As we look back on the remarkable reign of Britain’s longest reigning monarch, this post takes a look at The Queen’s Houses. From the townhouse she was born in, to the castle she passed away in, this is a complete history of Queen Elizabeth II’s Homes:
17 Bruton Street; The Queen’s Birthplace
On 21 April 1926, the Duchess of York gave birth to her first child, a girl, in a sunny room on the first floor of her parents’ townhouse in Mayfair. The townhouse was a four storey terrace with all the usual features of a smart London townhouse of the era; servants quarters on the attic floor, kitchen and staff rooms in the basement, elegant reception rooms with high ceilings spanning the ground floor and well-lit suites with boudoirs, dressing rooms and bedrooms on the first floor.
For the next ten years the baby would be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York and was unexpected to ever see the throne as the niece to the then heir apparent, Edward, The Prince of Wales. The princess and her family soon moved on from Bruton Street, and several years later the unassuming townhouse was torn down and replaced with shops and offices. Today a tourist plaque commemorates the former building.
145 Piccadilly; The York Family Townhouse
On a much grander scale than the Mayfair home of her grandparents, Princess Elizabeth moved to 145 Piccadilly while still a baby. The five storey property remained the London home of The Duke and Duchess of York and their two daughters; princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, for a number of years.
145 Piccadilly was one of several townhouses on the busy road, with protruding porticoed entrances, four floors, balconies and sizeable rear gardens. Though the property was certainly one of the more “first class” properties in London, it was still considered a modest abode for a senior royal and his two princess daughters.
At the time of their highnesses incumbency at the address, Great Britain was suffering significant austerity during the Great Depression after The Great War. King George V requested his income be cut and for his sons to reign in their spending. So a ‘modest’ London address for The Duke of York and his family was considered the decent thing to do.
145 Piccadilly was damaged during WWII before being taken over by squatters a few decades later. The row of elite homes were eventually being torn down. Today 145 Piccadilly forms part of the five star Intercontinental Park Lane hotel opposite Green Park – a short stroll from Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Lodge; Windsor Park Country House
Though The York family lived in London during the week, they absconded to the Royal Lodge in Windsor’s Home Park during the weekends and holidays. During their time at the royal residence, two extra wings were added to increase the size of the property considerably. The property is known to have 30 rooms including the oft photographed 48-foot (14.6 metre) salon, which the family frequently used as backdrop for photographs together.
The country house is where Princess Elizabeth’s ‘Wendy House’, gifted by the people of Wales, sits. The miniature cottage, named Y Bwthyn Bach, measures 24-feet in length and features a kitchen, sitting room, a bedroom and bathroom with fully functioning hot and cold running water, electricity throughout and its own fridge and gas cooker. The quaint miniature house features 5-feet high ceilings and is topped by a thatched roof.
The York family soon found their lives transformed after the abdication of The Duke of York’s brother King Edward VIII. The Duke of York was now King, his wife Queen and his eldest daughter Princess Elizabeth, the new heir to the throne. Though the family now moved into Buckingham Palace, The Royal Lodge would remain the family’s country house, with The Queen Mother dying at the property in 2002 with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, at her side.
See more of The Royal Lodge in this previous post.
Buckingham Palace; First Official Residence
The newly coronated King and his family moved into Buckingham Palace, the official home of the monarch. With 775 rooms, and spanning over 830,000 square feet, the quartet moved into the palace’s private east wing. The King decided to have a swimming pool installed for his daughters, which would go on to be used by generations of royals ever after.
The property was originally known as Buckingham House, owned by The Duke of Buckingham and Normanby who had the property built in 1703. Designed with a central three-floored main house and flanked by two smaller wings, the country house was later sold to King George III for £21,000 in 1761, who bought the pretty house for his wife Queen Charlotte. Over the years the house was expanded and improved, soon earning the nickname Buckingham Palace.
The 260+ years-old palace became the official London residence of the United Kingdom’s monarch in 1837, when Queen Victoria took the throne. Prince Albert rectified the mistakes that had made Buckingham Palace uncomfortable and soon the stately pile became the central cog in the royal machine, with state rooms and a ballroom constructed during this time.
See inside Buckingham Palace in this previous post.
Clarence House; The Edinburghs’ Marital Home
Upon marriage, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were styled Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and were gifted Clarence House as their marital home. Located immediately next to the Royal Court of Saint James, and a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, Clarence House is in the heart of Royal HQ and therefore perfect for the heir apparent (just as it would be many years later for her heir Prince Charles, who would take the house as his London home too).
Built in the 1820s, the four-storey, succo-fronted residence was designed by regency extraordinaire John Nash, with all the smart aristocratic townhouse features you’d expect including high ceilings, large windows, elegant fireplaces, spacious rooms and delicate mouldings and plasterwork.
During their early marriage, Prince Philip worked for the Royal Navy, for which he was paid a regular naval salary, and the couple tried to live a semblance of normal life, moving together to Malta for a short while, while Philip worked overseas, and coming back to their home at Clarence House where Elizabeth’s eldest children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, would spend their earliest years.
See inside Clarence House in this previous post.
Villa Guardamangia; The Villa in Malta
image by Continentaleurope, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Between 1949 and 1951, then Princess Elizabeth joined her new husband, Prince Philip, in Malta where he was stationed as a Naval officer on the HMS Chequers and later HMS Magpie. Philip’s maternal uncle, Louis Mountbatten, acquired Villa Guardamangia during his time as Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy’s Mediterranean fleet. When the royal couple moved to Malta, it was Mountbatten who gifted the villa to them.
