Since its founding by Benedictine monks in 960 AD, Westminster Abbey has been hallowed ground in the heart of London. For nearly a millennium, it‘s been the site of royal coronations, weddings, and funerals, as well as the burial place of England‘s most celebrated kings, queens, nobles, and luminaries. Today, over 3,300 people are buried in the Abbey, with hundreds more memorialized on its walls and stone floors. It‘s both an active church with daily services and one of Britain‘s top tourist attractions, drawing over 1.5 million visitors per year.
Strolling through the Abbey‘s Gothic halls is like taking a journey through British history. Seventeen monarchs are buried here, from King Edward the Confessor in the 11th century to George II in the 18th. You‘ll also find the tombs of prime ministers, military leaders, scientists, writers, actors, and other towering figures who shaped the nation‘s culture and destiny. For centuries, interment in Westminster Abbey has been considered the highest honor in the land, reserved for an elect few. In the words of the Abbey itself, burial here is "a very special mark of honour, reflecting the national and international importance of their life and work."
So among all the famous names resting in this ancient church, who is the single most famous? It‘s a tantalizing question, but ultimately a subjective one. Different Britons through the ages would likely give different answers, and a strong case could be made for any number of legendary figures. But as a historian looking back, a few stand out as top contenders for the crown of Westminster‘s most illustrious resident:
Charles Darwin
When Charles Darwin died in 1882 at the age of 73, he was the world‘s most renowned scientist – and also one of its most controversial. His revolutionary theory of evolution by natural selection, first outlined in his 1859 masterpiece On the Origin of Species, had shaken the foundations of Victorian society and sparked fierce debates that are still going on today. At the time, many saw evolution as a threat to the Biblical creation story and the notion of humans being divinely created in God‘s image. Worried about backlash, Darwin had been reluctant to publish his ideas for years.
But by the end of his life, Darwin‘s genius had won out and his fame was immense. When he was buried in Westminster Abbey, it was the ultimate sign that his once-radical notions had entered the scientific mainstream. As historian James Moore wrote, "In the most literal sense, Darwin had become an English national hero, the latest worthy in the pantheon of great men represented in the Abbey‘s monuments and graves." He was buried next to Sir Isaac Newton, and today, a white marble slab and relief portrait mark his tomb near the Abbey‘s main entrance.
More than 140 years after his death, Darwin‘s legacy stands taller than ever. His insights into the interlinked diversity of life were decades ahead of their time, and laid the groundwork for all of modern biology. Every new fossil discovery and DNA analysis further reinforces his core ideas about how species evolve. In 2009, Darwin was honored around the world on his 200th birthday, cementing his status as one of the most influential scientists who ever lived.
Geoffrey Chaucer
Often hailed as "the father of English literature," Geoffrey Chaucer was the first poet buried in what is now known as Poets‘ Corner in Westminster Abbey. When he died in 1400, Chaucer was laid to rest there not because of his literary fame, but because he had ties to the royal court and rented a house on the Abbey grounds. At the time, his groundbreaking work The Canterbury Tales was still unfinished. It would take decades for Chaucer‘s full genius to be recognized.
The Canterbury Tales, a sprawling collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims journeying to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, was a landmark in English writing. Not only was it the first major work written in the English vernacular instead of classical Latin or French, but it also captured a vivid, satirical portrait of 14th-century society, from drunken millers to corrupt clergy to long-suffering wives. Chaucer‘s colorful cast of characters felt real and relatable in a way that was rare for medieval literature.
It wasn‘t until over 150 years after Chaucer‘s death, in 1556, that his remains were moved to an ornate tomb in what became Poets‘ Corner. His presence there helped establish the tradition of burying Britain‘s greatest writers in that part of the Abbey – a who‘s who of literature that now includes Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, and dozens more. In 1868, a beautiful stained glass window was installed nearby in Chaucer‘s honor, depicting scenes from his famous tales.
More than 600 years later, The Canterbury Tales remains an astonishingly fresh and entertaining read, and Chaucer‘s pioneering use of English vernacular helped pave the way for everyone from Shakespeare to Dickens to today‘s scribes. No less an authority than John Dryden, the 17th-century poet and literary critic, called Chaucer "the father of English poetry" – a title that‘s stuck to this day. His memorial in Westminster Abbey is a fitting shrine to England‘s first literary superstar.
Elizabeth I
Queen Elizabeth I, the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, ruled England for an astonishing 45 years from 1558 to 1603. Her reign was a turning point that saw England grow from a small, divided nation into a major European power. She stabilized the country after the tumultuous reigns of her father Henry VIII and siblings Edward VI and Mary I, leading England into a golden age of peace and prosperity.
Elizabeth‘s long rule was marked by many triumphs, from the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 to the flourishing of arts and literature in a period often called the English Renaissance. Playwrights like William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe thrived under Elizabeth‘s patronage, and explorers like Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh expanded England‘s horizons around the globe. Through it all, the "Virgin Queen" forged an iconic image as a strong, intelligent female leader determined to guide her nation to greatness.
When Elizabeth died at Richmond Palace in 1603, all of London went into deep mourning. Her funeral at Westminster Abbey was one of the most elaborate ever seen, with a lavish procession and a grand marble tomb shared with her sister Mary I. Sculpted effigies of both queens, dressed in their royal robes and crowns, recline on top of the black and white marble monument. In 2002, Elizabeth was voted the greatest monarch in English history in a BBC poll, and her tomb remains one of the most visited sites in the Abbey.
