was Princess Mary. Henry Fitzroy was obviously being prepared for kingship, and the king's only living son looked like an attractive possibility to be the heir to the Tudor king. He was given his own residence at the age of six, and was raised as if he was a prince of royal blood, not a royal bastard. He had this huge ceremony in the June of 1525 in which huge honours were bestowed upon him. Fitzroy was taken down the River Thames and was made the Duke of Richmond and Somerset in the presence of his father, and he was given the highest rank of the peerage. He also inherited much of the lands belonging to Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII's grandmother, and the mother of King Henry VII. Henry VIII also granted him a rather huge annual gift of almost £5,000, a huge sum in today's money. The king was very proud of his son, and it was said that, It seems that the queen resents the uldum and dukedom conferred on the king's natural son and remains dissatisfied. At the instigation, it is said, of her three Spanish ladies, her chief counsellors, so that the king has dismissed them from court, a strong measure that the queen was obliged to submit and have patience. So Catherine of Aragon was not the happiest, and Fitzroy was also made a Knight of the Garter and the Earl of Nottingham, and was also made the Lord High Admiral of England, and the Lord President of the Council of the North, despite being a child. He was dealt with like a prince, being raised at Sheriff Hutton Castle in Yorkshire, but Henry VIII searched for a wife for Fitzroy, and, as mentioned, he did consider marrying his daughter off to him, meaning that Fitzroy would have married his own half-sister. But then the influential Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Howard, made a match between Fitzroy and Lady Mary Howard, his daughter. It is believed that Fitzroy was present at the execution of Anne Boleyn as a witness for the king, but he got sick in the July of 1536, and then succumbed to his ill health very quickly. It is believed that he died from tuberculosis, or some issues with his lungs. He went downhill rapidly and died inside the Royal Palace of St James's in London on the 23rd of July 1536. The king was devastated, but his father-in-law took over the funeral arrangements. The Duke of Norfolk arranged for Fitzroy's body to be embalmed, and his internal organs were removed from his body, including his heart, and were placed in a separate box shortly after death. Then the body was wrapped in a thick seer cloth, practically mummifying the young teenager, and then the body was wrapped in lead and was placed inside of a coffin. Under the cover of darkness, the coffin of Fitzroy was taken out of London in a closed cart for a secret burial. The body was placed in a straw-filled wagon, and there were only two attendants acting as mourners. It's not known why there was so much secrecy, but this is what the king wanted. Fitzroy was buried inside of Thetford Priory in the Duke of Norfolk's lands, and in the burial place and mausoleum for members of the Howard family. But in the February of 1540, when the dissolution of the priories and the monasteries kicked in, Thetford was to be shut down. Howard appealed to the king to not close it, as his first wife and Fitzroy were buried there. The king ordered the priory closed, but the king also wrote to Howard saying how he was angry and upset that Fitzroy had been buried with no pomp and no ceremony. At some point, around 1540, the body of Henry Fitzroy was exhumed and taken out of the Howard mausoleum. The ground was broken and the coffin was placed on the back of a cart, which took it to Framlingham, and specifically the church of St Michael. This became the burial place of the Howards, and Fitzroy's body was interred inside of a grave within the main church, but this would be only temporary. You see, Thomas Howard had ordered two tombs to be made at Framlingham, one for himself and one for Fitzroy, but Howard fell from favour and was thrown inside the Tower of London, and the building work came to a halt. This was finished around the year 1555, meaning Fitzroy's tomb was finished almost 20 years after his death. He would then have been exhumed from his grave inside the church and then placed inside of the tomb. The tomb is a large chest without any effigies, but it is likely that these were intended to be placed on top of the tomb. The tomb is covered in Howard heraldic shields and scenes from the Old Testament, but it is believed today, as mentioned, that these were not the original tombs. However, there is another piece of information I can bring you that very few people, if any, know about. See, inside of Framlingham church in 1841, there was excavation work conducted under the tombs of Thomas Howard and Henry Fitzroy, right next to the altar. It was discovered under the floor that there was a vault, and inside of this vault were two bodies, one belonging presumably to Henry Fitzroy and the other body being his wife, Mary Howard, who had died later. Now, Fitzroy's remains were described as having perfect teeth and of being of a young man. With this, we can conclude that the body of Fitzroy, at some point, had been disturbed and probably taken out of the seer cloth wrapping, with the body then exposed to the air and having decayed. There are examples of royal burials, 500, 600 or even 700 