Island Life - June/July 2010
feature
regional costumes and hung in Osborne’s Durbar Corridor.
In 1890 the Durbar Room was built for state banquets.
Osborne had always lacked a state dining room and the
intricate carvings in this astounding room were carried out by
Bhai Ram Singh under the supervision of Lockwood Kipling,
father of the author Rudyard. The room houses the collection
of gifts given to Victoria by the Indian people.
Victoria reigned for another forty years after Albert’s death
but for her family and Household it was a terrible time with
the presence of the Beloved Dead everywhere. No one dared
argue with the Queen, she had to be humoured at all times
and in the evening she would gobble her dinner while the
members of the Household were left feeling starved after
their half-finished plates were removed. Kaiser William,
her grandson, Willy, upset her digestion with noisy jokes at
breakfast and the Prince of Wales’ wild goings-on worried the
Queen.
Before she died Victoria made her personal physician, Sir
James Reid, promise to put the mementoes she’d kept of
John Brown in her coffin. The Queen had wanted her beloved
Osborne House to remain in the family after her death in
1901 but King Edward VII already had two state residences
plus two private homes and the other members of the family
refused it. The King compromised by keeping the central part
of the house where she had died as a private memorial to
his mother and on his Coronation Day in 1902 gave Osborne
House to the nation. The stables and paddocks became a
Royal Naval College and the Main and Household wings were
turned into a military officers’ convalescent home – Robert
Graves described his stay there when he wrote ‘Goodbye to
All That’.
The state rooms on the ground floor were opened to the
public ‘free of charge’ for two days of the week but it wasn’t
until Queen Elizabeth 11 lifted the blinds in the private
apartments in the early years of her reign that the rest of the
house was opened to the public.
English Heritage have done an exemplary restoration of the
house since they took over Osborne in 1984. Using paintings
and photographs, some taken by Prince Albert, for research
and the rooms have been returned to how they were in
Victoria’s time – a replica of the drawing room carpet was
made in Bulgaria by reconstructing it from photographs of
the original one.
Osborne House was the home of only one monarch. It is
a house, not a palace, full of memorabilia and a visit today
gives a fascinating glimpse of Victorian life there. Explore the
house and enjoy the gardens or take a buggy ride to Swiss
Cottage – Osborne House is unforgettable.
Visit our new website - www.visitislandlife.com
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