Osborne House on the Isle of Wight
The Splendid Royal Residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Sep 23, 2009
What is special about Osborne House is it provides visitors with a unique insight into the royal family’s private life. By touring the Royal Apartments and the Nursery Suite of this stunning country palace, there lingers an intimacy of the family’s life that is not felt at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace or the Royal Pavilion at Brighton.
History of Osborne House
Looking for a private family retreat away from the stresses of public life at court, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought Osborne House with an estate of some 342 acres in 1845. The Queen was fond of the Isle of Wight, having visited it twice as a girl, and the estate was relatively close in proximity to London, but more importantly it was secluded, providing the family with a degree of privacy seldom afforded to royalty.
The original Georgian house, demolished in 1848, proved too small for the royal family’s needs, so between 1845 and 1851, the Pavilion (Royal Apartments), Household and Main wings were built, designed by London architect Thomas Cubitt and influenced by Prince Albert’s love of the Italian Renaissance.
The estate eventually came to total over 2,000 acres, which included numerous lodges and cottages for members of the household and estate workers.
Highlights at Osborne
The Drawing Room, Dining Room and Billiard Room are the three principal reception rooms in the Pavilion. They are richly decorated and each contains elaborately painted ceilings. None of the other rooms in the house are so formal. The Royal Apartments, for example, are surprisingly cozy and unassuming, but lovely nonetheless.
The Durbar wing, which was a later addition to the house (1890-91), was built to provide a state banqueting hall. The style of architecture is Indian, which was briefly popular at the end of the nineteenth century. Durbar is an Indian word meaning both a state reception and the hall in which such gatherings were held. The Durbar Room is truly stunning with walls and ceiling carved out of plaster and carton pierre—a type of papier mache common from that period—and enlivened by teak framing. The interior was carved by Bhai Ram Singh under the supervision of Lockwood Kipling (father of author Rudyard Kipling). There is a beautiful carved peacock over the chimney-piece which took over 500 hours to produce. Unfortunately, the original Durbar dining-room furniture was disposed of in 1909.
The house is equipped with all the modern luxuries of the Victorian period, including baths/showers and an elevator, which was added in 1893 to help the ageing Queen access her first-floor suite easier.
The grounds include a lovely terraced garden, a separate walled flower and fruit garden, and a hothouse filled with exotic plants. There is also the Swiss Cottage where the royal children played and the Queen’s bathing machine, which ran on stone rails to the family’s private beach, where it was lowered into the sea.
Prince Albert's Influence at Osborne
Prince Albert’s taste in art and architecture can clearly be seen at Osborne. The house, and in particular the estate, really were his own vision. There was no aspect of the development that he did not take part. In his own words he was: “partly forester, partly builder, partly farmer and partly gardener”. The Queen remarked on a number of occasions that Albert spent too much time planting and pruning.
It was to Osborne House the Queen retreated after the death of her husband in 1861. Grief stricken, Victoria requested that Osborne House remain exactly as it was during her life there with Albert; right down to the turquoise scent bottles he gave her, decorated with cupids and cherubs, remain in place.
It was in her bedroom at Osborne House that Queen Victoria died in 1901.
Not long after the death of the Queen, the house and estate were handed over to the nation by King Edward VII. The Main and Household wings became a convalescent home for officers, while the Pavilion ground floor and terrace were opened to the public. The Royal Apartments were secured by gates and eventually opened to visitors in 1954, followed by the Royal Nursery Suite in 1989.
The house and grounds are open to the public in the spring through till the fall, but from November 1 to April 1 the house is only open for pre-booked guided tours.
Sources:
- Frommer’s England 2008
- Osborne House by English Heritage
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