years later, being remarkably preserved due to the embalming. The fact that Fitzroy's teeth were perfect and were visible means that his skeleton was only left, with the skin having decayed in the 500 years after his death. The removal of the protective seer cloth wrappings may have also been done in the many times that his body was moved or disturbed. Another thing to consider is the fact that Fitzroy is buried inside of a vault and not a tomb. Despite the fact that the tomb is large enough to house two bodies in coffins, it was traditional during the Tudor period for bodies to be placed in vaults underneath the tombs. For example, Elizabeth I and Mary I are buried in this way, as are Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. There are still many mysteries as to the death of Henry Fitzroy, the boy who could have very easily have been king. He'd have been King Henry IX today, as he is still buried under the floor of Framlingham Church, inside of a vault, but it is known that his coffin has been disturbed and his skeletal remains are present. By 1602, Elizabeth was nearing 70, an exceptional age for a monarch in the early 17th century. Those close to her noticed she was growing frail. The deaths of her trusted friends hit her especially hard, and the passing of Catherine Howard, Countess of Nottingham, in early 1603 was devastating. Elizabeth had loved her dearly, and some accounts say the Queen never recovered from this loss. After Nottingham's death, she became withdrawn and melancholy. Her physical health also worsened, and Elizabeth suffered from swelling in her legs, likely dropsy, a condition caused by heart or kidney failure. She was increasingly weak and struggled to eat, yet she refused medical treatment or bed rest. Proud and politically aware, she knew that any signs of illness could spark instability or plots. By March of 1603, it was clear that Elizabeth was dying. She spent long hours standing or sitting on cushions, staring into space, refusing to sleep. Members of her court described her as restless, stubborn, and unwilling to lie down. This behaviour has puzzled historians, but many believe she feared that once she took to her bed, she would never rise again. Her ladies-in-waiting and counsellors, including Sir Robert Cecil, begged her to allow physicians to examine her, but she resisted every attempt. She had always distrusted doctors, and at the end she seemed determined to let nature take its course. As her strength faded, her mind wandered. She spoke little, and when she did, it was often vague, but she remained politically sharp enough to understand that England needed a clear successor. For decades, she had refused to name one, keeping Europe guessing. Now on her deathbed, she finally broke her silence. The Privy Council needed confirmation of her wishes. When pressed, Elizabeth made a gesture that answered the question without speaking. She raised her hand to indicate James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. This symbolic act paved the way for a peaceful transition and the beginning of the Stuart era. On March 24, 1603, at Richmond Palace, Queen Elizabeth I died quietly in the early hours of the morning. She was 69 years old. No dramatic final words were recorded. Instead, she slipped away, surrounded by her women, after a long and exhausting struggle. Her death ended the Tudor dynasty, which had begun with her grandfather, Henry VII, over a century earlier. Despite the sadness of her final days, she left behind a kingdom stronger, more stable, and more confident than it had ever been when she inherited it in 1558. Elizabeth's funeral, on the 28th of April, 1603, was one of the grandest seen in England. Her coffin, covered in purple velvet, was carried through London from Whitehall to Westminster Abbey. A life-sized effigy of the Queen lay on top, dressed in her robes of state, sceptre in hand. Crowds lined the streets to mourn the only monarch many had ever known. She was processed to Westminster Abbey and was buried inside of the Abbey, to begin with, in a different vault. She was interred within the vault of King Henry VII, her grandfather. Let's now look into the dark secrets. Now, after her funeral, King James I, her successor, ordered a large tomb to be made for Elizabeth out of respect. She was then to be interred underneath this. Today, this is Elizabeth I's final resting place, but she was exhumed, and her coffin was removed from Henry VII's vault. This was done years after, so her remains may have decayed slightly when this happened. Not many people know today that Elizabeth I was a queen who was actually buried twice, but there are darker secrets. Immediately after her death, Elizabeth I's body was embalmed in a harrowing and brutal manner. This was shockingly traditional for monarchs of the time, but this consisted of her heart being removed from her body. Physicians cut open a large cavity in her chest, and they cut out her heart, her lungs, intestines, and other internal organs. This was done in an attempt to keep away decay and rot from her corpse to reserve her for centuries to come. The body was then washed and wrapped inside of a seer cloth, a thick wax-coated shroud. Now, the internal organs, including the heart, were placed in a separate lead container and box, and these, to begin with, were interred with her body, and they were then moved from the first