The mausoleum was built in memory of Supayalat, queen consort of the last king of Myanmar, Thibaw Min, and daughter of King Mindon. She was sent into exile in India in 1885 and allowed to return to Rangoon (Yangon) in 1919. She died six years later, in 1925—shortly before her 66th birthday. The colonial government declared a national holiday on the day of her funeral, but denied the royal family’s request to bury her in Mandalay Palace for fear that it would promote nationalism. Her funeral was held with pomp and ceremony as befitted a Burmese queen, shielded under eight white royal umbrellas, attended by 90 Buddhist monks and the British Governor Sir Harcourt Butler with a guard of honour of the Mounted Police complete with a 30 gun salute.