O - Osborne House
"It's impossible to imagine a prettier spot."
That's what Queen Victoria said of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
"It's impossible to imagine a prettier spot."
That's what Queen Victoria said of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
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| North face of Osborne House, IOW (CC BY-SA 3.0) |
The Osborne estate was in the hands of the Blachford family from 1705. Robert Pope Blachford adapted an existing house there in the period 1774 to 1781.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert initially leased that house from the Blachford family before buying it in 1845. As it was too small for them Albert commissioned the master builder and developer, Thomas Cubitt to advise him.
Work on a new house began in 1846, the old house was demolished in 1848 and the new Osborne House's main wing was completed in 1851.
Prince Albert died of typhoid in 1861 and Victoria never really recovered from his death. She was to die at Osborne in 1901.
Neither Edward VII nor any other royal family member wanted the upkeep of the house and estate so , in 1902, he gave Osborne to the nation.
The house and Victoria and Albert's private rooms were sealed on Edward's orders but have been open to the public, with Queen Elizabeth's permission, since 1954.
English Heritage became responsible for management of Osborne in 1986. Since then other parts have accessible to the public as well, including the beach where Victoria used to bathe.
{ The majority of this post has been sourced from English Heritage's Osborne site.}
7 comments:
Where does the name Osborne come from?
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Eva - Mail Adventures
O is for Obverse.
This post makes me want to go back to England and really take the time to visit some of the homes and castles in the countryside. Great job
theglobaldig.blogspot.com
What a place!
http://sagecoveredhills.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-letter-o-orion-and-bit-about.html
Hi Bob - I've never been ... yet would love to visit sometime. Pity about Albert dying so early on ... I gather it's a beautiful setting ... cheers Hilary
http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/o-is-for-orkney-islands-adapted-breeds.html
Thanks for stopping by my blog for part of the A to Z Challenge. :)
And wow! That was interesting. I really like history, and this information was new to me, so yay. Very interesting (and sad).
It would be fascinating to see where they got away from the hustle and bustle to spend time together and this place must have meant something to them.
I listen to BBC 4 extra quite a bit and I remember listening to Queen Victoria's life dramatized. I had pictured this house being more glass. I thought someone mentioned a lot of windows. Perhaps looking from the inside out, there were a lot of windows. I also forgot that Albert died of Typhoid.
Finding Eliza
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