vault to her final resting place. But one curious man would open the organ box decades after her death. Inside the vault, William Taswell found the urn, and he opened it, and was said that, previous to which a royal vault was opened, in which were two urns, one appropriated to Queen Mary, the other to Queen Elizabeth. I dipped my hand into each. I took out of each a kind of gluttonous red substance, somewhat resembling mortar. That of Mary contained less moisture. What he had done was reach into the urn and touched and removed heart matter of Queen Elizabeth I. Now, later, when the burial vault was opened in the 19th century, it was also discovered that Elizabeth I was not buried alone, despite the elaborate tomb above the ground. When her vault was opened, her coffin was found sitting directly on top of the coffin of Queen Mary I, inside the centre of the vault. Mary I, or Bloody Mary, was Elizabeth's half-sister, and Elizabeth's coffin was placed on top to symbolise that she was a greater, more historic, and more superior queen to that of Mary. This was strange, and when the vault was opened, it was found there was no disorder or decay, except from a small bit of the centring wood of Elizabeth's coffin, which had fallen in. Also, the carved Tudor rose and initials ER, Elizabeth Regina, were found on the coffin, along with the date, 1603, when she died. The coffin lid was made of fine oak, an inch thick, and it was covered in red silk velvet, which remained attached to the wooden coffin. That was the last time that someone has documented viewing the vault of Elizabeth I. Another thing which many people actually miss, inside of Elizabeth I's tomb and resting place, is that placed at the head of the tomb is a large stone urn. This doesn't belong to just anyone. It's said to have contained the bones and remains of possibly the princes in the tower. These were the two sons of King Edward IV, who was allegedly murdered inside the Tower of London upon the orders, presumably, of their uncle, King Richard III. Bones belonging, allegedly, to the two children of the same age of the princes were discovered centuries later. King Charles II was so moved by this, he ordered them placed in a large urn and being interred within Queen Elizabeth I's tomb. This urn was opened at the start of the 20th century, and it was found the bones did fit the boys at their ages, but there were no DNA tests done, and also found inside were animal bones. Finally, Elizabeth I is buried opposite her once great nemesis. Mary, Queen of Scots, was a woman she ordered to execution. Elizabeth is laid to rest in a tomb that is actually slightly smaller than Mary's tomb, and this was done intentionally by James I, as he wanted to give his mother Mary a dignified burial, but it was also a subtle dig at the Tudor dynasty, as James was a member of the Margaret was born on the 31st of May 1443 at Bledsoe Castle in Bedfordshire. She was the only child of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Margaret Busham of Blestoe. Through her father, she was a direct descendant of John of Gaunt, the third son of King Edward III, making her a member of the powerful and royal adjacent Beaufort family, albeit one tainted by the technical illegitimacy of its line. The Beauforts were legitimised by royal decree, but barred from inheriting the throne, though Margaret would later challenge this precedent through her son. Her father died when she was just an infant, and Margaret became a wealthy heiress. As such, she was a valuable martial pawn in a turbulent era. Margaret's first marriage at the age of 12 was to Edmund Tudor, the half-brother of King Henry VI and son of Queen Catherine of Valois, by her second husband, Owen Tudor. This marriage was politically significant, it tied Margaret directly to the royal family, and despite her youth, Margaret became pregnant almost immediately, and in 1456, at just 13 years old, she gave birth to her only child, Henry Tudor. The birth was traumatic, to say the least, leaving Margaret unable to have further children. Edmund had died of plague in captivity before Henry was born, leaving Margaret a young widow. Her resilience became apparent, and though separated from Henry's care during his youth, she never ceased working for his safety and advancement. The Wars of the Roses tore England apart, in a series of dynastic conflicts between the Houses of Lancaster and the Houses of York. Margaret was a staunch Lancastrian, and used every means at her disposal, marriage, diplomacy, and political alliances, to protect her son's claim to the throne. She married twice more, first to Sir Henry Stafford, a moderate Yorkist, and then to Thomas Stanley, a powerful noble, whose eventual betrayal of Richard III would help secure her son's crown. Though living under the rule of Yorkist kings, especially Edward IV, and later Richard III, Margaret manoeuvred carefully, maintaining her status while secretly plotting for her son's return from exile. It was through her secret communications and alliance with Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Edward IV, that the idea of uniting the warring houses through marriage was born, and Margaret proposed that her son marry Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's daughter, thus joining Lancaster and York, ending the dynastic bloodshed. In 1485, Margaret's son landed in Wales