Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight
Osborne House was the main reason for me wanting to visit the Isle of Wight. It was Queen Victoria's family home and I've been interested in her and her extended family for a number of years. Well since my teen royal history phase, other teens frantically gather information on the latest teen idol, I gathered information on Queen Victoria!
Victoria and Albert built up Osborne as their family home and stayed there at various times during the year, they cycled through their other properties of Windsor Castle and Balmoral.
Victoria had wanted Osborne to remain in the family but her son Edward VII didn't want to keep it. To be fair to him, it was quite run down, and needed a lot of work done on it, he had Sandringham as his country home and didn't need Osborne. For a time it was a Naval College and then opened to the public.
The restoration work on Osborne is ongoing and these lower terraces have only just been opened this year after being restored. (So good timing for my visit!) Victoria used to sit here to paint and read.
It wasn't totally a holiday home as Victoria continued to work whilst staying there, this was an audience room where she would meet visiting dignitaries. The carpet is quite threadbare so we can see how rundown the house had become.
Osborne was very much a family home and there are portraits in the rooms of various family members. I was nerdy enough to play 'name that royal'! This painting of the young family is quite famous and has appeared in various books, documentaries etc. I was sure I had seen it before at Buckingham Palace, turns out I was right. The original, now at Buckingham Palace had been at Osborne, Victoria had a copy made and that copy went to Buckingham Palace. That's now swapped, so Osborne has the copy.
Albert's desk in his study, after his death Victoria had the room left exactly as he had left it.
Victoria's sitting room, complete with spinning wheel.
In another part of the sitting room, she had two desks, one for herself and one for Albert, side by side. Victoria had her desk made slightly lower.
The nursery floor upstairs. The statue is of Albert in the uniform of a Roman soldier. Victoria had commissioned this statue for her private home, I had seen it a number of years ago at an exhibition called 'Young Victoria and Albert' at the Queen's Gallery.
The nursery has been recreated based on this photo, at the time of her death Victoria's children were all grown up and many had grandchildren of their own. So the nursery was no more.
The cradle in the centre had been made for Victoria's oldest child Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal. (Much later Empress of Germany) The soft furnishings part is new, the rest is original.
The children's table, it's octagonal, according to the guide, it's not known why the seating was for eight as Victoria and Albert had nine children. It just could be due to the age spread of the children, the oldest child Victoria was married at 17 at which time the youngest child, her sister Beatrice was only 9 months old. So it's not likely all nine children would have ever sat together at the table.
When an extension was made to Osborne for the Durbar room, a lift was added for an old Victoria to get upstairs. The lift was a hand operated one, a person had to crank the handle to make it go up and down!
Victoria's bed at Osborne, she died here in January 1901, her children had the large plaque put in above the bed after she died. It's quite solid looking, not something you would want above you as you slept!
The path down to the beach, Albert believed in the benefits of bathing in the sea, so made sure that all the family went in during their summer stays at Osborne.
This is Victoria's restored bathing hut. She would get changed inside, the hut was pulled into the sea, by a horse, from the photo I've seen. Then she would descend down the stairs into the water. The hut was on rails so it wouldn't sink into the sand. After her death, the hut ended up as a chicken shed with a local! It was found and restored and now is by the sea again.
I was on my way back to the carpark when I spotted this. It's the bench dedicated to John Brown, the Scotsman who was Victoria's companion after Albert's death.
There's a lot to see at Osborne, not just the house, but also the children's Swiss Cottage and the gardens, I'm leaving that for a future post. Really enjoyed my visit, as much as it was the home of a queen, Osborne does come across as a family home. A very wealthy family at that, but it's not grossly ostentatious, I've seen a lot of stately homes! Well worth doing my Queen Victoria pilgrimage to see it!
Osborne House was the main reason for me wanting to visit the Isle of Wight. It was Queen Victoria's family home and I've been interested in her and her extended family for a number of years. Well since my teen royal history phase, other teens frantically gather information on the latest teen idol, I gathered information on Queen Victoria!
Victoria had wanted Osborne to remain in the family but her son Edward VII didn't want to keep it. To be fair to him, it was quite run down, and needed a lot of work done on it, he had Sandringham as his country home and didn't need Osborne. For a time it was a Naval College and then opened to the public.
Osborne was very much a family home and there are portraits in the rooms of various family members. I was nerdy enough to play 'name that royal'! This painting of the young family is quite famous and has appeared in various books, documentaries etc. I was sure I had seen it before at Buckingham Palace, turns out I was right. The original, now at Buckingham Palace had been at Osborne, Victoria had a copy made and that copy went to Buckingham Palace. That's now swapped, so Osborne has the copy.
The cradle in the centre had been made for Victoria's oldest child Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal. (Much later Empress of Germany) The soft furnishings part is new, the rest is original.
The path down to the beach, Albert believed in the benefits of bathing in the sea, so made sure that all the family went in during their summer stays at Osborne.
This is Victoria's restored bathing hut. She would get changed inside, the hut was pulled into the sea, by a horse, from the photo I've seen. Then she would descend down the stairs into the water. The hut was on rails so it wouldn't sink into the sand. After her death, the hut ended up as a chicken shed with a local! It was found and restored and now is by the sea again.
I was on my way back to the carpark when I spotted this. It's the bench dedicated to John Brown, the Scotsman who was Victoria's companion after Albert's death.
There's a lot to see at Osborne, not just the house, but also the children's Swiss Cottage and the gardens, I'm leaving that for a future post. Really enjoyed my visit, as much as it was the home of a queen, Osborne does come across as a family home. A very wealthy family at that, but it's not grossly ostentatious, I've seen a lot of stately homes! Well worth doing my Queen Victoria pilgrimage to see it!
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