Skeletons found at Queen's residence

The skeletons date from before the palace being built

Eight human skeletons have been found under the kitchen at the Queen's residence in Edinburgh.

Police were alerted to the discovery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse after workmen installing ducting unearthed the remains.

However, experts believe that the bones are at least five centuries old.

They probably belonged to people who lived in the area before the main palace was built when there was a burial site associated with the district's Abbey Church.

The bones have been buried for five centuries

The skeletons are thought to be those of four adults, three children and a baby who had lived in Canongate, which goes uphill from the palace towards Edinburgh Castle.

One of the bodies was laid facing west, while the rest face eastwards as religious practice at the time dictated.

As the skeletons are still partially buried, only the sex of two - a male adult and young male - have been determined.

The experts said they did not wish to disturb the remains, which were discovered on 11 September and so they have agreed to let the origins remain a mystery.

The Queen was not in residence when the bones were discovered.

A spokesman for Historic Scotland, which oversaw the dig, said: "The skeletons were discovered during excavations connected with the renewal of under-floor services at the palace.

Royal apartments

"Excavations were stopped immediately for archaeological investigation. In order to avoid further disturbance of the remains, the planned works have been quickly revised.

"The pipe work will be laid at a shallower depth and, where possible, reutilise other known tracks, allowing the skeletons to remain undisturbed."

The kitchen uses chambers from the late 17th century rebuilding of the palace for Charles II but the graves are thought to date from an earlier period.

As royal apartments stood on the site before the palace was established by King James IV in the 15th century, experts had considered the possibility of the bones belonging to royals.

But they concluded that the remains were of Canongate residents buried in a secular graveyard on the west side of the old Abbey Church between the 14th and 16th centuries.

It is not thought that any were monks as the Augustinian canons, who occupied the Abbey from the 12th century, were buried apart from the ordinary folk of the period on the east side of the church.