It is unclear why a king would have been buried at the Abbey. The only previous royals reportedly buried there were Sæberht of Essex and his wife Æthelgoda. Emma Mason speculates that Cnut had built a royal residence in the vicinity of the Abbey, or that Westminster held some significance to the Danish Kings of England, which would also explain why Harthacnut would not allow a usurper to be buried there. The lack of detail in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" implies that, for its compilers, the main point of interest was not the burial site, but the exhumation of the body. Harriet O'Brien theorises that the choice of location might simply reflect the political affiliation of the area, the area of Westminster and nearby London being a power base for Harold.