Frogmore or Frogmore House is a former royal residence in England, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, and is the site of the Frogmore Mausoleum containing the grave of Victoria and Albert.

Frogmore House

Frogmore House was purchased by King George III for Queen Charlotte in 1792 for use as a country retreat. Earl Mountbatten of Burma was born here.

Frogmore Mausoleum

In the grounds of Frogmore is the Frogmore Mausoleum, the burial place of Queen Victoria of England and her consort Prince Albert.

Queen Victoria decided to construct a special resting place for her husband and eventually for herself within a few days of his premature death, instead of the two of them being buried in one of the traditional resting places of British royalty, such as Westminster Abbey or St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The mausoleum at Frogmore was designed by a German architect named Ludwig Gruner in the form of a Greek cross. Work commenced in March 1862 and the building was consecrated in December 1862. The external walls are of granite and Portland stone and the roof is covered with Australian copper.

The interior decorations, an example of Victoriana at its most opulent, were not finished until 1871. The interiors walls are predominantly in Portuguese red marble, a gift from the King of Portugal, a cousin of both Victoria and Albert, and are inlaid with other marbles from around the world. The tomb itself was designed by Baron Carlo Marochetti . It features recumbent marble effigies of the Queen and Prince Albert. The sarcophagus was made from a single piece of grey Aberdeen granite.

Except for sovereigns, since 1928, most members of the royal family have been interred in the royal burial ground around Queen Victoria's mausoleum.

External links

Frogmore section of the official Royal Residences site - little more than opening dates.
A fuller unofficial page