Osborne House, Isle of Wight


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
"On this day, 22 January, in 1901 Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
She died at 6.35pm surrounded by her family, which included the future Edward VII and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The Queen was 81 upon her death and was the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom until September 2015 when HM Queen Elizabeth II overtook Victoria.
The calmness within the Pavilion Wing of the house and in the Queen's bedroom contrasted with the clamour outside the gates where reporters waited to telegraph the news across the world. Reporters in carriages and on bicycles were seen racing for the post office in East Cowes, and men were shouting as they ran, "The queen is dead".


https://scontent.fath3-1.fna.fbcdn....=5946f72dcde9315b8fe849ef70e37fbb&oe=58FFBA0E
 
I would love to see it. One of the places on my list. :flowers:

When I lived in uk I had no interest in living royals. Never went to parades and such. Reading was enough. I always prefer the historical side more. The older the better. Osborne a bit newer then my usual taste, but still love to see.
 
Does anyone have any information on how Queen Victoria (and entourage) travelled to Osborne? Presumably by train and boat?
I find travel in Victorian times interesting - it can't have been easy!
 
That is just beautiful!


LaRae
 
There was an article in 2011 that mentioned that the name of Osborne House would be changed to Royal Osborne. Did the name change take place?
 
When Queen Victoria became interested in India the Durbar Room was added to Osborne House. The new wing had Moghul-style plasterwork and arches. The design was that of Bhai Ram Sing, with the assistance of the director of the Lahore Museum, Lockwood Kipling.
 
I have seen pictures and videos and Osborne is a very Nice House. Too bad Edward gave it to the State, Queen Victoria wanted the House to stay in the Royal Family.

Also does know If Queen Elizabeth has ever been to Osborne House?

Yes, I wish it had stayed in the family also since Queen Victoria loved it so much. I wish they could get it back, it's beautiful!
 
Yes, I wish it had stayed in the family also since Queen Victoria loved it so much. I wish they could get it back, it's beautiful!

Yes it is lovely. The beach is very pretty with great views. As a visitor you're not allowed to walk directly down the valley to the sea but use a rather dark side path instead. I can imagine children excitedly running down to the beach on a warm day!
 
Yes it is lovely. The beach is very pretty with great views. As a visitor you're not allowed to walk directly down the valley to the sea but use a rather dark side path instead. I can imagine children excitedly running down to the beach on a warm day!

Osborne has a magical atmosphere about it and it would indeed have been lovely if it had stayed with the royal family. The Queen's children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren could have had wonderful Summers there on the beach and I'm sure Prince Philip would have loved to have took them out sailing.
 
Osborne has a magical atmosphere about it and it would indeed have been lovely if it had stayed with the royal family. The Queen's children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren could have had wonderful Summers there on the beach and I'm sure Prince Philip would have loved to have took them out sailing.

I agree. I suppose the only issue now would be one of privacy but the Spanish royal family have their villa by the sea so it's not impossible.

The Highlands are wonderful of course but the weather at Balmoral can be pretty grim even in the summer.
 
English Heritage has sold off houses before because they couldn't afford them but I doubt Osbourne House would ever be one of them for a number of reasons. And bringing it up to modern living standards would be very expensive and controversial. It would not be "royals nicking the nation's day tripping spot". It's an amazing place and I'm somewhat glad we can see it in it's Victorian state.

Princess Beatrice visited Osbourne House when she did a tour of the Island a few years ago, as well as Carisbrooke Castle where her namesake lived for a time as Governor. A tour a friend of the my family helped organise that got very little publicity:

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2014061719420/princess-beatrice-visit-isle-of-wight/
 
Thanks for the link.:flowers: Interesting. Princess Beatrice looks ridiculously so like Victoria doesn't she.

Osborne is gem & I agree it won't be sold.

Interestingly the family retained ownership of next door Barton Manor for another twenty years after Victoria's death. I wonder why George V sold it. I would have kept hold of it. Such a lovely spot the Isle of Wight.
 
I agree. I suppose the only issue now would be one of privacy but the Spanish royal family have their villa by the sea so it's not impossible.

The Highlands are wonderful of course but the weather at Balmoral can be pretty grim even in the summer.

Balmoral and Sandringham also don't have much by way of children's entertainment. Osborne, by contrast, was built with the Royal children very much in mind hence the Swiss Cottage they played in; their own little gardens and gardening tools which are still kept there; the beach huts and regular days out sailing. Your also right in saying the area gets very good weather for Summer holidays. I have a feeling that if it had stayed with the Royal Family they would probably have established a tradition of spending the Summer between there and Balmoral.
 
Last edited:
I visited Osborne last month, sadly couldn't go inside the house as it hadn't yet been opened due to the pandemic but got to explore the gardens and Osborne Bay - which was actually one of my favourite beaches in the Isle of Wight. We were also wondering why the BRF no longer use Osborne, it would be a lovely wedding location or even family holiday home like Victoria originally used it for. The area has a kind of microclimate compared to the rest of England, so it's a great place to spend the summer.
 
It was sold by Edward VII because it was too expensive to run Sandringham, Balmoral & Osborne. It took him six years to pay off debts he had accumulated as Prince of Wales. He did this out of savings from the Civil List.
 
Unfortunately, Edward VII needed to keep Balmoral for political reasons and was never going to get rid of Sandringham ("his" house) over the lovely Osborne (which unfortunately had too many stressful parental associations).

As Bertie reasonably said, he would have kept them all "but I cannot live in five places!" So he kept the ugly one, alas.
 
Unfortunately, Edward VII needed to keep Balmoral for political reasons and was never going to get rid of Sandringham ("his" house) over the lovely Osborne (which unfortunately had too many stressful parental associations).

As Bertie reasonably said, he would have kept them all "but I cannot live in five places!" So he kept the ugly one, alas.

Do you know why Barton Manor next door to Osborne was sold by George V? It's such a lovely house. I have looked but not found an answer.
 
I guess getting to the Isle of Wight would have been a proper journey in those days so would have been a big commitment to visit regularly to make use of the property. I guess he could have kept it as in investment but then again having someone to oversee it would have been tricky too.
 
I guess getting to the Isle of Wight would have been a proper journey in those days so would have been a big commitment to visit regularly to make use of the property. I guess he could have kept it as in investment but then again having someone to oversee it would have been tricky too.

Yes that sounds plausable. Maybe they could have spent alternate summers on the island & in the Highlands as suggested further up the thread. It's a much smaller house of course but that would be part of its appeal to people who normally live in such huge houses I would think.
 
Yes that sounds plausable. Maybe they could have spent alternate summers on the island & in the Highlands as suggested further up the thread. It's a much smaller house of course but that would be part of its appeal to people who normally live in such huge houses I would think.

Don't mistake me, it was about not having the money to keep up five (or three) places. But given the financial situation, Osborne was gone.
 
Don't mistake me, it was about not having the money to keep up five (or three) places. But given the financial situation, Osborne was gone.

Yes I understand. The running costs for Barton would be tiny compared to Osborne of course so it's not surprising that they kept it for another twenty years. It's just a shame they still don't own Barton Manor as they could spend alternate years in Scotland & the Isle of Wight if they did.
 
Yes I understand. The running costs for Barton would be tiny compared to Osborne of course so it's not surprising that they kept it for another twenty years. It's just a shame they still don't own Barton Manor as they could spend alternate years in Scotland & the Isle of Wight if they did.

Can you imagine summer on the lovely Isle of Wight (where my great great grandmother hailed from) ;)
 
Back
Top Bottom