This seaside retreat gave Queen Victoria and Prince Albert some much-needed privacy away from London
TIMELINE
- 1705 The original Osborne
The estate comes into the possession of the Blachford family who extend the existing house into a threestorey home with a stable block and walled garden. - 1845 Private quarters are built
The first building to be completed is the three-storey Pavilion block, which houses the private rooms of Victoria and Albert as well as the royal nurseries. - 1848 Demolition begins
Architect Thomas Cubitt suggests that the Georgian house is torn down and a palatial estate is erected in its place. Work on the household wing, for members of the royal household, is also completed this year. - 1853-1854 A playhouse fit for a prince
A timber Swiss Cottage is built for the royal children to play in and gain an education. They are taught to cook and grow vegetables in the garden. - 1862 Life after Albert
Following Albert’s death in 1861, only minor changes are made to Osborne House. A museum is added to house artefacts that the children have collected from foreign tours, and in 1880, a private chapel is built for the queen. - 1890-1892 Enter the Durbar Wing
On the ground floor, a grand Indian-themed reception room is built for official functions, while the first floor houses a private suite for the queen’s youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, and her family. - 1902 Osborne is gifted to the nation
On Edward VII’s coronation day, he gives the estate to the nation, but seals Victoria and Albert’s rooms. In 1954, Queen Elizabeth II grants permission for the rooms to be unlocked and they are opened to the public.
It’s impossible to imagine a prettier spot,” said Queen Victoria of her island hideaway, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight. She had been married to Prince Albert for five years and already had four children when they began to look for a holiday home. The queen wanted to give her ever-expanding family a chance to escape court life and be themselves in the privacy and luxury of a grand estate.
Originally a Georgian mansion with 16 rooms, Victoria and Albert bought Osborne House for just under £25,000 in 1845. However, it was far too small to house the royal family and their staff, so Albert threw himself into designing a new abode. “It does one’s heart good to see how my beloved Albert enjoys it all,” Victoria wrote. “He is hardly to be kept at home a moment.” By the time their holiday escape was complete, they had spent a pricey £200,000 (roughly £2.9 million / $3.8 million today).
The result epitomised Victoria and Albert’s tastes in art, décor and architecture; the mix between comfort and opulence reflected her dual role as monarch and mother. During the summer months, the family would enjoy picnics, boating and bathing on their private beach, which still houses Victoria’s bathing machine where she disrobed. Naturally, whenever the royals were in residence, Cowes became the number one tourist attraction (although the queen had hoped the trip to the island would deter visitors).
Albert was a great advocate for invention and he incorporated the latest technology into their home, including underfloor heating in his private bathroom. The house is filled with sentimental gifts and portraits the couple gave to one another. To walk through its rooms is to peek into the personal lives of this royal family that lived more than 100 years ago.
iTaly or The isle of WighT?
How the rural retreat came to resemble an Italianate villa
“The sea was so blue and calm that the Prince said it was like Naples,” Queen Victoria wrote in her diary. The Solent had struck a chord with Albert, reminding him of his experience as a student in Italy, so he set about transforming the original three-storey Georgian mansion into a splendid Italian Renaissance palazzo. Technically, the Department of Woods and Forests should have been responsible for designing their holiday home as they were in charge of all government architecture. Not wanting them to restrict his vision, however, Albert employed the architect Thomas Cubitt instead. Cubitt came up with a design that encompassed the flat-roofed Italianate style, with a tall flag tower, a clock tower and colonades. He also ensured that the royal family’s rooms in the Pavilion were hidden from view. Once the building was complete, villas started being built all over the island.
The green-fingered prince
Аlbert was involved in every aspect of the estate
With more than 800 hectares (nearly 2,000 acres), osborne was an enormous passion project for the Prince consort. He was involved in every decision, indulging his interests in architecture, agriculture and forestry. in keeping with the palatial home, the gardens were designed in the italianate style. evergreens lined the drives and walkways, and the upper and lower terraces were all adorned with symmetrical parterres, statues and a large fountain. albert was also influenced by his family home of rosenau and planted poplars throughout the grounds. He was happy to get his hands dirty too, often planting the trees himself. in 1847, Victoria wrote in her diary: “We walked out with the children, and they helped, or at least thought they did, in planting some trees.” she also wrote of the rich variety of bedding plants used, and how the summer evenings were scented with orange blossom and roses.
London’s legendary master builder
Meet the man who made Albert’s dream a reality
It’s hard to imagine, yet London’s wealthy SW1 postcode area was once a wasteland of swamp and criminal activity. Looking to develop the area we now know as Belgravia, Earl Grosvenor enlisted the help of Thomas Cubitt – a former ship’s carpenter turned self-made businessman who was rapidly gaining a reputation in London for his efficiency and excellence. His centrepiece for the new development was to be Belgrave Square, and the white terraced houses would become some of the most exclusive in London. Queen Victoria approved, renting number 36 for her mother, the Duchess of Kent. After collaborating with Prince Albert on Osborne House, Cubitt was commissioned to design the eastern façade of Buckingham Palace an remodel Marble Arch. To acknowledge his work, Victoria offered him a title, but being a modest man, he politely refused.