Four centuries after her death, Elizabeth I is still revered for steering England through religious strife and political intrigue to emerge as one of Europe‘s great powers. The stability and national pride she fostered set the stage for the coming British Empire, and her patronage of the arts ushered in a cultural renaissance whose fruits we‘re still enjoying today. She set a powerful example of female leadership in a patriarchal age, and her myth-like status as "Good Queen Bess" still captures the popular imagination like few monarchs before or since. In life and in death, Elizabeth was and is an icon of England.
More Abbey Legends
Of course, Darwin, Chaucer, and Elizabeth I are far from the only luminaries resting in the hallowed halls of Westminster Abbey. Its grounds are a veritable alphabet soup of Britain‘s best and brightest across the ages, with everyone from world-changing scientists to beloved writers to legendary leaders represented. Here are just a few more of its most famous residents:
Isaac Newton: Widely considered the greatest physicist who ever lived, Newton revolutionized our understanding of gravity, optics, mathematics, and the fundamental laws of the universe. After his death in 1727, he was buried in a prominent spot in the Abbey nave, and a large memorial sculpture celebrates his genius. Stephen Hawking, the brilliant 20th century physicist who expanded on many of Newton‘s ideas, had his ashes interred beside Newton‘s grave in 2018.
Charles Dickens: One of the greatest novelists in the English language, Dickens was mourned by all of Britain when he died in 1870. Thousands of people visited his open grave in Poets‘ Corner, and throngs lined the streets for his funeral procession. "No other death in modern times has touched the heart of the public in the same degree," the Times of London wrote. Today, his name is inscribed on a stone slab near Chaucer‘s memorial in a fitting meeting of two literary legends.
Laurence Olivier: Often hailed as the finest actor of the 20th century, Olivier captivated audiences on both stage and screen for over five decades. The first director of England‘s National Theatre, he was knighted in 1947 and made a life peer, Baron Olivier, in 1970. After his death in 1989, Olivier was cremated and his ashes interred in Poets‘ Corner near the monuments for William Shakespeare and David Garrick. His memorial stone features the engraved masks of comedy and tragedy, symbolizing his stage roots.
The Unknown Warrior: Not all of Westminster Abbey‘s most honored dead are household names. One of its most visited graves is that of the Unknown Warrior – an anonymous British soldier who died in World War I. The idea originated with a clergyman named David Railton, who had seen a grave in France marked by a rough cross and a pencil inscription: "An Unknown British Soldier." In 1920, the body of an unidentified soldier was exhumed from a French battlefield, transported to London, and buried with full honors in the Abbey‘s nave. A black marble slab, the only tombstone in the Abbey on which it‘s forbidden to walk, marks his grave and bears the poignant inscription:
Beneath this stone rests the body
Of a British warrior
Unknown by name or rank
Brought from France to lie among
The most illustrious of the land
The Unknown Warrior has come to symbolize all the hundreds of thousands of British Empire troops who gave their lives in the Great War, and his grave is now a site of pilgrimage and remembrance. Every year on Remembrance Sunday, the reigning monarch lays a wreath there in honor of Britain‘s war dead. It‘s a powerful reminder that sometimes the most famous and beloved graves belong to everyday heroes.
The Abbey Today
Over a millennium since its founding, Westminster Abbey remains both an active place of worship and one of Britain‘s most visited tourist sites. It still hosts daily church services, plus special events like state funerals and royal weddings (most recently that of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011, watched by hundreds of millions around the globe). In 2018, the Abbey welcomed a record-breaking 1.65 million visitors, many of them eager to soak up its incredible history.
But the Abbey is more than just a collection of famous tombs – it‘s a symbol of Britain itself. Its soaring Gothic architecture, with stone spires that reach over 100 feet tall, is an icon of London‘s skyline. Its Chapter House, an octagonal room dating back to the 1250s, features some of the finest medieval sculpture in England. Its museum is filled with priceless royal artifacts, from Mary Queen of Scots‘ death mask to the marriage certificate of Prince William and Kate Middleton. And every corner seems to hold a piece of history, whether it‘s the coronation chair used by English monarchs since 1308, or the ancient cloisters where monks once walked and prayed.
Most of all, though, Westminster Abbey is a mirror of England – a place where the nation‘s triumphs and tragedies, joys and sorrows have played out for centuries. It‘s where kings and queens have been crowned, where the famous have been married and mourned, where the great accomplishments of British culture have been celebrated. Every year, a million visitors make the pilgrimage there to feel a connection to that heritage. In the words of John Betjeman, the former poet laureate of the UK, "Westminster Abbey belongs to the world, and the ghosts of the past seem to live again."
So who is the most famous figure buried in Westminster Abbey? In the end, perhaps it‘s impossible to choose just one. But more than any single individual, what makes the Abbey special is the collective weight of all those legends together – Darwin and Chaucer, Elizabeth and Newton, kings and queens, poets and prime ministers. Together, their tombs and memorials make Westminster Abbey the closest thing Britain has to a national hall of fame, or even a national soul. They‘re the essence of what it means to be British, distilled into one glorious Gothic building. And that, even more than the fame of the names carved on its walls, is what makes Westminster Abbey so extraordinary.
