Most haunted royal homes ranked, from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle

If there is one thing that the Royal Family is not short of, it is unique and surprising stories in their history. Whether it is claims that an heir to the throne was Jack the Ripper, a young boy breaking into the palace to steal Queen Victoria's underwear or suggestions that two young brothers were murdered by their power-hungry uncle, there are certainly some shocking stories in the royal closet.

And the unbelievable stories only continue to grow when it comes to where the Royal Family have lived over the years. With reports of hobbling ghosts, a monk in chains and screaming Queens, which royal residences are the most haunted?

From the Tower of London and Balmoral Castle to Buckingham Palace, the Daily Express has compiled the ultimate ranking of the spookiest royal homes.

John Brown famously befriended Queen Victoria in the years after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. It has been claimed that the pair were in love, with Victoria later commissioning a statue of John that stands in the grounds of the Scottish estate. Visitors to the castle have reported seeing the ghostly form of a man in a kilt moving through corridors looking for his queen. " data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-portal-copyright="Getty" data-licensor-name="Getty" /> Despite being one of the monarchy's most globally recognised symbols, there have not been masses of ghostly reports from Buckingham Palace.But one notable story details a ghostly monk in ragged robes who is said to roam the terraces of the Palace gardens, pleading to be released from the chains that bind him. Legend has it that he lived in the monastery that once stood on the site and died chained to the wall of a cell after breaking his strict vows.

Another Palace ghost is said to be that of Major John Gwynne, the private secretary to King Edward VII, who was caught up in a scandal that ended his marriage. Facing a court case, he shot himself in one of the Palace's first-floor offices. More than a century later, staff are said to still avoid the room as it gives off a strange aura. Some have even reported hearing a single gunshot in the middle of the night, thought to be the echo of the Major's tragic shot.

" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-portal-copyright="Getty" data-licensor-name="Getty" /> King Henry VIII, Hampton Court is said to be visited by the ghosts of at least two of his wives. Jane Seymour appears on the Silverstick Stairs as a sad white figure carrying a lighted taper, while Catherine Howard's more vocal ghost has been heard screaming as she runs along the aptly named Haunted Gallery.

The famous Grey Lady is thought to be Sybil Penn, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. Her tomb was disturbed during a rebuilding project at St Mary's in Hampton village. "Soon afterwards, the 19th-century inhabitants of the palace began to report that they'd heard Sybil and her ghostly spindle," Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, previously said.

" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-portal-copyright="Getty" data-licensor-name="Getty" /> Prince Louis's old nursery at Kensington Palace. Peter the Wild Boy, who was brought to England by King George I from Hanover due to his fascination with the boy's lifestyle of living in the woods and his inability to speak. It is believed he suffered from the rare genetic disorder, Pitt-Hopkins syndrome.

After arriving in Britain in 1726, the then-Princess of Wales showed great concern for his wellbeing, but all attempts to teach him speech or writing were unsuccessful. A portrait featuring Peter at George I's court hangs in Kensington Palace today. It's believed that Peter lived until the age of 70 and his final resting place is St Mary's Church in Northchurch near Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.

Other ghostly reports about appearances of Queen Caroline and Queen Victoria's aunt, Princess Sophia, have been made, with guards and residents having confessed to witnessing these spectres or hearing odd noises within the palace grounds. It's even rumoured that King George II still haunts the palace, his spirit lamenting over his lost soldiers from the Seven Years' War, crying out, "Why won't they come?"

" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-portal-copyright="Getty" data-licensor-name="Getty" /> Sandringham after members of staff reported paranormal experiences. The service was conducted by a pastor in the presence of the late Queen, the Queen Mother and Lady-in-Waiting, Prue Penn.

The room in question was where the late Queen's father, King George VI, lived before his death in 1952 and was said to be so haunted that staff made it known they didn't want to work in there.

He wrote: "Prue Penn [the Queen Mother's lady-in-waiting] tells me that at Sandringham in the summer, the Queen invited her to attend a little service in one of its rooms conducted by the local parson. The only other person present was the Queen Mother..."

The service isn't the only report of ghostly activity at Sandringham as it was also said that King Charles became very nervous while viewing some old paintings there in the mid-1980s. Speaking of the King in 2011, a courtier said: "There are old parts of the house where nobody wants to go or be alone... After crying, ‘Oh heck!', the Prince grabbed the first print and got out as quickly as he could. He was petrified. There have been lots of incidents in the library. There is an old clock in there and the hands move by themselves. There is a smaller part of the library where a servant once had a kip, only to be woken by books flying from the shelves."

" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-portal-copyright="Getty" data-licensor-name="Getty" /> Windsor Castle. So many, in fact, that there are comprehensive accounts of where you need to be in the castle to see a specific King or Queen. Queen Elizabeth I is one of the monarchs who can be regularly spotted. According to Visit Britain, "[The Queen's] footsteps can be heard on the bare floorboards, before her striking presence appears." Queen Elizabeth II even claimed that she and her sister, Princess Margaret, witnessed paranormal activity in the castle, believing it to be an apparition of her namesake, Elizabeth I.

Similarly, if you wanted to see King George III, you would want to be in the room below the library. Towards the end of his reign, the King became so mentally ill that he was confined in this room for long periods of the day. Witnesses describe seeing a figure "looking longingly out of the window." George III has not only been spotted in this room, but also in a bedroom of the castle. An officer shared his account of the ghostly, yet heartwarming, sighting days after the King's passing, while he was still lying in state.

The story goes that the guards were passing the King's window on their duties when the commanding officer saw the distinctive figure of the King standing in his usual place, watching the parade. Instinctively, he gave the order "Eyes right," and as they swung round, each soldier saw the figure and watched as the late King returned their salute.

There are also records of hearing the "hobbling" ghost of King Henry VIII in the deanery cloisters. The hugely obese King suffered from gout and painful ulcers on his leg, making it difficult to walk.

" data-has-syndication-rights="1" data-portal-copyright="Getty" data-licensor-name="Getty" /> Anne Boleyn in 1536. There are numerous reports that the ghost of Anne Boleyn has been spotted at the Tower on several occasions, almost 500 years after her death. A famous example happened in 1864 when a soldier noticed a Yeoman Warder acting strangely while he was standing in the courtyard where Anne Boleyn had been beheaded.

He appeared to challenge something, which the soldier recalled "looked like a whitish, female figure". The guard charged through the form with his bayonet and then fainted. He was only saved from a prison sentence because the soldier was a witness.

Other reported ghost sightings include the small bodies of the ‘princes in the Tower'. The young royals were the sons of King Edward IV and it is speculated that their uncle, King Richard III (then the Duke of Gloucester and Lord Protector) had his nephews killed so he could become the king. Over the years, guests and guards alike have claimed to have seen two young boys, dressed in medieval-style clothing, playing on the green outside the White Tower. Others believe they have captured photographs of the young ghosts whilst looking around the exhibits.

Most peculiar of all is a tale from the Yeoman Warders who guard the Tower. With the Tower having acted as a menagerie since 1210, scary encounters with wild animals were not unusual, but what happened in 1816 was nothing short of unusual. The story goes that the ghost of a huge black bear was spotted near the Martin Tower by a Yeoman Warder on night duty. The guard was terrified and struck the figure on the head with his bayonet, only to find the weapon went straight through and into the door of the tower. It is said the guard died of shock a few hours later. The bear has since been nicknamed Old Martin and his skin and skull were found at the Natural History Museum in London.

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