and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, claiming the throne as Henry VII. Margaret was instrumental in this victory, though she did not fight on the battlefield. Her political negotiations and intelligence network were vital. Upon Henry's coronation, Margaret styled herself not as Queen Mother, which would have implied competition with her daughter-in-law, but as My Lady the King's Mother, a unique title she insisted upon. She retained her own household, lands and influence. In many ways, she acted as a co-ruler with Henry, sitting in on royal councils and managing finances. Margaret was deeply pious and highly educated. She was a major patron of the church and of education, and she funded the founding and endowment of Christ's College and St John's College at the University of Cambridge, and she was responsible for the translation and printing of many religious texts. She also laid down a strict moral code at court and was a matriarchal figure in her grandchildren's lives. She lived to see her grandson, Henry VIII, become the heir to the throne following the death of his elder brother, Arthur, the Prince of Wales. Margaret Beaufort's health took a turn following her son, Henry VII's death, but she remained an active political player until her own death. She was an executor of her son's will, but in the June of 1509, she had her final illness. She was staying in the Abbott's house at Westminster for the coronation of her grandson, Henry VIII. Bishop John Fisher was called to her bedside as she took a turn for the worst, and he later claimed, of her death, that those merciful and liberal hands to endure the most painful cramps, so grievously vexing her and compelling her to cry, like a spear it pierced the hearts of all her true servants and made them cry. When the sacrament was holden before her, with all her heart and soul, she raised her body to make an answer, and so soon after that she departed and yielded up her spirit into the hands of the Lord. Her body was then moved where it was lay in candles, after it had been embalmed, and she was placed inside of a large wooden coffin. The funeral occurred on the 9th of July 1509, and she was buried inside of the south aisle of Henry VII's Lady Chapel, the large Tudor mausoleum and extension inside of Westminster Abbey. She was placed inside of a burial vault, of which the one next to her would one day become very crowded. On top of the burial vault, a large tomb showing her effigy, which was made using her death mask, shows her in old age and it is a remarkable work of art. The tomb chest is of black marble and is covered in inscriptions. One states, Margaret of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, grandmother of Henry VIII, who gave a salary to three months of this convent and founded a grammar school in Wimborne, and to a preacher throughout England, and to two interpreters of scripture, one at Oxford, the other at Cambridge, where she likewise founded two colleges, one to Christ and the other to St John, his disciple. Now later throughout the centuries there were made kings and queens inside of Westminster Abbey, who had their coffins opened and burial vaults broken into. Much of this was done to search for the first Stuart king, James I. One of the first places they searched was in the burial vault next to Margaret, in a large Stuart vault where Mary, Queen of Scots and many other members of the Stuart family were interred. However, I have been unable to find out whether Margaret Beaufort's tomb was ever opened or whether the burial vault has been. As she was not a queen and a ruler in her own right, the interest probably wouldn't have been there to look at her tomb for any reason. This leads to the conclusion that 500 years on from her death, the body and the corpse of Margaret Beaufort could very much still be tightly wrapped inside of the tomb, wrapped in the thick linen cloth, the seer cloth, which was dipped in wax. This would mean that her body and her remains would have been in a very good state and could be very much lifelike in the tomb. And if it was ever opened that's probably what you'd see, but there is likely no reason to do this. Possibly it also shows the respect that people have for her 500 years on too. But today she is considered the mother of the Tudor dynasty and inside of Westminster Abbey she's buried very close to members of her family who ruled. Close to her is the burial vault of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York and also two of her great-granddaughters, Elizabeth I and Mary I, but also Edward VI who was buried in the Lely Chapel. But has the tomb or coffin of Margaret Beaufort ever been opened? Well it's unclear. If someone was high status when they died at the time, then the hearts and internal organs would be cut out from their bodies after death and they would be buried or placed in a separate container away from the other remains. Throughout the centuries many civilizations have removed parts of the body after death symbolically, but the Tudors cut out the hearts and then interred them in different places. For example the heart of Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, was cut out after death and was then buried under the altar of the Chapel Royal in Hampton Court Palace, but her body was buried in Windsor and later her husband Henry VIII would be buried next to her. But there are a few of