Cemeteries and graves aren’t just sombre spots, many are thought-provoking spaces where you can pay your respects to celebrated people who have shaped history. From Los Angeles and New Orleans to Paris, London and South Africa, we've listed the final resting places of some significant figures through the centuries, including the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Influential campaigner for women’s right to vote, Emmeline Pankhurst died on 14 June 1928 at 69 years of age. It was just three weeks before British law changed to allow all women over 21 to vote. Her well-attended funeral service was held at St John’s Church in Smith Square, Westminster, and she was buried in Brompton Cemetery, a sprawling Grade I-listed cemetery in west London. Tributes are often left by her headstone, a striking Celtic cross. 

The civil rights leader lies in a tomb made of Georgia marble next to an eternal flame. His resting place is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr National Historical Park in Atlanta, which encompasses many monuments and landmarks associated with him. After King was assassinated in 1968, his body was carried on a mule-drawn farm wagon to Southview Cemetery. However, the historical figure's remains were moved to what is now the King Center campus in 1970. In 2006 his crypt was rebuilt to include the body of his wife Coretta Scott King. 

After a state funeral in St Paul’s Cathedral on 30 January 1965 – the first held for a politician in the 20th century, Sir Winston Churchill was laid to rest at a private burial in the churchyard of St Martin’s in Bladon. It was his wish to be buried in the country church, which sits just outside of his family estate Blenheim Palace, with members of his family rather than in Westminster Abbey. A stained glass window was installed in the church in 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the war-time leader’s death.

Along with many British literary greats, writer Thomas Hardy’s ashes lie buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. The writer’s remains were interred here on 16 January 1928, just north of the grave of Victorian novelist Charles Dickens. However, his heart remains buried in the churchyard of Stinsford in his beloved Dorset, in the same grave as his wife Emma (pictured) and where his parents also lie.

South Africa's first democratically elected president and the country’s first Black leader was laid to rest in his ancestral home of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape province, on 16 December 2013, following a state funeral. Born Rolihlahla Mandela, the global icon and Nobel Peace Prize winner died at the age of 95. The burial site in the rural region was opened for the public to pay their respects in 2017.

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Following the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, she was buried on a lake island in the grounds of historic Althorp House in Northamptonshire, the ancestral home of the Spencer family since 1508. Althorp is open during the summer and at other select times during the year, but there is no public access to the island itself. Pictured here is a memorial to Diana and the island.

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Jimi Hendrix is one of the group of influential rock musicians dubbed 'the 27 Club' who died too young. In 1970, the guitar legend was found dead from an overdose in a London apartment while he was on tour. He was just 27 but had a huge impact on the music scene. For years, there was only a simple headstone in the family plot at Greenwood Memorial Park in Seattle, Washington, but now there is an unmissable stone dome memorial. Hendrix was reburied beneath it in 2002.

Also in Seattle, father and son Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee are buried on a hillside in Lake View Cemetery, Capitol Hill. Martial artist and film star Bruce Lee died in 1973 aged just 32. Tragically his son was accidentally killed during the filming of The Crow in 1993, exactly 20 years after his father's death. He was buried beside him.

Actress and first lady of Argentina, Maria Eva Duarte de Perón (“Evita”), is buried in La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires. After lying in state for 13 days, her body was embalmed to ensure it would stay perfectly preserved for years. Decades of political instability followed and Evita’s casket was sent to Europe before being allowed back to Argentina and the Duarte family tomb. Her crypt is heavily fortified and lies deep underground to protect her remains. La Recoleta is an incredible cemetery with its ornate tombs and sculptures – English-speaking tours take place at 11am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, is the final resting place of many Hollywood greats, including Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn. The vast, privately owned landscaped grounds are visited by more than a million people every year, although mapping of specific interments is discouraged. Humphrey Bogart’s burial spot is completely private and the crypts of Clark Gable and Errol Flynn are behind a chain rope.

The lipstick-covered tomb of Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde can be found in the beautiful Cimetière du Père Lachaise in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Wilde died in 1900 and was buried outside of the city until money was donated for a more fashionable burial plot and tomb in division 89 of the cemetery. Greasy lipstick kisses and cleaning were causing irreparable damage to the monument, designed by sculptor Jacob Epstein, so in 2011 his tomb was restored and protected by a glass barrier.

American rock legend and The Doors front man Jim Morrison is another famous name in Paris’ sprawling Cimetière du Père Lachaise and his resting place has become a must-visit for many visitors. Morrison died in Paris in 1971 aged 27 and his grave has always been a place of pilgrimage for fans. A bust was added in 1981, but later stolen. Graffiti has been a major problem over the decades so there’s now a barricade.

