The Royal George

Grave of George Wombwell in Highgate Cemetery

The Wikipedia entry for George reports that he was invited five times to exhibit his menagerie to the royal family, three times by Queen Victoria, including the visit to Windsor in 1847 reported by his nephew, George Wombwell junior.

The same entry then reports the following possibly apocryphal story:

On one occasion Prince Albert summoned him to look at his dogs who kept dying and Wombwell quickly noticed that their water was poisoning them. When the prince asked what he could do in return for this favour, Wombwell said, "What can you give a man who has everything?". However, Wombwell requested some oak timber from the recently salvaged Royal George. From this he had a coffin fashioned for himself, which he then proceeded to exhibit for a special fee.

It was in this coffin that George was supposedly buried in 1850, underneath his sleeping lion in Highgate Cemetery.