the vessels that exist today which would have contained the hearts of the very powerful people and possibly even Tudor royals, so to support our channel please make sure to subscribe. During the medieval and Tudor era the normal routine following death for a king or a queen was for the body to be embalmed and prepared for burial in a specific way. Usually the corpse was washed in rose water and other perfumes and ointments and then a doctor would eviscerate the remains. He would make a large cut in the body of a person and then the internal organs would be cut out and removed from the body. The organs taken away were the intestines, liver, lungs and much else and there would, following the removal, be a large cavity inside of the body. This was then stuffed with herbs and spices and other scented oils. But also the heart was cut from the body and this was taken out. The heart was of course considered one of the organs which would cause decay inside of the body and the Tudor doctors wanted to preserve the remains as best as they could and they knew that the heart, liver, intestines and other organs would quicken up the decay process leading to the corpse beginning to rot. The kings and queens had their hearts removed and cut from their bodies and then these would be placed inside of a specific usually lead metal casket. Recently on a visit to the museum, the British Museum, I saw one of these boxes and coffins and it had contained the heart of Sir Henry Sidney, the former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and advisor and courtier to Queen Elizabeth I. His heart would have been placed in this lead box and then interred in a place close to his heart, if you pardon the pun. After the death of Sir Henry Sidney in 1586, he was buried at the family seat of Penhurst in Sussex but the tomb was never finished. His heart was buried in his daughter Ambrosia's tomb in Ludlow's church and this was done allegedly as a way of Sidney's devotion to his daughter and also to the loyalty to the town of Ludlow, like he loved also. The heart-shaped coffin container is made from lead and it contains a coat of arms on the lid and Sidney's name and initials surrounded by a garter and an inscription on the bottom. Heart burial vessels like these are very rare and one from the 1500s, specifically in 1562, was found in Yorkshire in 2009 belonging to John Peck. Peck may have served with the Knights Hospitallier Earl St John's as his heart urn was decorated with these symbols. He may have sent his heart also to Malta to be buried. There have been a number of legends which have emerged in the years following relating to the hearts of Henry VIII's wives. As mentioned, his third wife had her heart buried where she died at Hampton Court but Anne Boleyn, the executed second wife, allegedly, according to a legend, had her heart removed and then buried elsewhere. Her body was interred inside the Tower of London's chapel after her head had been cut off by a French swordsman, the Sword of Calais, inside the Tower of London. There was a legend in Suffolk in England that emerged after the alleged discovery of a heart-shaped vessel inside of a small church in the village of Erwarten. This container, it was stated allegedly, contained the heart of Anne Boleyn. The heart-shaped tin casket was discovered in a chancel wall and it was then re-interred beneath the organ with a small plaque marking the spot. This, as mentioned, is a legend but Anne Boleyn's uncle did own the land and the nearby mansion and she spent many happy days here as a child, playing in the gardens around the church, so there was a possible thread of believability in this. Some historians have doubted the legitimacy of this but the villagers still believe to this day that Anne Boleyn's heart lies inside of this chapel. Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, also had her heart removed after her death. Elizabeth hated the idea of being embalmed and eviscerated and she left specific instructions as to what to do to her remains in the days after her death. But the doctors got to work embalming Elizabeth's remains and they worked quickly to make sure they had the best chances of preserving the body. The doctors, while she was still inside of her bedchamber, made a large incision into her chest and they then cut out her heart. Her entrails and internal organs were also cut out and were then placed into a lead casket. Her wishes were ignored and the surgeons cut out her internal organs and her heart. Her heart was then interred inside the same burial vault as her, as it was not stipulated where it should be buried. Her remains were later removed and popped into the same burial vault as Mary I, her half-sister. Now Elizabeth's funeral took place weeks later and it was a huge procession. It was said that Queen Elizabeth was interred with great pomp in Westminster Abbey, at which time the city of Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people, in the streets, houses, and windows and gutters, who came to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue or effigy, lying on the coffin, set forth in royal robes, having a crown upon the head thereof, and a ball and sceptre in either hand, there was such a great sighing, groaning, and weeping, as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man. Neither does any history mention any people, time, or state. This