By Alec Fernandes
A recent documentary details the royal family's many spooky sightings within Britain's oldest and most storied estates. According to Richard Felix, a paranormal historian featured in The King of UFOs, "All of their properties have ghosts in them, and they know it."
Felix mentioned the ghost of Henry Walpole, a Jesuit priest who was hanged, drawn and quartered for his Catholic faith in 1595. His restless spirit returned to his family home of Anmer Hall, a Norfolk manor now belonging to the Prince and Princess of Wales. "They've actually heard his voice, and they have seen the ghost of what they say is a priest wandering around," Felix reported. Prince William allegedly remarked, "No old hall would be complete without a ghost, would it?"
Felix also claimed that Queen Elizabeth II once encountered the ghost of her namesake, Queen Elizabeth I, in the library at Windsor Castle. The same apparition appeared to her father, King George VI, eight times in the same room leading up to World War II. Windsor Castle is considered among the most haunted places in the United Kingdom, with many reports of long-dead monarchs in period costume strolling the corridors before mysteriously vanishing.
Royal fascination with the paranormal is nothing new. Spiritualism became popular among the British elite in the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria herself participated in seances to contact her deceased husband, Prince Albert. Queen Elizabeth II also reportedly attended a seance in 1953 to connect with her recently deceased father.