Pedro de Ronquillo and Giuseppe, count de Brianson

The unburied coffins of these two diplomats were deposited in Westminster Abbey for several years before being removed. It is not known why this happened. The coffins (with embalmed bodies) were in the enclosed side chapel in Henry VII's chapel where the monument of Ludovic Stuart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox is situated but they had no connection to him or his family.

Don Pedro de Ronquillo

He was born in Madrid in Spain in 1630, son of Antonio, 4th Count of Ronquillo, and was a lawyer and diplomat. He held the post of Ambassador Extraordinary from the King of Spain to James II and also to William III and Mary II in England. When he died in 1691 his red leather covered coffin was laid in the small chapel as noted above, out of sight behind the stone screen. Some say that he had avoided paying his debts and was not buried because he did not leave money to cover the cost of burial but this seems unlikely. It is not clear whether the burial was to be at the Abbey but again this seems unlikely. The coffin was not returned to Spain until 1812.

Giuseppe G.C. di San Tommaso, Count de Brianson

He was the resident envoy for the Duke of Savoy in London from 1704-1709. In 1706 Isaac Newton endorsed his election to the Royal Society. The Count's black leather covered coffin lay unburied in the same chapel from his death in 1709 until the Dean and Chapter of Westminster ordered it to be removed in 1728. It is not known where it was taken.

Further information:

"Don Pedro de Ronquillo and Spanish-British relations 1674-79". Thesis by Charles Scott, 1955.

"Antiquities of St Peters or the Abbey Church of Westminster..." by Jodocus Crull, 1711, p.107 [for Ronquillo's coffin]

"Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton and the Royal Society - three unnoticed letters in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin" by T.M. Vozar, in Notes and Records 78, 2024 [regarding Giuseppe]