In early 1872, at age 67, Andersen fell out of his bed and was severely hurt; he never fully recovered from the resultant injuries. Soon afterward, he started to show signs of liver cancer.[50]
He died on 4 August 1875, in a country house called Rolighed (literally: calmness) near Copenhagen, the home of his close friends, the banker Moritz G. Melchior and his wife.[50] Shortly before his death, Andersen consulted a composer about the music for his funeral, saying: "Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with little steps."[50]
His body was interred in the Assistens Kirkegård in the Nørrebro area of Copenhagen, in the Collin family plot. In 1914, the headstone was moved to another cemetery (today known as "Frederiksbergs ældre kirkegaard"), where younger Collin family members were buried. For a period, his, Edvard Collin's, and Henriette Collin's graves were unmarked. A second stone has been erected, marking Andersen's grave, now without any mention of the Collin couple, but all three still share the same plot.[51]
At the time of his death, Andersen was internationally revered, and the Danish government paid him an annual stipend for being a "national treasure".[52]
