The Execution of Charles I and the Rediscovery of His Remains

On January 30, 1649, King Charles I emerged from the Banqueting House at Whitehall to meet his fate. The scaffold had been constructed outside the building, which remains the last remnant of the once-grand Palace of Whitehall. It was a cold, still morning. The English Civil War had concluded not long before, and Charles had been captured, tried, and sentenced to death for treason against the people of England. He refused to accept the legitimacy of the court that condemned him, remaining steadfast in his belief that his authority came from God alone.

Aware of the winter chill and its possible misinterpretation, Charles wore two shirts to prevent visible shivering. Before the assembled crowd, he gave a final statement, affirming his faith and divine right to rule. He then positioned himself and prayed briefly before stretching out his arms, which was the sign for the executioner to carry out his work. 

Then came the blow, sharp and final. His head was severed with a single stroke of the axe. Some accounts suggest the head was lifted for the crowd to see, though no dramatic proclamation accompanied the act. Charles I thus became the first and only English monarch executed by his own people.

Following the execution, the king’s remains were embalmed and placed in a coffin. Yet the nation was in no state for a ceremony. Parliament controlled the country, and Charles’s son, the future Charles II, remained in exile. A formal funeral, let alone a state occasion, was not possible. The circumstances called for discretion.

Permission was eventually granted to bury Charles I at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, a site long associated with royal interments. Instead of a new tomb, his body was placed in an existing vault that already housed the remains of King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife and the mother of Edward VI. The vault also contained a smaller, unmarked coffin, believed to hold the remains of a child.

The reasons for selecting this vault, rather than constructing a new one, likely involved a combination of necessity and symbolism:

• Practicality and speed: The political climate was volatile. A swift, quiet burial avoided attracting unwanted attention.
• Security and dignity: Windsor remained a royal stronghold, offering a safe and appropriate final resting place.
• Subtle symbolism: Interring Charles alongside Henry VIII may have carried a quiet message of royal continuity, without the controversy that a dedicated tomb might have provoked.

On February 9, 1649, Charles I was buried in the vault, accompanied by a small group of loyal attendants. As generations passed, the precise location of the tomb was lost.

By the early 19th century, records confirmed that Charles I had been buried at Windsor, but no one could say exactly where. His tomb, unlike others, had no visible marker. It lay beneath the floor, unannounced, silent.

That changed in 1813. While workmen were conducting repairs in the choir area of St. George’s Chapel, they accidentally broke into a vault beneath the pavement. Within it were three adult coffins and one small, child-sized casket. The discovery quickly reached the ears of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, who took a personal interest and ordered a formal investigation.

The Prince Regent appointed a small group to examine the vault. Among them were:

• Sir Henry Halford, Physician-in-Ordinary to the King and principal medical examiner
• Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and brother to the Prince Regent
• Count Munster, an aide within the royal household
• The Dean of Windsor, responsible for the chapel and its records
• Benjamin Charles Stevenson, a royal official

Their task was identifying the remains and confirming whether this was Charles I's final resting place.

Upon opening the coffin, which was believed to be Charles’s, the evidence struck the group. The skull had been cleanly severed from the body, an unmistakable sign. Sir Henry Halford reported that the vertebrae bore the sharp, distinct cuts characteristic of an axe. The facial features remained recognisable; strands of hair and the beard were still present. Fragments of burial garments were also found within the coffin.

Henry VIII’s coffin, by contrast, was not opened. Observers noted that it was in poor condition and collapsed in some areas, likely due to the body's deterioration over time. Historical accounts had already suggested that Henry's body had not been well preserved. Jane Seymour’s coffin remained intact and undisturbed.

Also discovered in the vault was a small, unmarked coffin. Its identity remains uncertain. However, historians widely believe it to contain the remains of one of the stillborn children of Anne of Denmark, the wife of King James I and mother of Charles I. Anne experienced several miscarriages and stillbirths during her life. It would not have been unusual for a royal infant to be interred alongside family members.

Earlier speculation proposed a possible connection to Jane Seymour, who died shortly after childbirth, but the prevailing view now favours a link to the Stuart dynasty. The coffin was never opened, and no formal examination of the infant’s remains was conducted.

One detail of the 1813 examination has drawn criticism over time. Sir Henry Halford removed small portions of Charles I’s remains from the vault. Among these were two vertebrae bearing the cuts of the executioner’s axe, as well as a tooth and a fragment of hair.

Rather than discreetly storing these relics, Halford kept them in his private collection and occasionally showed them to guests. In his view, these were not merely anatomical curiosities but material links to a significant moment in English history. During the early 19th century, such practices were not uncommon. Many in the aristocracy and academic circles saw collecting relics tied to historical figures as a way to preserve tangible connections to the past.

It was not until 1888, some 75 years later, that these fragments were returned to the vault. The reinterment occurred in the presence of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), restoring Charles I’s remains to their rightful place.

The rediscovery of Charles I’s burial vault in 1813 is a remarkable moment in Britain’s historical record. It confirmed the reality of his execution and resolved longstanding questions about the location of his final resting place. Alongside him, the remains of Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, and an unidentified infant gave shape to a forgotten royal tomb.

Charles I’s burial, quiet, discreet, and within an existing vault, reflected the caution and political uncertainty of the time. Its eventual rediscovery, centuries later, served as a reminder that even the most significant lives can slip from sight, only to be unearthed unexpectedly.

The events of 1813 also highlight the era’s fascination with history, not only as a record of facts but also as a connection to the physical remains of those who shaped it. While Charles I’s reign ended on the scaffold, his story and the story of those entombed with him continue to capture the attention of historians and the public alike. In many ways, it is a testament to the enduring power of history to re-emerge when least expected.

Sources: British Library, Coronation: A History of the British Monarchy by Roy Strong, House of Power by Simon Thurley