Anne Boleyn’s body was buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.
After her execution by beheading on May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn’s body and head were wrapped in a white cloth and buried in a common grave in the chapel without a formal ceremony or a coffin. Her resting place was not marked, and it was not until renovations were made to the chapel during the reign of Queen Victoria that Anne’s remains were identified. During the Victorian renovations, workers discovered a number of bodies in unmarked graves, and Anne’s body was identified by the relative position of the grave and by the fact that the body was that of a young woman who had been beheaded. Her remains were then reburied in the chapel, this time with a small plaque marking the location, which has since become a site of interest for visitors to the Tower of London. The Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula is a royal peculiar and a place of burial for several other executed persons of nobility, including Anne’s cousin, Catherine Howard, who was also a wife of King Henry VIII and met a similar fate.