same effigy or statue used for Elizabeth I is believed to still be inside of Westminster Abbey. But Elizabeth was buried inside the same vault and grave as her half-sister, Mary I. Another account says, the corpse of the late Queen lay in state at St James's for more than three weeks whilst the mourning clothes and funeral arrangements were prepared. On December 12th, when all was ready, her funeral cortege formed in the courtyard of the palace for the solemn procession to Westminster. The funeral procession came to rest at the great door of Westminster Abbey, and Elizabeth I's body was taken inside. It was said that a hundred poor men in black gowns kept watch over her body all the night, holding long torches in their hands and around them. The soldiers of the royal guard stood with their staff torches. The next day the requiem mass was sung. When the eulogy was over, the coffin was carried to Henry VII's chapel in the Abbey, and placed in a grave on the north side. Her heart, being severely enclosed in a coffin covered with velvet bound with silver, was then separately interred. The household officers broke their staves and threw them into the grave. As they did so, the trumpets sounded to the signal the beginning of the funeral banquet. The chief mourners went to dinner, leaving the funeral trappings unguarded. In a few minutes, the servants and hired mourners and Londoners who'd come to see the Queen laid in her grave, had torn down the banners and standards, the arms displayed around the altar and the hangings fastened to the walls. They scrambled and fought one another for scraps of cloth, until the embroidered cloths were in shreds and the Queen's eulogy pulled into a hundred pieces. She was initially buried inside of the same vault as her grandparents, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, but when her successor came onto the throne, he commissioned a tomb for her above Mary I's vault. Elizabeth's body, as mentioned, was moved there, as was the small container which held her heart. But in 1670, over 60 years after her death, the casket containing Elizabeth I's heart was found by a curious young boy named William Caswell. He was a chore boy inside of Westminster Abbey, and whilst working, he came across the depositories, and he looked inside one of the boxes which contained Elizabeth's heart. He noticed two hearts inside. Presumably, the other belonged to Mary, who was also buried with Elizabeth. It was claimed that within niches were the urns, one with the name of Queen Mary, the other with that of Queen Elizabeth. I dipped my hand into each and took out each of a king and glutinous red substance, some of what resembling mortar, Mary's urn contained the least moisture. This young boy had touched the heart of the greatest Tudor queen. The heart coffins for the Tudor period are today very rare, and there are few which survive. The one inside the British Museum was the first that I'd ever seen, and it was a shocking discovery for myself, amongst some of history's most incredible artefacts. It was on the 19th of May 1536 that Queen of England, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was summoned from her prison cell inside the Tower of London, and she was informed that she was about to die. Now, a few things about the execution of Anne are rather disturbing, including the fact that her husband, Henry VIII, had ordered a French swordsman for the job weeks before even her trial had taken place, showing that it was more of a murder than a judicial execution based on legitimate crimes. Anne would have made the short walk from her prison cell to the execution scaffold which had been specifically built on the side of the White Tower, the oldest central part of the Tower. Her execution was allegedly private, despite the fact there were hundreds gathered to see her demise and fate. As she was led up to the scaffold, she saw the executioner, and she remained calm, but she then made a short speech to the crowd. She claimed, Therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the King, and send him long to reign over you. For a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord, and if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best, and thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord, have mercy on me. To God I commend my soul. The French swordsman stood behind her, and Anne knelt down, and he struck with his sword once, and her head was taken clean off. After the execution of the Queen, Anne's ladies, who were crying, collected her body and remains, and placed them inside of a large oak chest, which previously had housed bows or arrow staves. They then carried this into the chapel of St. Peter Advincular, which was next to the scaffold, and there a short burial ceremony took place. Anne Boleyn's remains were joined by others who would be executed inside the Tower of London, and on Tower Hill during the Tudor period, but for around three hundred years they were left undisturbed. In 1848, a historian who visited the Tower of London and the chapel where Anne had been buried, stated about the state of the site of royal burial, I cannot refrain from expressing my disgust at the barbarous stupidity which has transformed this little interesting church into the likeness of a meeting house in a manufacturing town. In truth, there is no sadder spot on earth than this little cemetery. The