Built in the 18th century, the three storey villa in Pieta, Malta was recently scheduled as a protected historical monument after years of neglect. The villa fell into disrepair several years ago, to such an extent that on Her Majesty’s last visit to Malta she was not allowed to visit the house that retained such happy memories, due to the unstable nature of the crumbling building. The 18-room villa is now under restoration, funded by the Maltese government, who plan to open the villa as a museum.
The property was one of the largest private homes on the street and featured stables, a war shelter, extensive gardens and wells. The rear garden measures at over 890 square meters, with a colonnade spanning the whole length of the ground floor. A covered balcony on the top floor looks out over the lush garden with views of the Madonna ta Fatima tower and the city’s rooftops beyond.
Take a tour of this house and find out more about the restoration work at Heritage Malta’s page here.
The Royal Yacht Britannia; Holiday Home on Sea
image by © Alan Findlay (cc-by-sa/2.0)
First launched in 1953, HMY Britannia, better known as The Royal Yacht Britannia, was the last royal yacht to be ordered for the royal family. Since King Charles II, the monarch and their family has used an official royal yacht to tour the country and abroad. Britannia was commissioned for such use as well as a possible hospital ship in time of war and a royal refuge in case of nuclear war – neither use was required throughout its 44 year career. The Royal Yacht Britannia was launch a year into Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, and was first used to ferry her children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, to Malta to see The Queen and Prince Philip at the end of their tour of the Commonwealth.
Along with the usual compartments of a yacht, such as the engine room and crews quarters, the Britannia also featured state rooms for receiving dignitaries during their voyages. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first American president to be welcomed aboard, followed over the years by Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, as well as other leaders such as Rajiv Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, who became good friends with the monarch. The yacht also featured royal apartments, where the family could sleep, eat, rest and play.
The designs of the royal apartments were overseen by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, who were mindful of post-war austerity. Sir Hugh Casson designed the interiors, after McInnes Gardner & Partners’ designs were considered ‘too lavish’. The Britannia received its own registered tartan especially for use on the yacht.
The yacht was used regularly by the royal family, allowing them some of the happiest times together as a family, and sailed a combined total of more than 1 million nautical miles. The yacht was decommissioned in 1997 with a send-off that saw a tear shed by The Queen.
Windsor Castle; The Queen’s Favourite Official Residence
image by FrDr, CC BY-SA 4.0 via wikimedia commons
Once Elizabeth was crowned queen, she not only became the head of state for the United Kingdom, she also became the owner of a substantial portfolio of properties, including Buckingham Palace, Sandringham Estate, Balmoral Castle and Windsor Castle, where she had her own private apartments protected behind castle walls overlooking the ancient fortress and the acres of Windsor park beyond.
The private apartment at Windsor was shared by The Queen and Prince Philip with a host of rooms running along the south-end of the upper ward’s complex, including bedrooms, multiple drawing rooms, dressing rooms, bathrooms, a ‘king’s ante-room’, two audience rooms, a writing room, wardrobe, ‘library, great drawing room, dining room, beaufette room and orchestra’, and reception rooms, amongst others. The apartment, which sits in one of the castle’s newest sections, built in the 19th century, was considered her majesty’s favourite official residence. When she wasn’t in residence at Buckingham Palace during the week, she was at Windsor Castle at weekend.
See inside the castle’s private apartment in this previous post.
Sandringham House; The Christmas Country House
image by John Fielding, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Designated as the winter residence, Sandringham House became home to The Queen every year during the Christmas holidays until the annual anniversary of her father’s passing. The 18th century estate spans 2,000 acres of Norfolk land and was The Queen’s only English residence outside the home counties.
King Edward VII (The Queen’s great grandfather) purchased the estate in 1862 for £220,000. Overtime the property was expanded and redesigned, cumulating in The Queen inheriting the house and using the services of Hugh Casson (who’d already decorated the Royal Yacht) to decorated and update some of the house and reconfigure some of the ancillary buildings. Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, was put in charge of overseeing Sandringham, resulting in the largely gaming estate being transformed into an almost entirely self-sufficient estate.
Though the house was nearly pulled down in the late 60s and replaced with a modernist nightmare, last minute objections saved the historic home. Several Christmas messages have been recorded at Sandringham House and in 1977, to mark The Queen’s silver jubilee, parts of the home were opened to the public.
Balmoral Castle; The Summer Retreat
image by Stuart Yeates, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Described as her ‘favourite place in the whole world’ Balmoral Castle was The Queen’s only private residence in Scotland, and her summer residence of choice. Each year from July to October, Her Majesty would decamp to the Aberdeenshire estate, where she enjoyed riding, shooting and relaxing with her family.
Balmoral has been owned by the royal family for 170 years, after being purchased by Queen Victoria’s prince consort; Prince Albert in 1852. Since then the castle has kept much of its original decor, including the dizzy tartan carpets and drapes, unrestrained love of pinewood and the Queen Victoria wallpaper featured in the hallway. Recent images give us a view into what the interiors of the estate may look like today and, by many accounts, very little has been changed during HM Elizabeth II’s reign. Much of the main house has been preserved since Queen Victoria began holidaying there over 170 years ago, including the bounty of engravings and photographs of Albert and the children.
By all accounts the 50,000-acre estate was where The Queen was most relaxed, so perhaps it is no surprise that on Thursday 8th September it was announced that The Queen had passed away, with her eldest son; Charles, and daughter; Anne, by her side.
See inside Balmoral Castle in this previous post or read more about the estate in this previous post.
See more royal residences by browsing the ‘royalty‘ tag, including Adelaide Cottage or Fort Belvedere on the Windsor Estate, or take a look at a complete home history for Prince Philip.