Despite being considered the greatest playwright ever, very little is known about the life and death of William Shakespeare. His name wasn’t included on the gravestone, found in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church in his home town Stratford-upon-Avon, but the epitaph was possibly written by the bard himself. The reference to a curse on anyone moving the bones clearly didn’t deter gravediggers, however, as recent archaeological examinations discovered his skull is missing.

Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau is a fascinating historical figure who lived in New Orleans in the 19th century. She is buried in St Louis Cemetery No 1, established in the 18th century, in the above-ground tomb of her husband’s family, the Glapions. Scribbled Xs and voodoo offerings have since damaged the delicate tomb. Now the cemetery is only open to the public on guided licensed tours, although for the time being these are suspended.

Thanks to its Gothic architecture, 19th-century Highgate Cemetery in north London is one of the city's most eerie and intriguing necropolises. The East Cemetery is home to a fair few famous names, including authors Douglas Adams and George Eliot. The father of Marxism, Karl Marx is buried here too. Sadly, the Grade II-listed monument, which features a bust of the German-born philosopher, was vandalised in 2019. He died in 1883.

The Ehrengräber (honorary graves) section of Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna has an impressive list of interments: composers Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert are all buried here, and there's a memorial to Mozart. The Austrian capital's multi-denominational cemetery is so vast (there are more than 300,000 graves and crypts) that it has its own train station and a bus that loops the grounds.

St Marxer Friedhof (St Marx Cemetery) in the south of Vienna is a rambling green space that is widely considered to be the last resting place of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Given a pauper's burial, his grave was originally unmarked. To make matters even more confusing, the 19th-century memorial which later marked this spot was moved to the more popular burial ground of Zentralfriedhof. Today, Mozart’s grave is marked by a stone tablet and a column designed by sculptor Florian Josephu-Drouot.

Intrigue and disbelief still surround the assassination of President John F Kennedy in downtown Dallas in 1963. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC and his grave is marked with an eternal flame. In the three years following his death, more than 16 million people visited the plot. In 1994, his wife Jacqueline was buried beside him.

The body of the French military leader was originally interred on the island of St Helena, where he was exiled and died aged 51 in 1821. An empty tomb now marks what was his resting place of 19 years. Napoleon’s remains were transferred to France in 1840 where a grand funeral procession took place through Paris to Les Invalides, where he was laid to rest. The red quartzite tomb that now honours the controversial leader was not completed for another 20 years.

Gravesend in Kent is the unlikely burial place for Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief of the Powhatan peoples, Wahunsenaca. She married Englishman John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1614 and sailed to England with him and their infant son. But on their return journey to Virginia in 1617 she was taken ashore in Gravesend, either dead or dying, and buried in the chancel of St George's Church. A replica of the Jamestown’s statue of Pocahontas was unveiled in the grounds in 1958.

The king of rock ‘n’ roll is buried in the Meditation Garden at Graceland, Tennessee. Elvis Presley bought this Memphis mansion in 1957, 20 years before his death. He died from a heart attack aged just 42. He was originally buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, but after attempts to tamper with the grave, his body and that of his mother were moved here. There's also a memorial to Elvis’ twin brother who died at birth. Usually there is a fee to enter Graceland, but it’s possible to visit the grave daily between 7.30am and 8.30am for free.

Anti-establishment actor and director Dennis Hopper (of Easy Rider and Apocalypse Now fame) is buried in Jesus Nazareno Cemetery, Ranchos de Taos. His grave is a simple Native American-style burial mound covered by rocks and stones and marked with a simple bandana-bound wooden cross. His widow said that Hopper thought of Taos as his “heart home” – he and his family lived in this part of New Mexico for many years.

Regency-era writer Jane Austen died in her sister Cassandra’s arms, aged just 41. The cause of her death has been attributed to everything from cancer to Addison’s Disease to arsenic poisoning. Austen had travelled to Winchester to seek medical advice but was buried shortly after in Winchester Cathedral, beneath the north aisle of the nave. Her simple headstone makes no mention of her writing but, due to her posthumous fame, there are now two further memorials to the brilliant Hampshire-based novelist in the cathedral.

Acclaimed Art Nouveau artist and designer, and son of Tiffany & Co founder Charles Tiffany, Louis Comfort Tiffany was best known for his stained-glass windows and lamps. When Charles Tiffany died in 1902, Louis was appointed the company’s first design director. He was laid to rest at New York City’s Green-Wood Cemetery, a vast National Historic Landmark site in 1933.

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Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician and astronomer who discovered the laws of motion and the theories of gravity. He died aged 84 in 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, in front of the choir screen, close to the elaborate monument dedicated to him, designed by architect William Kent and unveiled in 1731. Charles Darwin was buried beside him in 1882 and Stephen Hawking’s ashes were interred nearby in 2018.