THE QUEEN’S BEDROOM
surrounded by her family, Queen Victoria’s long reign and life came to an end in this very room on 22 January 1901. among the mourners were her son, the future King edward Vii, and her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm ii, who would lead Germany to war with Britain 13 years later.
After the death of her beloved husband, Victoria had sought refuge at osborne House. This room was kept exactly the same, as was Prince albert’s private suite. His portrait was placed on his pillow, so he would be the first thing the queen saw in the morning and on his side of the bed there was a bag for his pocket watch, which was wound every day. once Queen Victoria died, her son installed gates outside her quarters and no one would enter for 50 years.
In happier times, the royals used to allow their children to visit their bedrooms. This was unusual for aristocracy, but the couple were determined to raise their family in a warm, loving environment. it’s the main reason why the décor is so homely – worlds away from the gilded opulence of the state rooms.
The private quarters are situated in the Pavilion, which was the first building to be completed after Victoria and albert bought the estate. They had sold the royal Pavilion in Brighton to pay for the furnishings. Victoria hadn’t cared for King George IV’s pleasure palace, writing: “The Pavilion is a strange, odd chineselooking thing, both inside and outside. Most rooms are low and i only see a little morsel of the sea.”
THE QUEEN’S SITTING ROOM
While the queen’s closest companions, her dogs, chased one another around the room, she would often work side-by-side with her husband on mahogany writing desks. Every surface was filled with framed photographs, bronzes and miniatures, showcasing the couple’s love for art. One of the most talked about pieces was Winterhalter’s Florinda, a painting of beautiful nude maidens, which the queen commissioned for Albert’s birthday in 1852.
With yellow silk walls, floral carpet and chintz chairs typical of the Victorian era, the sitting room was a comfortable, informal room. The large windows were usually left open and the room was freezing most of the time, but the queen had been told about the benefits of fresh sea air and hated using the heating. In the evening, Victoria and Albert enjoyed sitting on the small balcony where they would listen to the nightingales singing.
THE DRAWING ROOM
Prime Minister Lord Rosebery used to say the drawing room at Osborne was the ugliest he had ever seen – until he saw the one at Balmoral. Evidently, the vivid yellow satin curtains and cut-glass chandeliers were not to his taste.
The room occupied the entire width of the Pavilion, overlooking the Solent, and it was often where the queen retired after dinner. The family would play cards and sing around the piano. As the principal room, it was also where visiting foreign royalty were received.
A columned screen and a pair of curtains separate the drawing room from the billiard room. This was where the men retired, but the queen also enjoyed a game. Albert designed the billiard table to be higher, so that ladies could play without bending over in an inappropriate way.
THE SWISS COTTAGE KITCHEN
Albert had progressive ideas about the children’s education and designed a miniature house, the Swiss Cottage, for them to learn about life outside the palace. It was modelled on an Alpine vernacular building to reflect his hometown in Germany, and was fitted with a fully functioning kitchen and child-sized furnishings. On the walls were German proverbs – the language the couple would regularly converse in. It was in this extravagant playhouse that the nine children learned to cook with vegetables they had grown in their own garden. Each child had their own plot of land and they would sell any produce they had grown to their father for the going rate, teaching them about economics and trade.
THE DINING ROOM
Victoria didn’t like the smell of food cooking, so their meals had to travel 90 metres (295 feet) to the dining room upstairs. Once served, the queen is said to have been able to devour a five-course meal in 30 minutes, which meant guests had to be quick because when she was finished eating, all the dishes were taken away whether or not they were done. In this room hangs one of the most famous portraits of Victoria and Albert surrounded by five of their young children, painted by Franz Winterhalter in 1846. The year after Albert’s death, Princess Alice made her wedding vows in front of this picture of domestic bliss, in a quiet ceremony at Osborne. For the mourning queen, it must have been a bittersweet reminder of their happy life together. Years later, when Victoria died, the dining room would once again become a sobering setting as her body was laid out in state.
DURBAR ROOM
Upon entering this room you’d be forgiven for thinking that you had been transported to an exotic fantasy palace. Its Indian-inspired décor was designed to celebrate the queen being proclaimed Empress of India in 1876. It also provided the estate with a formal banquet hall so that large state functions could be held there. As the ageing monarch was spending more and more time at Osborne, this became a necessary addition to the house.
In 1890-91, Victoria commissioned a design from Rudyard Kipling’s father, Lockwood, and his talented student Bhai Ram Singh. The Indian artist produced ornate carvings that were moulded onto the plaster walls and ceiling, as well as other decorative motifs such as the Hindu elephant god Ganesh and the elaborate peacock that presides over the fireplace. Paintings of her Indian subjects by Rudolf Swoboda were transferred from Windsor to Osborne and hung on the walls, and when the work was completed in 1892, the artist also painted Ram Singh. His portrait is distinguished by its heavy gilt frame.
The Durbar Room (from the Hindu meaning ‘court’) was part of a two-storey building that also accommodated Victoria’s youngest child, Princess Beatrice, and her family. One of the conditions of Beatrice marrying Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885 was that she continued to live with her mother until her death. The first floor had a private entrance for the couple and their four children.