Frogmore House

I visited Frogmore House and the Royal Mausoleum in August with my friend Cierra. The house and grounds are only open to the public a few days a year so I was excited to go. The Royal Mausoleum contains the tomb of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They long planned to build a structure as a special resting place for the two of them but construction only began after Albert passed away in 1861.

Visitors can't go inside the mausoleum because the structure is unsafe. One of the guides told us that it has been damaged by the damp (Frogmore is aptly named after the prevalence of frogs who have always lived in the marshy area). 

The Royal Burial Ground surrounds the Royal Mausoleum. Most members of the royal family (except sovereigns and their consorts) have been buried here since 1928. The two graves off to themselves in the photo below are for Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) and his wife Wallis, Duchess of Windsor. One of the guides told us that special permission from Queen Elizabeth II was needed for their bodies to be buried here since he abdicated the throne and was often the cause of controversy for the royal family. 

Frogmore House has been under royal ownership since the 16th century. Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, used the house as a country retreat for her and her unmarried daughters. It was then inhabited by one of Charlotte's daughters until her death. In 1840, Queen Victoria gave it to her mother who made many changes to the decor. 

Restoration work in the 1980s to bring back Queen Charlotte's decor revealed lost paintings by Louis Laguerre from the early 18th century shown in the photo below. 

Queen Mary, the wife of George V, arranged Frogmore as a "family souvenir museum." Because of this, some of the rooms in the house seemed really cluttered and busy so it wasn't my favourite historic home I've visited. The sitting room below was one of my favourite rooms, but even this one was pretty over the top.

The grounds of Frogmore House are also beautiful. Queen Charlotte had a great interest in botany and filled the gardens with rare and unusual trees and plants. 

I enjoyed my visit to Frogmore House and especially the Royal Mausoleum. I've seen quite a few royal burial sites so it was interesting to see where Victoria, whose image seems to be everywhere in England, was laid to rest.