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The father of the talented Brontë sisters was curate at St Michael and All Angels Church in the Yorkshire village of Haworth. Here in the gloomy little churchyard – which they overlooked from their parsonage home and likely inspired their melancholy writing – Charlotte and Emily were laid to rest, along with their brother, Branwell, and two elder sisters. Only their sister Anne was buried elsewhere.

Anne Brontë (author of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) was diagnosed with tuberculosis – a disease that had already claimed three of her sisters and her brother – so she travelled to Scarborough in North Yorkshire with her sister Charlotte to try to recuperate. She died shortly afterwards and was buried in the town’s St Mary’s Church, in a spot that overlooks the sea. A new plaque on her headstone in 2013 corrected an error on the original, which stated she died aged 28 (she was, in fact, 29).

American novelist and poet Sylvia Plath took her own life aged just 30. With a famously tempestuous marriage to the Yorkshire-born poet Ted Hughes, which ended before her death in 1963, Plath is buried in St Thomas’ Churchyard in Heptonstall. Her grave is marked with a simple headstone bearing the name of Sylvia Plath Hughes, although the “Hughes” has been chiselled off several times by aggrieved fans of the writer.

Dublin-born writer James Joyce is recognised as one of the most influential and experimental writers of the 20th century, best known for his novel Ulysses, published in 1922. Joyce and his partner (and later wife) Nora Barnacle lived in various places in Europe, including Paris, Trieste and Zurich. They returned to the Swiss city in late 1940, escaping the Nazis' occupation of France. Joyce died in January 1941 and was buried at Fluntern Cemetery in Zurich. His wife and son now lie buried next to him.

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Popular British-Irish comedian Spike Milligan, known for his witty one-liners and speedy retorts, really did have the last laugh with his grave famously bearing the epitaph “I told you I was ill” (inscribed in Gaelic). Milligan died in 2002, aged 83, and is buried in St Thomas’ Churchyard in Winchelsea, East Sussex. His third wife Shelagh Sinclair was later buried with him and her name controversially added to the headstone, despite some family objections.

As with many literary greats, English poet and painter William Blake died in obscurity and was buried in an unmarked shared grave in Islington’s Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. It wasn’t until 2018 that a new headstone was unveiled in the spot that marks precisely where Blake lies. The stone features a quotation from Blake's poem Jerusalem and was unveiled on the 191st anniversary of his death. His final resting place was only discovered after over a decade’s worth of research and investigations by admirers of the Romantic poet.

One of the most tragic of England’s Romantic poets was John Keats who died at just 25 years old in Rome. He contracted tuberculosis and travelled to Italy in 1820 with his friend Joseph Severn in the hope that the warmer climate would improve his condition. Sadly, he died in February 1821 and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome's Testaccio area. The touching epitaph “here lies one whose name is writ in water” was carved on the headstone, at his request. Severn, who died aged 85 in 1879, lies next to his friend. Fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley's grave is also in this cemetery – he drowned in the Gulf of Spezia, Italy, in 1822.

Robert Burns, or Rabbie Burns, is considered Scotland's national poet. There are museums and monuments dedicated to the man and his writing all over the world, including a statue in New York’s Central Park, but he died at home in Dumfries in 1796 and was buried in the local church of St Michael's. A grander mausoleum (pictured) was erected in the southeast corner of the churchyard in 1815, paid for by public subscriptions, and his body reinterred there in 1817.

Legendary film star Marilyn Monroe died from a suspected drug overdose aged 36 and was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery with the funeral overseen by her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio. All manner of conspiracy theories surround her tragic death and fans still leave flowers, mementos and lipstick kisses at her final resting place. Devotees of the star were outraged when it was revealed Hugh Hefner had purchased the crypt next to Monroe in 1992 so he could be buried next to the first-ever cover star of his magazine Playboy.

The passionate love story between Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert is well documented. First cousins who were married for 21 years, Albert’s death from typhoid fever in 1861 devastated the queen and she had a mausoleum built for him in the gardens of Frogmore House, just south of Windsor Castle in Windsor Home Park. Forty years later, Queen Victoria was laid to rest beside her beloved husband. Members of the public can't go inside the mausoleum, but the gardens are usually open for a few days a year.

Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, ruling for 70 years. Following her death aged 96 in September 2022, she was succeeded by her son Prince Charles, now King Charles III. The late Queen is buried in the Royal Vault (a small family crypt) beneath St George's Chapel together with her farther George VI, Queen Mother, her sister Princess Margaret and husband Prince Philip, who passed away in 2021. While entrance to the chapel is included with a ticket to Windsor Castle, visitors can't enter the private vault itself.

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