Osborne House

Osborne House sits near East Cowes on the Isle of Wight in southern England, and was the summer residence and private retreat of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The house was built between 1845 and 1851, after the royal couple sought a home away from court life in London and Windsor, where the family could live more privately.

Prince Albert played a central role in the design, working with the builder Thomas Cubitt. The result was a building in the Italian Renaissance style, with two distinctive towers reminiscent of an Italian villa. Its setting overlooking the Solent gave views that Albert felt resembled the Bay of Naples.

Inside, the house is known for its lavish state and private rooms. One highlight is the Durbar Room, a large banqueting hall in Indian style created in the 1890s, reflecting Victoria's role as Empress of India. In the grounds stands the Swiss Cottage, a chalet where the royal children learned cooking, housekeeping and gardening, along with a small museum holding the children's collections. Down by the sea is a private beach with the Queen's own bathing machine.

Osborne also holds a sombre place in history: it was here that Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901. After her death, King Edward VII gave the estate to the nation, and parts of it were used as a naval college and a convalescent home, among other things. Today Osborne House is managed by English Heritage and open to the public, with rooms, gardens and beach preserved much as they were in Victoria's day.

A large portrait of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and five of their nine children. Photo: Linda Nordvik A painting of Queen Victoria lying in state at Osborne. After the Queen died at Osborne on 22 January 1901, her coffin was moved on 25 January to the dining room, which had been transformed into a funeral chapel. There she lay in state for eight days, watched over by soldiers of the Grenadier Guards, before the coffin was taken to the mainland on 1 February. Photo: Lise Fosdahl Mørk Five of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's eldest children, dressed as the seasons in a tableau, a popular parlour entertainment in which the participants posed in costume like a living painting. The children performed the tableau for their parents on their wedding anniversary on 10 February 1854, and the photographs were taken by Roger Fenton. Photo: Lise Fosdahl Mørk

The grounds also include the Swiss Cottage, a chalet built for the royal children. It was dismantled in Switzerland and brought piece by piece to Osborne, where it was reassembled. Here the children were encouraged to garden: each child was given their own rectangular plot to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers, and they sold their produce to their father. Prince Albert used this to teach them the basics of economics. The children also learned to cook in the Swiss Cottage, which had a fully equipped kitchen. Their parents saw this as a way of grounding the children in the everyday activities shared by ordinary people in the kingdom, despite their royal status.

The gardens and grounds were important to both Victoria and Albert, stretching from the Italian-inspired terraces by the house and out across the estate. Here you will find flower beds, fountains and quiet corners beneath the trees.

From the grounds, the path continues down to the family's private beach on the Solent, where Queen Victoria bathed from her own bathing machine.