chapel was in a bad way, and the constable of the Tower agreed that urgent repair work needed to be done, and Queen Victoria approved of this, and significant improvements were done to the burial site. Queen Victoria wanted to protect the place as a site of royal burial, but one of the biggest issues inside of the church was the fact that the floor was sinking and was heavily damaged. It was stated by one of the builders that, on removing the stones of the pavement, it was found, as referenced to the burial register to abundantly proved, that the resting places of those who had been buried within the walls of the chapel during the troublesome times of the 16th century had been repeatedly, and it was feared, almost universally desecrated. When the Tower ceased to be a residence of the sovereign or estate prison, the chapel of St. Peter's appears to have gradually come to be regarded too much in the light of a mere ordinary parish church, in which the interment not only of those who had lived in the Tower, but even the residents in the neighbourhood, were freely permitted. It is true that the bodies of those who had perished on the scaffold, or died as prisoners within the walls of the Tower, were buried, no doubt intentionally, in great obscurity. But even if some memorial stone had recorded their burial place, it is doubtful whether that would have protected their remains. For, in the instance of three Scotch Lords, Lovett, Balmenio, and Kilmarnock, although their graves were specifically marked by a stone, which is still preserved, it was found that their bones had been much disturbed, so much so indeed, as to be beyond all possible means of identification. It is even feared that in some instances coffins had been designed, brokenly up, and their contents scattered, in order to make room for some fresh occupants of the ground. So many of the bodies of those who were executed inside the Tower of London were found and discovered, but all those who died on Also, mixed into the collection of remains were the bones of local people who had come for years to the chapel to worship, and they were interred there. However, one of the bodies the builders discovered was analysed by archaeologists and specialists, and this was confirmed as being the remains of Queen Anne Boleyn. Dr Frederick Millett, the Professor of Medicine to Queen Victoria, helped carry out examinations, and he stated that Anne's body belonged to a female of between twenty-five and thirty years of age, of a delicate frame of body, and who had been of slender and perfect proportions. The forehead and lower jaw were small and especially well formed, the vertebrae were practically small, especially one joint, the aptus, being that next to the skull, bearing witness to the Queen's little neck. He then stated, The bones found are certainly those of a female in the prime of life, all perfectly consolidated and symmetrical, and belong to the same person. The bones of the head indicate a well-formed, round skull, with an intellectual forehead, straight orbital ridge, large eyes, oval face, and rather square, full chin. The remains of the vertebrae and the bones of the lower limb indicate a well-formed woman of middle height, with a short and slender neck. The ribs show depth and roundness of chest. The hands and feet bones indicate delicate and well-shaped hands and feet, with tapering fingers and a narrow foot. He said that Anne would have been roughly five foot tall to five foot three when she was alive, and he confirmed that indeed a sharp weapon had been used to take her head from her body. He also claimed that she had a small neck, the same small neck that, according to contemporary Tudor accounts, Anne had. The remains of Anne were taken outside of the chapel, and they were stored inside of the Queen's house in the corner opposite for a number of months whilst the building work took place. They were then sealed up inside of a new lead coffin, and copper plates were placed on top, identifying who the remains belonged to. It was on a rather cloudy day in April that the bones were then reinterred of the Queen inside of the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Builders helped to do the job, and there was a short service. The men watched on as the boxes were then re-buried four inches below the surface, and carefully noted were the positions of the burials. On top of where Anne was buried, a marble decorative tile floor marks the place where she was buried. She was interred below the communion table, second in from the left on the first full row of burials. She was buried between her brother George Boleyn and Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset. The men who were carrying out the building work would open the grave of Anne Boleyn, and they had a rough idea that she was buried close to the high altar. No DNA analysis took place on her remains, which would have completely confirmed that the bones belonged to Anne Boleyn. There have been some rumours that some of her remains may have been moved out of the tower, but still today it's believed, even by the beefeaters who work inside of the Tower of London, that the bones of Anne Boleyn are interred below the altar of the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Thank you for watching, and to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe. And again, thank you so much for watching.